Re: big slick early in a 33
 

So with a AK out of position early you really want to just take the blinds?

The more you raise aren't narrowing the hand range who will call - and possibly leaving only hands you are even or trailing to?

Re: big slick early in a 33
 

AK is not that great; it works best with fewer opponents and the best hand it makes 90% of the time is TPTK - which is not that strong in NL anyway.

Yes, I'm happy to take the blinds with it at level 1, and if someone comes along with AQ/AJ and an A flops - bargain.

Re: big slick early in a 33
 

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Do you really only want to pick up the blinds in level 1? If you raise 5x the bb you will get less or no callers.

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Yeah, it's not the worst thing that can happen. You aren't looking to play this against a huge field. AK goes from a strong hand to a difficult hand after the flop about 2/3 of the time, especially OOP against many opponents. I either raise bigger (most of the time) or if reads indicate I'm not likely to limit the field, limp with it. The additional benefit of the raise is that you've taken the lead, so if you take the flop against 1 opponent your continuation bet is more effective than just betting the flop after a limp.

Calling the flop bet is also ideal. Why exactly is he betting into the preflop raiser? Whatever he has, I don't think you're taking him off of it with this raise very frequently. Once the turn brings your ace I think your thinking is fine.

-SonnyJay