[I.Rowboat]

I like raising AK as much for value as for field limiting purposes -- AK is a money maker, and I like to get as much value as I can with it. Sometimes, for deception, I might just call behind an earlier raiser, but usually I am re-raising to take the button or make someone with a small PP pay a stiffer price to see the flop.

I do feel AK off suit plays better against a smaller field. Ideally, you would like to face a single opponent with a smaller A or K. When you face multiple opponents and they are the sort that will play Ax or Kx for a single bet, you are just asking to get your hand cracked when an A or K falls. Think of it like this: against a single opponent with another A or K, they have three outs to beat your top pair. Each opponent with the same high pair on the flop picks up three additional out to beat your high pair, or a side card that may pair instead if an A or K doesn't flop. So I treat AK like the big hand that it is and raise to protect it. Of course, if the flop comes middle and coordinated (and not my suit), then I try to get away from it cheaply. This is another advantage of raising/re-raising with AK -- if you buy the button and miss, and the action is checked to you, you can take a free card.

Finally, let me just make a clarification to my point about entering pots with a raise: I agree that you don't want to do this every single time, because you don't want to be that consistent/predictable in ANYTHING you do. However, when I enter a pot from early position, it will be with a hand that is strong enough to raise with, and stand a reraise. And I will usually raise with it. This used to be a hole in my game, one that I have worked hard to fix; I'm now am a more consistent winner as a direct result of this single change(!!!) Paul Phillips has a great quote on his blog, "Loose limps sink chips," and I believe this is true. Now, if the pot has already been raised, I may just call (to increase pot size, or for deception), but if I am next to act, the overwhelming majority of the time I am either reraising or folding. If there are already several callers by the time the action reaches me, well, that's different. But I believe coldcalling a raise, especially when the raise came from EP, is a big hole in a lot of otherwise good players' games. When a good player raises from EP, it's usually because he has a very big hand. I would rather stay out of his way, unless there have already been at least one or two callers, at which point my non-premium hand may become playable.

FWIW, I play mid limits ($15-$30 to $30-$60), and the above style works well at those limits. Selective aggression takes the money down. At lower limits you may have to play differently, because you tend to get many more callers (and cold callers!), even for multiple bets.