Game was wild. 7am last Saturday.

UTG+2 makes it $40 to go ($800)
CO: Calls ($500; had just been stacked the previous hand)
Hero: $575 OTB with AK

BB is brand new player with $500. Your action?

Was $40 a typical open?

I probably make it $190 straight and call a shove from utg+2. In not so wild games, I like to consider flatting on button with AK as there are so many hands we have dominated that won't give us action if we 3 bet pre.

My friend did not say whether $40 was typical. All he said was that the game was wild and likely had "all nighters" in it from Friday.

In a wild game, you want to get the money in the pot while everyone is having a good time (namely preflop). But we also have to be conscious of our sizing. Problem is, whatever we raise, the PSR on the flop is going to be small, which minimizes fold equity. For example, if we raise to $150, and one villain calls, pot will be roughly $380 and we will only have $350 behind. There is a good chance villain (if he is at all decent) is going to shove into us all-in on ANY flop. Of course, this is good news if we hit a A or K. But odds are we are NOT going to be hitting an A or K on the flop.

Therefore, I think the correct play here is to smooth call, pot control, and use our position and depend on our post flop skillz.

If effective stacks were $800+, i'd be in favor of a 3bet pre. But given that the first raise was $40 and we already have one caller, the pot sizing will get out of control if we 3bet.

Interestingly enough, if we were OOP (SB or BB) i'd favor a 3bet since we'd have the option of being the first one to shove on the flop

I dont think there is enough information to give a solid response to this.

Any advice thus far is incorrect because it is under the assumption that we always do X when we have Y.

Is this the standard opening size for the table? For the original raiser?

Is the whole table wild? What's our image? How are the two villains playing? CO could certaintly be steaming, but that is assumption.

If you want a real answer you need to tell your friend to dish out more info.

With the limited info, make it 150 for value, let's get money in the pot while we likely have the best hand. Shove all flops.

The caveat I have here is that Hero must be willing to call a shove on a whiffed flop.

Yes, we need more info here about villains. But with one caller, pot will be $380ish and most villains are going to be shoving flop since the pot is bigger than Hero's stack.

Or put another way. I think any hand that can call $150 3bet will shove a non AK flop.

just sayin.

So Hero better be willing to play for stacks come flop time. (part of that whole "have a plan" thing.

Does anyone consider just sticking $500 in there? It's a great image-builder...hehe.

Problem with shoving here is that the only hand that calls you is something that dominates you.

Also, for me, the risk/reward isn't worth it. SHoving $575 just to win $80 seems sorta meh.

Now, if the pot was $175+ and I was fairly confident I had a lot of fold equity, then sure. But for $80, hmmmm.... no.

Lastly, a shove here definitely isn't terrible. But in order to be effective and the right play, we need more info here.

What is our image?
What is villain's image?

As is, we are being asked our opinions in a vaccuum.

Ill be the only one


Flat and only BC its a wild game

if squeezers are in the blinds, i might like a flat/shove.

Otherwise i might 3 bet to like $110. I dont want tofold out AJss AQ IF they are in villains range for making it $40. I also dont want villain folding 55.

My reasons exactly for flatting assuming its a wild game....and things are gonna get wild

I agree reads would help a ton, along with standard raise sizes and what the OP means by "wild." To me, "wild" means a bunch of re-raising and jamming.

Since that is the only read, I'm more inclined to smooth call. I want AJo thinking they can pop me off my hand the flop if an ace shows up.

The price for villain having Ax, hero having Ax and flop comes Axx is same as flopping a set. Its pretty rare. So i think flatting for that reason is faulty.