I've found AK to be a somewhat tough hand to play in aggressive deep games which seems to be why i have posted a few hands lately about it...here is another one

so villain in this hand has been on a heater like no other heaters. He is very loose preflop, and plays very aggressively post flop - but he is by no means dumb. I am probably the most aggressive in this game, and people tend to think i bluff even more than i do.

I have already raised my straddle once in a couple of hours of play (and i generally raise it at least once a session)...i have 27k to start hand and villain covers...

i straddle for 100...a couple of limpers, villan completes in small blind, bb completes, and i raise my AK up to 1200...the limpers fold, and villain in small blind takes 5 1k chips and tosses them out..bb folds, and action is on me...

given these stack sizes, what do people's distribution of raise all in, raise, call, and fold look like given both of our images? Does villain's reraise size say anything about his hand?

id see a flop

Wow, I just can't see him playing AA/KK like this, did you have any particular history before this hand? Also how has he played his monsters pf earlier? I think I would shove

villain is small blind, so i'm definitely not worried about him having a monster here. if he does, so be it. it's much more likely he has some sort of mid pair, AK, AQ, AJ, KQ or even random broadways here that was more scared of the limpers but now that they've folded, he's free to pick up your straddle raising money. I think this is an easy easy easy all in. Assuming your image is congruous to having straddled and raised several times, you will get called by worse very often. Not shoving would be atrocious in my opinion.

"you will get called by worse very often"

this seems very unlikely. for the most part, the exact opposite is true. while villain MAY stack off with something like AQs, this would be the only hand i could imagine that would think about calling that you have beat. whens the last time you saw someone limp re raise and then stack off for 300 or 600 BB or whatever with a hand that AK crushes?

I am not sure we get called by worse too often, but given the stack sizes I still think shoving is our best option. I'm pretty happy to win whats in the middle already or flip coins. A smaller reraise to 13k or something might work better assuming he'd never flatcall it and he sometimes would come over the top light, but those are thin assumptions.

i would def go down with the ship

Never, unless I was the villain.

This deep, these stakes, this could definitely be AA KK. It can be effective to play AA KK like this because no one expects it and you sometimes get paid off big time.

I shove but I'm not happy about it.

ARRRRR IN.
or if you're dyslexic:

RAAAAA IN.

for all the people who think this is an easy all in...you have no issue with putting in 500+ bb preflop with AK? I guess for <300bb i'd agree quickly...but it seems like a lot this deep, even given the circumstance (small blind, limp reraise all in)

I agree That there is at least some possibility of your opponet having AA or KK here given your image. Why not just call and play the hand in position?

This deep I don't think it's a terrible play for him to be limping the SB with a premium pair for pot control.

I can't say for sure how likely this is because I've never played that deep, nor those stakes live.

Also that said I still think I'd shove. I doubt we're EVER getting called by worse, but I'm sure we're picking up a decent chuck of dead money when he folds a mid-high PP.

and do what when you flop a king? what about when you miss completely? How about when you flop a flush draw, you cant really assume your overcard outs are good if you put him on those hands?

with a straddle, doesn't it make this effectively 250bb?

Yea it is a lot, but the straddle cuts things down a bit and the fact that a loose opponent overlimped from the SB after several other limpers in a straddle pot definitely makes me think he's not on AA/KK nearly as often as other weaker hands.

I also really dislike calling for the most part, unless you think he'll either continue bluffing a lot or give up almost always (and you know which one it is).

i think you pretty much have to raise, the question is how much. you have a loose bluffy image and are known to raise your straddle somewhat frequently, you can't really consider folding AKs after raising your straddle and being reraised by the sb, who also is very laggy. calling also kinda sucks for lots of reasons. id like to see a good argument for calling. i think i'd probably just raise to some amount i'm not sure of, and not shove, but whatever you think gives you the best chance of getting him to put a bunch more money in with worse

i think you were looking for "!RRRRA NI"

eww at just flat calling. I'd hate to flat call with AK here and without the power be able to take the pot away from him on a later street if he just checks flop. I guess this is the real reason why I'd prefer shoving over calling pre.

ship ship.

sb is probably holding 88-99-1010 here...
he was in a terrible spot to raise here preflop with those hands so calling and playing for set value was best. but when you raised the pot and everyone folded...he's thinking he has the best hand now and could probably take it from you...definetly vote for a ship here.

Given his looseness and your image as a bluffer he can do this with any number of hands, but I think a small-medium pair is most likely. If he only reraised to 3000 or 3500 (which I would give a lot more respect to than 5k) you might be able to flat-call and play the hand in position. However, because it's such a large over-raise of the pot, I think a re-raise is definitely in order. He's on a heater, he's loose preflop...but he's not dumb. If he were a donk, he's never folding to your re-raise. There are enough times that he folds here to warrant a re-raise.

I don't like an all-in as much as I do a pot-committing raise to something like 18k--any less and he might think he can move you off the hand by going all-in.

As others have pointed out, the straddle makes you only 270BBs deep...nevertheless, while I monkey shove all in with AK at any and all opportunities, maybe reraising to $13k is better to induce spazziness from SB...can't decide which is best..but folding is definitely 5th place after 3) leaving the table and 4) falling asleep

It seems that such a small turn bet polarizes his range to a made hand that is trying to let you draw cheaply to a second best hand or a post oak bluff but I don't play these stakes, am I reading this correctly?



banned

I cant see reraising him without it going all in and with AK I would prefer shoving now...

His hand looks like a 77-JJ or AQ, AK maybe lower suited connecs (rarely)type situation, would find only a few weird regs who would do this QQ+, so whether you are 550 bb deep or 300 it is really irrelevant to his range here....

To reverse engineer: Are you saying I dont want to lose 500+ bb with AK then dont raise with it, which is as ridiculous as saying don't play 500bb deep, etc

so here IMO

SHOVE >> Fold >>>>>>>>>>>>> CALL

PS Only dynamic change is if you have been regularly popping your straddle and he has been waiting to pick you off in which case his range could be really wide and in that case it is an insta SHOVE