Do you guys feel in LHE that A-K is a 3 betting hand or even a cap? Just curious what everyone thinks.

YES preflop

Yes.

Depends on your table, but unless you're in the wrong game, I think it's good for a 3 bet or cap.

For me it depends who raised, from what position, and who is left to act behind me, but I'd say I'll three-bet it 90% of the time.

You would be making less of a mistake if you were 3-betting it 100% regardless.

The only time it can be wrong is when you have an opponent that you know definately only raises AA & KK and has raised before you.

Players like that are extremely rare; last time I tried that assumption (villain had 200+ hands with 1 raise) I was wrong.

Maybe more replys will help him remember it more. YES. 3 bet every single time unless you can see his cards.

To the OP: I assume you are a relative newbie, so you should pick up SSHE and Theory of Poker immediately. There is also a starters book that Aseem recommends, but I can't think of it now. I think it is titled Getting Started in Hold 'em by Ed Miller.

I respectfully disagree. I don't think you can state absolutes like this in poker. Perhaps I should have elaborated. Against unknown opponents, I will three-bet AK 100% of the time. I have no need to vary my play against someone I may only play 100 hands against in my lifetime.

However, in the live games I play, I find myself against one or two of the same opponents every time I play. If I do something 100% of the time, I become very predictable. In games like this, varying both pre-flop and post-flop play becomes very important or else your opponents will read you like a book. Perhaps 90% was too low an estimate, maybe it's more like 98 or 99%, but sometimes I gotta smooth call AK or check it out of the blinds to bamboozle the players I see every single session.

I often use the suits of the cards to determine when I'll do this so it is completly random. For example, if I get the ace of diamonds and the king of spades, I'll smooth call a raise.

Alternatively, sometimes I need to three-bet with a weaker hand that I wouldn't normally three-bet with, like a strong suited connector. This I do very infrequently as well, and usually only from late position.

I agree, the optimal play is to three-bet AK, but there are circumstances where you need to deviate from the optimal play for purposes of deception. I apologize I didn't explain myself further in my first post.

Your right, there are no absolutes in poker - I was saying raising 100% would be less of a mistake.

That said, not 3-betting AK for deception is a mistake IMO. Raising high suited connectors in late position or similar plays are much better.

The problems with smooth calling AK are

The preflop equity you leave behind.

Fold equity on future streets. You want middle and bottom pairs to fold to your continued aggression when you miss. You will miss 2/3 flops so winning with continuation bets is a big earn.

You encourage larger fields by not facing others with 2 or 3 to continue. AK definately doesn't want this as it really only has high card strength (I am assuming we are only talking AKo here) and as such performs well against small fields.

If AK connects with a flop you are representing top pair by betting it, so your deception is very short lived - you get raised preflop by a pair of Jacks and a K or A flops; you will get little or no action as soon as you 'wake-up'. There will never be a time where your opponent will be deceived into thinking 'I didn't put him on top pair...'

It has showdown value heads up UI - you want to reduce the field.

The only favourable action you will get are when you are up against a hand you dominate like AQ, in which case to improve over your lost preflop raise effectively you need to wait until the turn to pull the trigger, not a good thing.

By all means 3-bet pocket 7's in a 5 way field or raise JTs from the button.

AK plays too transparent post flop to attempt deception pre

great post Canada.
thanks.