How to play pockets and AK

Online people call with 8/2 and 10/7 (not as bad) so I feel like I have to protect my hand and so I have been having problems playing pockets and AK and getting the most bang for my buck. Any advice?

Yes, me too.

I am getting tired of losing with AK to 66,89, Q3. It is enough to make you question your sanity.

You Are not giving enough information as to what games your playing etc(MTT,Cash Games,SnG`s??) to give you a definitive answer.I always like to just to Limp in with small pocket pairs and see a Flop cheaply as possible, if you dont hit your set get out of as quickly as possible , theres no point in chasing Trips especially when there are over cards on the board

Limping with the smaller pocket pairs is fine from any position, but with 88 and better and closer to the button, you have to think about some kind of raise, just to check everyone's tempature. If you don't hit trips and over cards are out there, you can still bet if checked to or get out of the way if someone bets like they hit.

no matter what you have it's never a sure win, that's the nature of HE.

when i play my position and strength of my hand correctly: accoding to the "book of harrington" lol, there's less thought and easier decisions. of course that's not a guarantee i'll win either. other then that there's not much more.

of course i'm still working on my game and i play them both ways slow or hard depending. if the tables starting out tight i'll limp, but if you do this you have to realise you might have to fold. the reason for doing this is to get some action or they all fold to a raise. have you ever been there? (oh this is mostly tournament play, i play those more then ring games.)

now the ring games are very defferent and since i don't play as many, my best bet with these are to raise and reraise according to your opponents. the ring games i've been in were mostly aggressive players so you would have to be pretty aggressive to compete or sit out a lot of hands, lol.
hope you figure it out cause that's mostly what you have to do.
good luck and peace.

Thanks for the thoughts. I play NL Holdem and have found try to adjust to the online game is effecting my game at the places I play regularly. I definately need to find the balance.

Just don't overplay them unless you are being reraised PF(decision comes in)or you hit the flop hard. It is easy to avoid losing money at these situations since the people who call with 10-7 will usually misplay their hand if they flop the nuts thus giving you the opportunity to get away from the hand before committing any more to the pot.

There is not that one correct way to play those cards!
It depends on your position, your chipstack and of course on your opponents....
Also if you play and mtt or cash or sng...
Most important if you do not want to loose against those cards you mentioned is to raise the right amount!
Min. raise then is 4BB + 1BB for every limper....

I think AK is a very good hand for u to make a preflop raiseat any position....
But with pocket pairs, u can bet only if there has been no bet before you...
If there has been one raise before u, i suggest you to call...
But if u have had more than one raises preflop, i suggest you to fold with pockets from 22 to 10 10...
For others, u can call and wait for flop...
And with low pocket pairs i suggest you to fold them without any hesitation even if there is a single preflop raise before you...