What's great about AK is pre-flop it is very close to or well over 50% against all other starting hands except AA and KK, and as mentioned, you have greatly reduced the chances of someone else holding AA or KK just by holding AK.
What's bad about AK is after the flop it becomes difficult to stay in the hand if someone has raised and you missed.
I raise AK the same as any other raised hands pre-flop. If I am raised pre-flop, sometimes I will call and sometimes I will reraise - just to mix it up a bit. If I just called and the other player raises the flop I can easily get away from it with little lost. If I reraise and get re-reraised pre-flop I will call and re-evaluate on flop.
Because of the fact that every pre-flop is raised by me or someone else when I'm playing AK, I assume I'm mostly playing against weaker aces and pocket pairs, and it makes it a lot easier to play post flop.
One pre-flop situation I avoid AK is when it has been raised and re-raised before I have even bet. This usually means someone has an A(one of your outs) and someone has a pair. Although this is a good situation if you are getting short stacked and can go all-in, possibly forcing one of the raisers out, or taking a chance on tripling up.  |