Long time creeper, 1st time poster. No specific hand here, but a specific question I have a lot of troubles with.

In a typical live (1-2 NL) loose-passive donkfest, how do you play AK/AQ out of the blinds in a multi-way raised pot? I.e. UTG+1 raises to 15, gets 3 callers. You look down at AK or AQ in either blind. My standard line here is a re-raise to 60, but I'm struggling with this, especially in the looser games. Ideal scenario is I get 0-2 callers and I can c-bet/take it down pf (since everyone thinks you have aces or kings when you 3-bet live), but what happens if you get 3-4 callers and the board comes out dry?

Edit: I'm toying between this and calling and then betting close to pot if an ace or a king hits. What's the better line?

It depends on your read of the raiser. If the raiser is very loose pre-flop....then you should raise....but raise bigger in your scenario...make it $80-$100. Of course, stack sizes are important and can change this significantly.

If the early postion raiser is very tight pre-flop....then calling is fine....although I'll rarely just call with A-K....again..stack sizes are very important.

I normally make a big raise with AK, somewhere between 1-1.5x pot.

Usually will call with AQ.

Depends a lot on my read of the initial raiser, though.

If I get more than 1 caller, I'm not c-betting with air. If I get 1 caller, I'll fire on most boards.

What about if you get 2 or even 3 callers and the board comes 10 7 3 rainbow? That's about as harmless as it gets, would you still take a stab?

This is a hugely stack size dependent question. A pot sized raise is like $90, so in general I think about $100 is the right size just because of the psychology behind it being three figures and that you are going to have to fight the hand out of position and getting multiple callers would be pretty awkward.

No. C-betting oop v. 2-3 opponents is generally suicide, and this situation is no exception. That's assuming you haven't already committed yourself to the pot, though.

Yeah, but I'd probably shove this flop to make it look like AA/KK, since you're gonna be committed at that point to call a shove anyway, and even if u get called ur outs are usually good.

Most 1-2 live games have a 200 max buyin, and often times people play short. I'm assuming that when giving this advice. I would probably fold AQo if someone made it 15 and there were several callers. AQ just doesn't play all that well against several people OOP. AK doesn't either really, but it isn't dominated as easily as AQ. I would probably call with AQs, and reraise AK.

Even if you raise to $100 they only have to call $85 into a $160 pot. If I'm short, like with $200, I'd probably either shove AK pre-flop or call and hope to hit the flop. This is a real awkward situation because of the pot odds given to the callers and your non-made hand. I think Ed Miller wrote a Cardplayer piece not long ago about situations like this, except he was talking about it being 3-bet pre-flop.

The only problem I have with this line is that it looks exactly like AK, which will get you called by some pocket pairs that might otherwise fold if you made it to something like $100. And if you only have $100 left after the pf raise, you're shoving any flop, so we're getting it in no matter what.

I usually fold AQ here unless original raiser and callers raise/call light. AQ does not play well 4 handed oop. Your pretty much looking for a QQx flop or a straight. QQx flop i doubt rarely gets paid off unless caller has something like kq/qj which in live play they easily could have.

AK i will re-raise to 80 in a loose game and like 60 in a tighter game. Is very stack size dependent though.