1-2 NL holdem.

Hero is Utg with $250. Raises to 17 with KsKd. He is seen as being a tight player.

V1 is on the button with 400. Calls. Loose passive.

V2 in BB with 235, raises to 65 with AKh. TAG player.

Hero shoves. V1 folds. V2 snap calls.

Kk holds up and pot is scooped.

V2 is friend of hero. I question his play here but he says he is never folding AKs pre without huge stack depth. He told me to post thenhand online to see he is right.

Is he? And would this change without v1 calling? (Play heads up)

In this instance pretty easy to figure out...put his AKs into a solver vs you're 4! Shoving range...what's it show?

I would presume you play QQ+ this way. Maybe you jam once in a while with AKs as well, i don’t know how you play though.

AKs vs {QQ+} has 35% equity.
AKs vs {QQ+,AKs} has 38% equity.

V2 has to call 170 into a pot of 320, so needs 170/(320+170)=34.7% equity.

So it’s a call unless V2 thinks Hero only has KK+ here.
Obviously if stacks are deeper V2 is getting less of a good price and can fold. I don’t think he can fold at this stack depth though, so I’d agree with your friend.

Re your question about V1: his presence in the hand (calling Hero’s open) incentivizes V2 to 3bet a wider range in theory. Like maybe he starts to 3bet AKo more frequently due to presence of V1. I don’t think it affects his decision about whether to call Hero’s jam, except for the fact it inflates the size of the pot so it gives V2 a better price to call the jam.

What other hands do you 8.5x UTG? I would consider just calling pre to keep the spot in when I assume your range is absurdly face up with this size, but 3-betting and not folding AKs to a 4-bet would normally be standard.

Once he 3-bets it's an obvious snap call to your jam.

No need for solver, just use equilab, pokercruncher, etc.

Here’s a free online tool that works as well: http://www.propokertools.com/simulations

Yup all that

He said he put me on QQ. I do not have AQ in my shove range. The only hands im doing this is JJ-AA and maybe AK. In general he has only seen me push with AK against a short stack or a fishy player to which he has none.

Hes coin flipping against JJ-qq, a dog to KK and a huge dog to AA. In either of those 3 scenarios, he is still forcing himself into a - equity position with the the reraise.

If i was him id just call here. But it looks like i am wrong.

It's never standard to get it all in with AKs after a nit 4bet/jams from UTG. But in this hand since he had only 235 to start he can't fold.

But could he have just callled the original bet?

Absolutely. It would have been a better option for him tbh (Especially since he's only got 235. I know it's 115 big blinds but it leaves him with a small SPR post).

Whether to 3bet in the first place with AKs is a separate issue and isn’t the focus of the question as I understood it. Against a very tight UTG open range of {JJ+,AQ+} it’s fine to 3bet or call IMO with AKs. Lean call if your opening range is really that tight. Once we 3bet, clearly calling the jam. If Hero has JJ in range as a 8.5x open and a jam, it’s a no-brainer decision to call off with AKs. Probably even calling off if effective stacks are ~$300.

Chaos and your friend are right. Unless your range is only KK+, he has to call.

Calling vs 3 betting is the key question here as the math supports calling the all in pre flop. I just think he opened a can of worms by 3 betting that he didn't need to open.

Standard call, standard hand.

You open 17 with all your hands utg?

looks to me like he really doesn't think your a nit

OP I much prefer a flat to the 3bet since you really, really want the LP to come in, and there is no real postflop to worry about anyway.

If you are advocating a fold for your friend with this hand, I imagine you would advocate the same with QQ too, which would make your shove a losing play (against yourself).

OP I much prefer a flat to the 3bet since you really, really want the LP to come in, and there is no real postflop to worry about anyway.

If you are advocating a fold for your friend with this hand, I imagine you would advocate the same with QQ too, which would make your shove a losing play (against yourself).

No, i mix it up.

If by mixing it up you mean raise big with strong hands and smaller with weaker hands (which is totally fine in soft 1-2 games with a lot of stations) then if im v2 im flatting this all day.

OP you open AQ to 8.5x UTG or do you just make it 5x (whatever)?

With any hand that's a standard UTG raising hand, like AA, AK, AQ, QQ etc... I will raise anywhere from 12-18 dollars to open. My mix up is that I might open with AA to 14 and AQ to 16 and then next AQ might me 14.

However, if I raise in early position I have something. I seldom do this with small PPS or small Aces. Once in a while with suited connectors. But my UTG opening range is tight.

You definitely aren’t a nit! Nits limp AQ.
Usually preflop charts that have a player raising pre with KK+ also balance with AKs, so it can’t be argued that your friend made a mistake at any point of the hand. AKs is equity favorite against {AQ+,JJ+}.

Do you think by mixing it up like this that people are actually noticing your bet sizes vs the strength of your hands and remembering it 5 minutes later...there's really no need to mix your bet sizing up (especially in 1/2 but also in bigger games).
When I have AA I'm thinking of how to get the most value vs the players I'm in the hand with, and how many limps it was to me, not that I bet 16 last time so now I'll bet 14 randomly...I base my bet sizes on position and the number of limpers with my whole raising range.

Makes sense, but one of my villains is a friend of mine who I have played a lot of poker with. He will know if my best hands are consistently 15+ and my A-Q are 10-15. He will exploit by raising my 10-15 bets if he's in position.