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anyone else feel the same way. that unfavorable flops time after time after time is the biggest frustration???? as i said, for some reason getting rivered doesn't frustrate me that much.
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I recall one brutal -40 BB session of $4/8 where it seemed like every time I picked up AK or AQ and raised with it, it missed the flop.
As you said, this is just statistical "noise" much like flipping a coin tails 10 times in a row when you bet on heads or something. Just keep in mind the stats that you gave, that two unpaired cards only pair the flop about 1/3 of the time. With AK, if you have 1/3
pot equity* with six or seven in a raised pot, you've got a bonanza! Your hand has almost twice its fair share of equity in the pot, so you should definitely be raising to get here as much as possible.
In a tighter game with only 3 seeing the flop, your AK unimproved will often be best, and you can often win by betting the flop against a better hand like bottom pair or a low pocket pair.
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*Not exactly the same as pairing, but if you pair you have TPTK and a 3-out draw on the turn and probably 6 outs on the river against flopped two pair. OTOH sometimes AK can win without pairing, by making Broadway or a one-card flush. So I figure 1/3 isn't too far off.