We´re playing first level of day2. Level 14, (40'), 22 players remaining of 84.

Blinds are 1k/2k with button ante. 6-handed.

1 fold.

MP (140bb) or 2.4bb.
Chipleader of the table, with 140bb. Unknown player, seems to be a decent player. He's opening wide, apparently, taking advantage of his stack.

Hero (87bb) is HJ with AK, calls 2.4bb
I think his range is wide open, and there are players behind with good stacks for resteal, so I called with AK hoping for:
1) extract value postflop from opener's Ax, Kx and bluff cbets.
2) receive shove from players with 25-30bb.

CO (40bb) folds
BU (24bb) folds
SB (28bb) folds
BB (55bb) calls 2.4bb

fp (8.7bb) 744

BB checks,
MP bets 2.7bb,
Hero CO raises to 7.5bb,
BB folds,
MP raises to 19bb...

Why not flat flop? Seems like your preflop logic went right the window once the flop hits.

As played, ??? Call and evaluate?

I don`t want to call, because the other player involved will be able to call cheaply... or take an opportunity to steal... I'd prefer to take the pot right here, or continue to turn with initiative, and position, against pfa.

Looks like you're trying to get way too cute here.

This goes against what you've pointed out. You wanted to extract value from OR due to his wide range. And if he is competent as you say (based on read) then he should surely be able to bluff 2 barrels. We will discuss BB in a moment.

When you raise this flop what are you trying to rep? Villain prob sensed that you're trying to steal hence his raise. The best hand you have here is 88-TT, KcX, and maybe a flopped boat. You wouldnt raise flop with quads or a boat most likely. You AcX hands may 3b pf a reasonable amount of time... so you're in a narrow range and he has range advantage for all over pairs at the moment. Calling his bet allows you to ATTEMPT to fully realize equity... how many good turn cards for HERO? 10x clubs, 3x Ks, 3x As, and sometimes 3x 3s should improve our equity... (my numbers may be off as Im on a cellphone)

BB... your OP didnt even address BB. Now that you have a pretty clear call, you're worried about a squeeze? That should have been taken into consideration when developing your plan PF (calling vs. 3b pf). Not to sound harsh, just honest feedback.

You have position, you have options. If BB does choose to squeeze and OR folds, this is a whole different situation and should be evaluated as such... having position gives you that ability to have all the information.

Next time 3b pf, make all your future decisions a little easier.

Sure, but the point is BB. Of course, playing heads-up, I tend to call much more often. But his bet right here is less than 1/3 pot, if I call, bb needs to put only 2.7bb to a 16.8bb pot. Plus, BB squeezes are not going to be better hand always, because sometimes he can take advantage of pfa's thin bet and my call.

I can play this pot on turn against pfa much more comfortable than including BB on it.

Yes, that's the point. That's why I don't want to fold when he 3bets 19bb. Now i'm deciding to push or to call. I think his overpairs almost always calls after my reraise (and bb's fold). 4x and 77 calls a lot of times too, so his 3b is full of bluffs and semibluffs.

Since I block K, he can't hold AK, so there are Ax flushdraws+overcards with 12 outs against me... sometimes flushdraws+overcards with 15 outs... Difficult to force a fold if I shove. And, surely, 65 with a lot of equity and thus never folds if I shove.

But, I'm not sure if he want to reraise his flushdraws+overcards so often, with so much equity and our deep stacks (I mean, he's pot commited to a very huge pot when choose to reraise my bet with fd+overcards... in a paired board, and no holding AKs...). I think he tends to call more often and reevaluate on turn.

So, I thought he holds a little bit more of overcards without flushdraw. Maybe with an ace, so I'll be playing against only 3 outs, "perfect to call and not to shove" I thought...

Good points.

Still think 3b pf isnt bad. And if you think he folds when you 3b, you're probably not balanced and do not 3b enough then.

I haven't even gotten to the main part of the hand. I'm still trying to understand the preflop action.

Was this table super aggressive in late position/blinds against overcalls/limps/overlimps? I mean, even if they were, it's hard to understand trying to trap with AKo. AKo is in 100% of 3b ranges, so unless you're not 3b'ing at all, it's hard to understand what you were accomplishing here.

Even if the table was aggressive behind you, this doesn't feel like the right time to do this with no stacks under 20 BBs left to act. You're more likely to get a KJo+ re-steal attempt if you had a few 12-18BB stacks.

At this point of the tournament, unless you're guaranteed to GII against a weaker range, you should be more than happy picking up the 2.4BB, blinds and antes with a pre-flop 3b. If MP wants to call you OOP and you're heads up, then that's great, too. If you're afraid he's going to fold, then you don't 3b enough, as mentioned above. Even if he does fold, it's not the worst thing in the world to collect a few rounds worth of antes/blinds.

