Hi everyone, I've been having trouble with AK in the blinds. I'll usually 3-bet a PF raiser, they'll call, and then I find myself making tough decisions OOP because I missed the flop.

Would it be weak to just call this hand from the blinds, disguising the value? I find weaker players at these low limits are willing to call down a bunch with top pair, weak kicker but by 3-betting AK from the blinds, I'm often blowing Ax, Kx out of the hand while putting myself in a tough spot against better ranges.

Here's a hand example that recently got me in trouble:

V1 is a young Asian guy. Somewhat loose and aggressive. Raising and calling a wide range PF. Seems willing to gamble and has called down some poor hands. He has $200

Hero has $350 from playing TAG. Haven't had too many notable hands, just won some small pots without going to showdown. OTTH.

Folded to V1 in the CO, he raises to $10. Hero has AcKh in the SB. Raise to $30. V1 calls.

Flop JhTh7c ($60) Hero bets $30, V1 calls. Should I check/fold such a wet board? I figured with the runner runner flush and straight draw + overcards it was enough for a semi-bluff C-bet.

Turn 2c. $120. Hero bets $50. V1 raises to $120. Hero folds. Turn felt like a spew. But I figured I was ahead of flush/straight draws and AQ, could have folded out some low pocket pairs.

What do you think of this hand and what could I have done better? Thanks so much!

Your three bets OOP are way too small.

You probably shouldn’t be range betting JT7tt either.


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I'd start with how you would play KK in this situation and go from there.

It's better to 3 bet. The mistake is talking yourself into c-betting too often. Against a villain that is loose, aggressive and sticky you want to cut back your c-betting air and mostly wait for value when OOP.

As for the specific hand you gave, over cards + some draw potential is usually fine for a c-bet. The board is bad for it though, JT smacks his calling range.

3 betting OOP should be 4.5x-5x. We're really not looking to get called with any of our holdings in theory (even AA.) Playing OOP pots in general is a nightmare because we under realize our equity don't get the information that the IP player gets.

With that being said, AK is just too strong to be flatting. I wouldn't say to 3 bet 100%, but I'm going to be at least 99%, and it should be go to 3 bet.

For the hand I would go $45 pre. With your sizing, he's presumably calling a lot of his range that he's not 4 betting, and filtering out the bottom. With the given information I put villain on a range of 22-JJ, suited connectors from 65s to T9s, suited gappers of 86s to J9s, AJo-AQo, KJo-KQo, all suited broadways except AKs, and then QQ at 50% frequency, AKo at 75% frequency, and AKs at 50% frequency.

With the given range, I'm saying hes calling a flop bet with all middle pair and better, all of his FDs, all of his gutshots, and all of his OESD. With the help of Flopzilla, we can see that villain is continuing on the flop 78.92% of the time. With that being said, even a 1/3 bet otf, which needs to get through 25% of the time, would not be profitable here. I'm x'ing to x-f, unless he uses really small sizing, because the only turn card that I feel completely comfortable with is a Q.

Idk, I like me some calls when I have AA

vs a 66bb opener its a nice hand imo

I was talking theoretically we don't wanna play pots oop.

OP

read through this link - this wasn't a strat thread per se but was a strat chat that we had in chat about 5 or 6 years ago and Venice in his wisdom realised it was too good to get lost in the chat ether and so created a thread to preserve it.

It will give you a good framework to use to structure your own thoughts and approach to 3 betting AK

sol reader isn't everyone's cup of tea as a poster for a variety of reasons, but he's undoubtedly one of the best and most successful players to post in llsnl, albeit he now plays mainly mid and high stakes PLO iirc. read his posts 5+ times each, because they're dense with the right thought process

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...ak-pf-1307434/

I think his strat there is quite outdated. I'm certain he wouldn't play like that anymore.

I'm sure. But as a thought process he can read and use to work through his own approach to 3 betting, it's pretty good still

With AK OOP in this spot, I'd lean toward check-folding the flop, especially versus the villain who likes to call.

If I bet, I'd probably bet flop, shove turn and represent QQ/KK/AA but with villain having only 66BBs, I would prefer the passive play of checking the flop to begin with.

Op, I like the 3bet and the cbet, but you should check the turn, look to possibly peel one off in case you get the miracle card.

Exploitative adjustment. If he's a sticky calling station, 3bet the maximum he would call. If he's going to call 45, 3bet 45. And so on.

Why would you c bet? He rarely folds this flop.

There are a lot of different and viable ways to play this. And clearly this isn’t an ideal flop for you. However, w/ V being short (started w/ 66 bb’s) I like a max pressure line. Go $45-50 pre flop the shove the flop w/ overs, gutter and BD flush. Flop is a slight over bet but not much. If V calls you have a lot of equity. Plus if V calls make sure you play your monsters just as strongly in the future. Stupid aggro usually works plus it’s fun.

@67o - I think playing to x/f the flop is crazy. If you’re only going to continue if you spike an A or K then why even 3b? I think you’re better off to rep a big pair, maximize FE, realize your equity live with the variance. I’m not saying just monkey shove every flop but when my opponent has 66bb, is playing loose And I have a premium hand, I’m positioning to play for stacks every time.

Great advice guys, thank you! I will keep experimenting with how I play AK and put these ideas to good use.

+1 to this. And if i play this villain alot and he gets sticky with too wide of a range in these spots- then we play our strong valuehands such as QQ+ the same way.

Because JTx is horrible for our range here. Sometimes you get bad boards like this, or 987, or a monotone board with no pair and no no FD, etc.

As I mentioned earlier, I don't feel great if we turn a pair.

While villain has more straights, we have more sets, so in terms of either player having big hands it's even. The same is true of draws. It could be worse for villain if he hasn't folded as much as he should have pre.

Our hand has a gutshot and a backdoor flush. That's why you can add it to the bluff range. If you hold AK without a h you can check it.

MUBS.....

x/f all you want. I’m lfmao at you stating “hero playing TAG”. Clearly not playing TAG. I actually am a TAG or LAG depending on the line-up and because of the AG part of either of those I put a **** ton of pressure on my V’s, they’re not very good and I print. Easy game.

You don't have to try to play GTO or balanced at LLSNL. It's okay to just play your hand versus villains' ranges. I showed in the Flopzilla screenshot that a c bet bluff isn't profitable here.

Good for you. I try to push every edge, but trying to bluff and put max pressure on a stationary population on a board that smacks their range isn't a part of my strategy. It's totally up to you. Albeit, you can't call yourself one of the better players until you bluff your stack with A K on a 9 8 7 board versus two stations.

Except the flop wasn't 9h8h7h..... Nice fold. I had it.