Raise AK & AQ in early position?

[allyasia]

I know they are good hand, and should be raised.
but i found, after getting called, i'm out of position.
AK & AQ are the biggest losing hands, that i play. the problem, i just don't hit the flop.
25NL 0.1/0.25
I rasie 3.5x BB early position, get 1 or 2 caller.
i cbet it 3/4 of the pot. get two call with flop like J88.
turn is a blank, so i check, 1st caller bet, and 2nd caller call. i fold.
I rasie 3.5x BB early position, get 1 caller
flop is rag
Cbet the pot, get called.
turn is a blank for me, i lead out, and he push allin.
i have to fold there.........
with with AK & AQ, when i raise, and cbet it. endup folding. multpier by 10. it's almost a table max buy-in.
so far, AK & AQ are my biggest leak, i can play 4-5hr, endup break even or slightly lost. then after review my HH on PT, i found out, if i just limp in with AK & AQ, and fold if i miss, It would actually be a pretty good night for me.
i hit the flop about 5% of time.
when i hit the flop
70% of time, i just take that small pot down with cbet.
30% of time, someone endup hitting it harder.
I am looking for advise on how to play those hand to make profit.

[UATrewqaz]

There are several things that can be done..

1. Raise slightly more in EP with these hands, to further narrow the field and reduce the chance you'll have to play the hand out of position.

2. Don't always feel the need to Cbet. Cbet's are great and also greatly overused. Only Cbet against 1 opponents (or 2 if they are both tight). Only Cbet on boards that are favorable for it.

Sure a check might scream "I have AK" but then the next time you raise and cbet it will look like you have something, because they'll know you don't always cbet.

[oddsock]

Don't play the same every time! Consider an open-limp, see what the field does. I open-limp often in these games - see what other players do first, call a raise - if you hit the flop fantastic because the raiser will almost certainly c-bet - if you don't you probably saved more than by raising, c-betting yourself. And you have disguised the hand, pulling in all those A-x raisers (of which there are many).

If the raiser is a tricky player, bet out first and see where you are. If the raiser is a maniac, bet out small first and incite him into a re-raise or even allin! It happens...


AK/Q are the most overplayed hands especially at lower limits. I'm not saying these are perfect methods, I'm merely giving you some other options to consider.

[pzhon]

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25NL 0.1/0.25
I rasie 3.5x BB early position,

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Unless you are playing on a site with a "Bet Pot" button, why not just raise to $1? It will provoke less thought in your opponents than raising to $0.85 or $0.90.

I think AQo is worth less than the blinds on average in early position in NL, so it would be a good result to raise and to have everyone fold. However, the hands you can get to fold by raising to an odd-looking amount are the hands you want to play against. People are going to play QQ and AK against your raise regardless.

Limping with AQ in early position can be ok in NL. Limping in is a form of attacking the blinds, though more passive than raising. (I always raise AQ UTG in limit, though.) The point is that you want to let people in behind you who are happy to play dominated hands hands like A9, but who may fold these when you raise.

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i cbet it 3/4 of the pot. get two call with flop like J88.

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You should consider varying the size of your continuation bets. On some flops, it doesn't take a large bet to protect your hand from missed undercards, or to bluff out a low pair (which is only a slight favorite over AK on this flop, for example). I think you may be making continuation bets which are too large. This is particularly dangerous when your opponents call too much.

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i hit the flop about 5% of time.


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It may feel like that, but I bet your hand histories don't say that. It's very common to try to make a better story, but that gets in the way of obtaining accurate advice.

[leatangclan]

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i hit the flop about 5% of time.


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It may feel like that, but I bet your hand histories don't say that. It's very common to try to make a better story, but that gets in the way of obtaining accurate advice.

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He is correct. I don't know if you pokertracker or not, but I always thought the same way you did until I have PT. I was surprised to find I was winning 58% with AKo and 53% with AKs.

Like earlier posters have said, you may want to vary between limping in raising. And not bet so much on your cbet.

[oddsock]

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i hit the flop about 5% of time.


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It may feel like that, but I bet your hand histories don't say that. It's very common to try to make a better story, but that gets in the way of obtaining accurate advice.

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He is correct. I don't know if you pokertracker or not, but I always thought the same way you did until I have PT. I was surprised to find I was winning 58% with AKo and 53% with AKs.

Like earlier posters have said, you may want to vary between limping in raising. And not bet so much on your cbet.

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I think the OP is referring to the amount of time he hits a pair (or better) on the flop. This will average out to about 30-35% over time.

[Northern]

A few probelms about playing these types of hands from early position is like you said your OOP on the following rounds.

You must know when to release these hands and even if you hit TPTK. Read one of the pooh-bah posts about cbets its a grat help as you shouldnt do it everytime, it depends on a variety of situations such as opponents, board texture and what not. Dont feel you need to cbet everytime especially if there is more than one caller, the more callers the more I would not cbet unless connecting with the flop.

Something that I have been trying lately and having good success is to havea delayed cbet. This is somehting that Daniel Negreanu is known for as it still reprensets strength but it will also help with pot control on hands only with TPTK.

Another poster already discussed it but play your hands differently, mix it up. Make the same raise with low PP's and when you hit they are well disguised and often opponents will play back assuming your play an unimproved AK. Vary your bets at times, somtimes limp, minraise just about anyhting to become unpredicable. However be careful about the bet sizing and make sure you can release when in trouble as most opponenets won't even know what your doing.

[itWASaDREAM]

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i hit the flop about 5% of time.


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It may feel like that, but I bet your hand histories don't say that. It's very common to try to make a better story, but that gets in the way of obtaining accurate advice.

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He is correct. I don't know if you pokertracker or not, but I always thought the same way you did until I have PT. I was surprised to find I was winning 58% with AKo and 53% with AKs.

Like earlier posters have said, you may want to vary between limping in raising. And not bet so much on your cbet.

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I think that he was talking about hitting the flop. But I really think that other then when your not taking the pot down by cbetting you need to look at how often your are stacking off with one pair.

I think this is most peoples biggest leak is not being able to get away from TP/TK. I would say if you have poker tracker then look through your biggest losing hands and figure out what you could have done differently to either lose less or get away from the hand.

[ranka]

In microlimit I always fold AQ in EP. I will play it on the Button or CO if all folded/limped and I always raise, never limp! In raised pots I will fold this hand.

AK is my raising hand in every position. If pot is raised I will reraise. If original raiser reraises again or shoves I will let this hand go. But usually original raiser fold and I will get the pot in preflop, if not cbet and you will take the pot down 90% time on the flop.

[Ligarius]

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Sure a check might scream "I have AK" but then the next time you raise and cbet it will look like you have something, because they'll know you don't always cbet.

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you mean check/raise on flop or in turn? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]