Betting AK pre flop

[MU B2002]

Ok I am trying to gather the opinions of other hold em players out there...

AK / AA

How to bet pre flop?

I understand chip stack/tourney v cash game, plus other factors influence how to bet.... But I struggle with this.

Slow play, opponents are more likely to pick up something, especially against AK.
Heavy raise, everyone folds, you get nothing.

Is the key finding the middle ground?

[gjreda]

I think the key is knowing the people you are playing with and getting a read on them.  If you're playing with a group who usually play it tight and allow themselves to only play top starting hands, then you can go small preflop and allow the hand to play out.

If you're playing with a group that's usually aggressive and play whatever they get their hands on just because they want to see a flop, I'd bet big preflop and make them pay for it.  Nothing worse than going small with them playing some crap hand and then they hit trips or something.

I think it also depends on your style too.  I'd rather take a small pot than potentially lose a big one because my opponent is playing crap and hits something.  I'd rather get him out early.  My point of view is that patience pays.

[MU B2002]

It's hard to get a good read in online games.  Such a small sample size of hands
to know someone's style.


But I tend to agree with your assessment.  Part of my problem is I can play super conservative and don't raise pre-flop a lot.  But I guess we all have issues to work on.

[g0lden3agle]

My philosophy is it's always better to win a little (by possibly scaring them off the hand), then lose a lot (by letting them sit around and sink your AA etc).

[Woodgreen Warrior]

I have to agree.   I like to bet strong in the beginning and weed out any weak hands. 

[Blackhat]

With AA bet 4 or 5 times the BB and pray somebody is holding QQ or KK.   Like others have said will only get a big pot maybe 1 out of 10 times but you shouldn't ever get hurt by bad suck outs(unless you're playing with psychos).

[gjreda]

It's hard to get a good read in online games.  Such a small sample size of hands
to know someone's style.


But I tend to agree with your assessment.  Part of my problem is I can play super conservative and don't raise pre-flop a lot.  But I guess we all have issues to work on.

I'm no poker pro, and actually haven't played in several months, maybe even a year.  However, I think if you play super conservative and don't raise a lot, that's definitely something you need to work on.  If you only play strong hands, you need to get people with the weak hands out before the flop.  I've always been in Stone Cold's camp that when I have a good starting hand (I've very conservative like you), I usually end up betting somewhere between 4x-6x BB.