I've bled all over the place with AK in the past month or so and I am an expert on (at least a few) of the mistakes you can make with AK. I'm sure I've lost more times on this hand than I've won. And when I lose with this hand, I often lose big, like

Quote Originally Posted by Fnord
If it's a family pot and you hit, brace for impact. By the time you bet enough to protect your pair on a PP NL stack you will have almost no hope of laying down to a better hand. Just ask Heatman
This has happened to me twice recently. While it hurt at the time, there is a very good (but expensive lesson) in those experiences. Both hands are posted


http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...528&highlight=

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...594&highlight=

Biggest lesson learned:

Don't let the relief of hitting one of your cards talk you into believing you have a powerhouse so that you stop thinking!

With almost every other hand I am an EV kind of player. I try to think about the possibilities of what the other guy has, weigh that against my pot odds or implied odds, and make the correct play. Even with AA or KK I'm willing to lay it down, and have, if the flop and post flop play is bad. Sometimes I play by the gut, especially when I know someone's tendencies, but in general I think! I weigh the situation and make a decision based on something. But not with AK!

Once I hit that TPTK, I abandon rationality and start thinking:

- He's on an A (or K) and I"ve got him kicked!
- I am so lucky that I hit on this flop!
- Holy crap, that was a big re-raise
- I'm sure glad I've got the big kicker, call! Re-raise!
- Where the heck did that come from - Rebuy!

My standard AK play pre-flop is to make a raise that I think will get two callers or less at that table. In both big beats, I ended up with way more than that. This should be a warning that I'm now way at risk, and need to be cautious. In both cases above, it wasn't. ( I am so lucky, I hit on this flop!)

Given too many callers, I've still got a strong hand. But when I get called on a big raise by a strong player, or more than one average player, I need to be thinking! Unfortunately, I wasn't. ( "He's on an Ace and I've got him kicked!) Especially if I've been the aggressor and I still get called, I need to pay attention. A strong player is putting me on AA, KK or AK, and if he's calling - in most cases, he's got me beat.

Once my raise on the flop has been called, I need to be able to make the hard choices. This is where I'm still a little queasy. Given the level of play on PP NL tables, I'm still a little reluctant to lay this baby down. Here I need to think about what it is going to cost me to see the hand out. In the Fnord bust, it was another $10 or so, because I started out on a $25 stack. In the latter case, it was $65 on the turn against a $200 pot. All I could see was $ signs. IF I had been thinking, I probably should have folded after 22 called on the flop.

AK is a powerful hand if it hits, but even then it is usually only top pair, top kicker. There are many, many hands that can beat it. Any Ax, Kx who stuck around can hit two pair against you. Any pocket pair can hit their set. Any crazy on a flush/straight draw may have the pot odds to call you down after a bunch of callers on the first round.

Don't quit thinking!