PokerStars - $0.45+$0.05|100/200 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

MP+1: 2,939.00
CO: 2,795.00
BTN: 7,090.00
SB: 3,645.00
BB: 5,865.00
Hero (UTG): 3,045.00
UTG+1: 1,285.00
MP: 7,743.00

SB posts SB 100.00, BB posts BB 200.00

Pre Flop: (300.00) Hero has A K

Hero raises to 450.00, fold, fold, fold, CO raises to 2,795.00 and is all-in, BTN raises to 7,090.00 and is all-in, fold, fold, Hero calls 2,595.00 and is all-in


Pretty sure I have to call here because of the pot-odds?
There's 6040 in the pot, only 2595 for me to call? With 15BB left, seems like a good/great call to me? Not sure though!

never ever ever ever ever ever folding

Snap call

Shoving pre, as played is an insta-call

Why would you shove 15BB?

With 15BB you shouldn't bet/fold pre, picking up the pot increases your stack with 10%.
Shove instead of bet is because you get more fold equity, with AKo you are still flipping against any hand in best case they call you with a weaker Ax.
Minraise vs shove is very table depended, if you have some agressive 3-bettors behind you could go for the minraise, but most regs get suspesious when they see someone with a smallstack minraise instead of shove.
On the other hand if they see someone with 15bb or less minraise/fold they will shove lighter against that player.

hmm think I agree, should have shoved
but then what about weaker hands I want to minraise/fold? it'll be pretty obvious if I only do it with bad hands and shove with the good ones
that's why I'm minraising these hands too
also creates opportunities to minraise/call with monsters like JJ+

If u get called behind is not a hand wich play that great postflop with less than 15bb behind. Saying that and taking into account the level of most players at this BI is an easy shove. As katwax say inducing a 3b could be a reason to just open with it but then is very vilain dependent an still looks a bit suspicious when we pull that out against a competitive reg

being a 50c game there is nothing wrong with jamming 15bb.

However I'd say when I have 15bb I'm min-raising more than just jamming.

Don't minraise/fold.
With 15BB or less you should only have 3 plays:
-shove
-minraise -> snapcall(shove) if raised
-minraise -> shove flop

Shoving is easy and gives you most fold equity.
If you want to combine minraise and shove you make it harder because you should balance it to make sure it's unexploitable.

what's wrong with a minraise/fold?
you have 15bb, you bet 2.5BB and have 12.5BB left
you win the pot often enough to lose the 2.5BB when you have to fold

when ppl play back at you, you stop doing it with bad cards and get their stack when you hit a hand

My thoughts on your post:

1) If you don't have a mr/f range with 15bb you need to add it to improve your game (maybe not as applicable in a 50 cent game).

2) We have AKo. You shouldn't be looking for fe when we have 15bb.

3) I don't like your idea of "minraise -> shove flop". If you mr and the bb calls there will be 5bb in the pot when you see a flop. How many situations do you think jamming an additional 13bb is the best play?

4) Don't worry about 'balancing your range' at a 50c game. The other players aren't paying attention.

1) Your range from UTG with 15BB shouldn't include hands that you can mr/f (this always depends on the table and in rare cases where all 8 players behind you only shove premiums could mean you must fold)
2) yes and no, AK is most of the time a flip
3) folding flop? you could go for the bet flop, bet turn, but giving up on flop is super exploitable
4) agree, but you should learn this as this could become a big leak on higher stakes.

cbetting doesn't really work in the 0.50's, well not as far as my experience go, my cbets only have a 29% success rate over 5k hands

1) I stand by what I said. But also you can't go wrong with jam/fold/mr-call mode
2) 15bb and AKo is the nuts
3) you said jam every flop when you mr. You doing that on a AAK flop? I actually can't think of any flop I'd jam 13bb into a 5bb pot.
4) Well we agree on something

Insta-call. Wp.

1) lets agree to disagree
2) best hand to get into a flip with, but AA is the nuts
3) If I do this every time I mr with <16bb, I'm jamming AAK flop. But I think optimal play depends on how the players left in the hand act. With 13bb left you don't have much room to "play poker".
4) 1 down 3 to go?

That's a weird thing to say, a flip is a flip no matter what you're holding. And I totally disagree that most of the time you're flipping with AK.

I agree with your raise preflop. I think it's good. I also think that calling two shoves, that btw shove to the UTG raiser, is not that obvious. You need to call 2600 yes, but you need to win something like 30% to break even, do you have it? I gave them some ranges in my opinion. 1st raiser 77+,AJs+,AQo+. 4 bettor 99+,AKs,AKo you have 27%. You need more than 30% to make a profit. But again this is a 50c game. In those stakes and in that stage many crazy things happen all the time. The 4 bettor could also have K7s (I have seen it in the $2.5). So I also think you should snap call. But... for the right reasons.

FYP
very well written.