The dreaded? AK

[junYUN]

it depends on the texture of the flop.

obviously, if there was a raise pre-flop (and you have no unusual read) you have to put your opponent on a range of hands. did he limp, you raise, and he call? if so you can probably put him on a much weaker hand. is 2-pair a real possibility? what is the texture of the flop? is he just raising me assuming that i'm making a continuation bet and he's got a smaller pair? how is he reacting, how is he playing. once again there's no way to say "how to play" a certain hand... that's what makes poker so god damned hard.

generally speaking? i usually play AK when i hit TPTK very aggressively. MOST of the time you'll be way ahead, and probably be running into something like KQ, KJ, AQ, AJ... or even pairs like QQ, JJ, TT who are trying to get you to fold by representing hitting a set or 2-pair.

the only times that i would be really scared when an opponent shows strength is if the flop comes out 3 to a suit and i dont have the A or K to that suit... or if a flop comes something like 789 because then you really have to worry about those small connecters. i don't know if this helps at all, but as you can see this post is already too long, and i really didn't even get complex with it.