A lot people tend to forget that AK is a tricky hand to play post flop, if you don't hit an A or K or some kind of draw you'll be left guessing. A 3 bet would help solve this problem because now your range is stronger, gives you the pre flop lead, and allows you to bluff pots more frequently.

The way you've played it you're attempting to rep a boat, quads, or trips, and the odd combo straight/flush draw, which is quite a narrow range, so raising his bet with another player left to act seems kind of strange. Wouldn't you want the BB to call so you can keep both players in the pot when you have them crushed? Most people would elect to call and let them try to catch up so you can stack them later in the hand.

Essentially you've turned your AK into a bluff, there is 0 value in the hand once you've raised the flop since no worse hand value hand will ever continue, only draws, and now you're the one that's stuck bluff catching. To say you should have called because he raised is being results oriented, you should have called to keep the pot small, bink an A K or club to continue, and play it from there. If you don't hit anything after calling the flop and it's bet into you again, let them have it and move onto the next hand.

Close thread. Its all been said.

1) 3b this hand versus this opponent pf.
2) if you decide to get fancy syndrome because you just watched PCA stream, then call flop
3) Be prepared to fold, if you must, because you failed #1.

id almost always 3b pre here, id never raise flop, call and reeval turn seems good

In $200 live tournament pre should be almost always 3-bet with AK unless there are players behind capable of shove-squeezing.

As played lean flatting flop. If we start raising overs and backdoor flushes we're raising too many hands. This is a very reasonable float hand.

We're going to better bluffs in our range - like all of our flush draws - that we can use to balance out random 4x and overpairs that we might want to raise with. If we're going to introduce backdoor flush draws into our bluff range we should have quite a few Acxx hands that we can at least represent nut flushes on the turn if a club hits.

Thank you very much for all your replies, I'm learning and thinking different with them. This was a singular hand, I'll post the end of it:


MP (140bb) or 2.4bb.
Chipleader of the table, with 140bb. Unknown player, seems to be a decent player. He's opening wide, apparently, taking advantage of his stack.

Hero (87bb) is HJ with AK, calls 2.4bb
I think his range is wide open, and there are players behind with good stacks for resteal, so I called with AK hoping for:
1) extract value postflop from opener's Ax, Kx and bluff cbets.
2) receive shove from players with 25-30bb.

CO (40bb) folds
BU (24bb) folds
SB (28bb) folds
BB (55bb) calls 2.4bb

fp (8.7bb) 744

BB checks,
MP bets 2.7bb,
Hero CO raises to 7.5bb,
BB folds,
MP raises to 19bb
------------------------------
Hero calls

Now, I think villains range cointains a lot of bluffs and semibluffs. That was part of the plan: if I reraise his initial low bet and he calls, I think he holds overpairs, trips or full more often. Even no-nut flushdraws.

But, if he 3bets my reraise, I think is more probably he holds overcards, nutflushdraws... Is not a good idea he makes the big pot here with overpairs, in a paired board, I think he calls a lot of times with them.

Maybe my best decision here is to shove. But since I block K and my perception of his range is full of Ax, I think I'm slightly ahead. And I suppose that compensates the low fold equity my shove will have if he holds flushdraw and overcards.

So, if I shove, I can force a fold of bluffs and semibluffs without flushdraw or oesd. But, I thought: "I can't be quite sure he never holds monster... I don't want to flip coin here... I can play the hand in position hoping to win at showdown..." (of course, I'm not proud of this thinking line...)

So, I call now and hope neither club nor face card comes on turn.

Tn (47bb [eff stack: 65bb] ) T
MP checks
Hero checks
The worst cards after club (or four) is T, J and Q; maybe in that order... I can't bet/fold, so I chose to check. Again, maybe shove was a better idea, even with this T?

Rv (47bb [eff stack: 65bb] ) 2
MP checks
Hero checks
No reason to bet here.


MP shows QT and wins the pot.

I played an AKs like this preflop last week near the $ in a $200 Rebuy live.

I was table chip leader with about 35BB. UTG opened to 2.5 BB. I flatted with a few reshove stacks behind.

Next hand shoves 10.5BB. Hand after that thinks a long time, and out of a 30BB stack finally calls. All fold including original raiser. I reshove, and 30BB guy tank calls.

AKs vs 99 (short) and JJ.

99 wins. JJ wins side pot.

I think the flat with AK can be very effective, especially if there are active squeezers, it is good to have a hand you can back raise, but is not AA/KK where you don't want to see a 4 way pot..

Right.

I envy players with winrates wild enough to turn their nose up at a variance-free 500bb/100.