First shot at presenting a hand history:

1-2 NL last night

Hero is MAWG and likely viewed as relatively tight and aggressive

V1: MP, 400, young African American, relatively loose, raises a lot, a bit of a station post flop

V2: Hijack, 100, MAWG, regular, no reads

V3, button, 200, MAWG, had been playing PLO, loose/fairly aggressive

OTTH:

Hero dealt AK UTG (300) and limps (not how I usually play this hand but mixing my play up a bit)

V1: Raises to $16
V2: Call
V3: Call

Hero: Raises to [X]?

Thoughts on X? Thoughts on limp/reraising in this spot?

I just wouldn't limp reraise at all unless you've created well considered limping and opening ranges that work well together for the game conditions.

Wanting to mix up your play for the sake of it is not the right way to think about the game. In my opinion you should have a tight aggressive standard game plan that you deviate from based on logical analysis of the prevailing game conditions.

Sometimes I have an open limping range but usually it is unbalanced because I'm only limping because there are so few raises at that table. I'll only consider L/rR if I've been open limping speculative hands successfully (i.e not facing many isolation raises) and then someone decides to start isolating wide. Then I may go for a L/rR to trap them. More likely I'll just stop open limping.

As played I think you can just flat the raise with AKs. If you do 3bet then you're going to have to go to close to pot: that's around $80.

Given effective stack sizes of $300, $200 and $100 a 3bet to $80 is pretty much pot comitting so you'll have to put in the rest of V1 4bets.

If you go smaller on your 3bet (e.g. min-raised) you'll probably get called by everyone, that's ok if you hit the flop but sucks the 2/3rds of the time you miss.

its probably fine, don't really like it unless we think there is a good chance someone is going to put it in with worse. thats why ak is really good in tournament is people will often put it in with worse but in 1-2 it doesn't happen as often, so its not as good.

but yeah i mean, making it 65 right here and raising enough to comit yourself to call it off most flops is +ev still

agree with Ragequit that "mixing up your play" should be done with purpose and intent. generally limp-reraising is only effective in specific game conditions, which weren't present here as far as we know. just raise for value.

as played i guess raise on the big side and GII if V1 wants to.

We have a loose, aggressive, sticky deep-stacked V directly on our left.

I think there is definitely merit to LRR here when we are fairly certain we will get a raise from behind. A raise from UTG will likely get many passive callers but unlikely to get 3!. I have never been a fan of limping from ep, but certain conditions require it.

I LRR and Make it 85 or so. If we fold everyone out, we still collect 25BB in dead money but if we get called we still have a premium hand

Great spot to LRR if V1 is telegraphing raise. I'd make it about $80.

Two or three of these "make it 80" moments and (1) V1 will slow down a little, (2) we can play normally again, (3) we will collect some piles of easy dead money, and (4) if we ever get QQ+ anywhere in the orbit, we are going to get two or three callers - and a good shot at Hand of the Night.

Love l/rr here with the loose V to your left and lots of callers in between = dead money for us. I just want to take it down pre. $90. Makes all shorties pot commit now when you are crushing their calling ranges. Unlikely loose V has a great hand. Perfect spot for this.

Thanks for all the feedback, folks! Very helpful and informative.

I 3-bet to $100 (slid out a stack of 20 reds) and took down the pot uncontested.

I wasn't sure V1 would raise but was fairly confident someone would (and V1 was fairly likely to do so) - And I think it's good to occasionally mix in some untraditional moves with big cards. I also figured playing AK out of position isn't very much fun, so taking it down pre would be a nice result. Blocking AA, KK, and Ax also made it somewhat more likely no one else had a premium hand.

In retrospect, I was wondering if $100 was too much.

It's a tough spot stacks-size wise. If the PFR was shorter, I could see making it smaller, but with him being the deepest stack and most likely to call a 3-bet, you're in a weird situation if you make it $60 and everyone at the table calls.

When I l/rr AK I want everyone to fold, so I raise on the larger side. Flopping well is just insurance. I’d prefer not to have to play a huge pot OOP with an unmade hand. $100 is fine. Jamming is probably fine too. With monsters like AA and KK I might go a tad smaller to try to get head up.

$100 is fine.

AK is a great hand to do this with, nh

LRR is underrated on these forums.

ya if that's the case then l/rr in UTG is a good option, particularly with AK.

^ agreed