Quick intro. I'm a overall winning 1-2 player and most of the time the tables are half decent players and half spewy players. I play very tight pre and choose my speculative type hands very carefully. I'd have to imagine my image at the table is tight to anyone capable of paying attention, although I will raise IP with less than premium holdings.

This last session was a losing one and I just happened to have been dealt AK 4 times in a span of a couple hours, and went 0-4. I whiffed the flop all 4 times and twice I c-bet because I was in position and it seemed like it could get through and twice I checked because the flop was say Qs9s8x and i held AKdd.

One c-bet was raised (I folded) and one was called (gave up on ugly turn card) I know this hand gets debated add nausea as far as should you 3 bet it and what type of boards should you c-bet it. I wanted to ask if this happens to anyone else in the short term to kill your sessions? Sure, some nights AK can win you hundreds... not this night. Do you find yourself picking up AK, whiffing terribly on the flop and just punting in any money you've put in so far?

I know there's no "one size fits all" way to play AK but that hand brutalized me this last session and I wanted to see if perhaps I'm not looking at these spots from all angles. Any AK advice?

Thanks.

Keep raising and 3betting AK in the correct spots and you'll do fine. One bad session shouldn't change how you play premium hands. I lost seven out of eight hands once w/ KK and played all but one pretty much perfectly -- and the one I didn't play well I still got sucked out on. I still play KK the same way.

i lol’d

I can offer a few pointers....

1) AK plays best with fewer opponents so try to size raises to get HU or 3 way. When this happens you can c-bet at a high frequency and barrel a lot of turns.

2) If it goes highly multiway (4+) you should rarely C-bet. There are exceptions like you might still C-bet on J22r but usually just x/f.

3) If it goes massively multiway (6+) be very careful even if you hit. You're usually bet/folding in this scenario.

4) TPTK may or may not be worth 3 streets of value. If your player pool is pretty tight and passive you won't get three streets and win all that often, particularly if the hand started massively multiway. I would tend to bet the flop and x either the turn or river. X turn is better on dry boards, x river better on wet ones. OTOH if you're HU against a station on an A high board go for stacks as he has so much AX he isn't folding.

5) Definitely 3-bet AK except vs very strong nit ranges. You lower the SPR and make the hand more likely to go HU. You should usually fold to a 4-bet but it depends on stacks and the players involved.

6) AKs is much better than AKo multiway. You will flop a BDFD or better over half the time which gives you better barreling opportunities.

7) If you get sizably raised at any point you should typically give up with TPTK unless the game is quite wild. Most low stakes villains just don't raise with hands that can't beat TPTK. Again, exceptions vs. known LAGs and maniacs, sometimes vs TAGs on draw heavy boards.

8) You don't have to C-bet even if C-betting is profitable. Sometimes checking is more profitable. For instance, you're IP HU on 433r. We can C-bet profitably for sure but the hands that fold are mostly hands we crush like AX and various overcard hands. There are few bad turn cards so we may be better off checking back. If we improve OTT we still often get calls from hands like 66. If we don't improve...we are probably still ahead and can x back again, then decide OTR whether to try to get to showdown or turn our hand into a bluff.

9) At 1/2 if you're tight people tend to put you on AK when you raise. It's ridiculous but they assume you have AK way more than you do. They especially assume this when you c-bet an A or K high board which is why when we don't have AK we can often c bet these boards profitably and when we do have AK we should mix betting and checking lines.

10) Think of AK as a semibluffing hand rather than a super premium. Preflop you're sort of bluffing especially with 3 bets as you usually end up with A high. Post flop we may miss but often have great spots to continue bluffing especially with AKs. Ending with an example.

Say it's 3 way and you have A:K: you're PFR OTB. Flop is T6:2. It's x to you. You bet half pot. One call. Turn is the Q: and it's x. Great card to double barrel. You bet half pot. One call. River is the 3: and it's x. You can x back and win against some busted draws but if I feel villain has a weak made hand it's a great card to bomb the river. We missed but our hand looks really strong if we bet again, and villain rarely has a diamond flush. Also since he never raised on this draw heavy board it is unlikely he has a strong hand like a set or even QT. His made hands are mostly stuff like T8s that is going to have a hard time calling.

Your question was really broad but I hope my ramblings helped to some extent