{titled edited to please me - insideish joke - a500lbgorilla}

i seem to notice the odd comment on there that lots of people seem to lose a lot of money on AK. i definitely have my weaknesses as a player but for some reason i seem to play this hand pretty well. this is for the $25NL party games, i'm not sure about higher limit games and player behaviour up there

what i've realised about AK is that its a speculative hand. you either want to flop your ace or king (which will happen roughly a third of the time), or you want to be in a situation to bluff with strength at the pot if the flop comes as low rags. so how much i raise with AK will be dependent on my opponents, their playing styles, my table image to them and what hands i've played at them before.

basically, if i think i can get away with a bluff, i will raise larger than normal (say $5), and try and take the pot down with an overbet at the flop if it comes low rags. hopefully people with pocket pairs and the like will put you on KK or QQ or AA.

however if i think i'm unlikely to get away with a bluff (ie i've been raising a lot of hands, or bluffed before and been caught), i'll raise smaller than normal ($1) and be prepared to give it away on the flop if i don't flop my A or K. however in this situation if you do flop your A or K, betting large at the pot will sometimes lead people to think you're bluffing again and they will call you down with a pocket pair or something, and you can sting them nicely.