Raising AK in small stakes, no foldem holdem games

[Harv72b]

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Is this simulation going to the river, even when a real-life player would know (s)he is not ahead on the flop?

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Yes. But the fact remains that since you likely hold a significant equity edge vs. all those players, your preflop raise is for value. Also, don't think of AK as being a "drawing hand"--very often you actually hold the best hand preflop.

I suspect that most of your problems with AK, AQ, etc in the past came from putting in too many bets postflop when you missed the board and/or someone else connected harder than you. With the possible exception of free card raises or betting/raising for value with a big draw, get out of the habit of bluffing in a game like this.