Interesting hand with AK

[GrekeHaus]

[ QUOTE ]

Alright, you are wrong here. You are losing money by not three-betting this pre-flop.

[/ QUOTE ]

While it's true that I likely have the best hand preflop, I'm out of position here. 2/3 times you'll miss the flop with AK, and I'm out of position. Even if I'm best on the flop (without improving), it can be very difficult to play this hand with 3 other people in the pot. On the other hand, if I keep the pot small, it's easier for me to get away from it if the flop misses me. Thus, I may lose bets preflop, but I might gain them later by making fewer (or less serious mistakes). It is clearly not optimal, but not terrible either. In this case, it ended up saving me a bet since I would have folded on the flop in either situation.

Many experts would agree with me here. For instance, Matthew Hilger recomends just calling in this situation in his Internet Texas Hold 'em book.