Hey guys. I had a hand in a tourny last night that seems to come up from time to time. I had the below hand last night and ended up just x/f. Obviously, things depend on Villian, stack sizes, board texture. But, using my below hand as a generality, how do you play AK out of position when someone calls your 3bet? What if the board is a rainbow, but same J102? What if the V is a LAG, or what if a TAG? I always find this situation awkward given stack sizes and I fear I am playing this hand -EV. Thanks.

O, and in terms of this hand, I've been at this table for < than 1 orbit.

Winning Poker Network (Yatahay) - 1,200/2,400 NL - Holdem - 9 players


Hero (SB): 33.02 BB
BB: 40.38 BB (VPIP: 16.67, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
UTG: 27.51 BB (VPIP: 16.67, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
UTG+1: 14.48 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
MP: 12.92 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
MP+1: 13.05 BB (VPIP: 14.58, PFR: 10.87, 3Bet Preflop: 4.55, Hands: 48)
MP+2: 29.2 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
CO: 4.9 BB (VPIP: 16.67, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
BTN: 55.1 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)

9 players post ante of 0.1 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.4 BB) Hero has K A

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, Hero raises to 6.25 BB, fold, BTN calls 4.25 BB

Flop: (14.4 BB, 2 players) J T 2
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (14.4 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero checks, BTN bets 6.54 BB, fold

BTN wins 14.4 BB

What makes this situation so awkward is your stack size. With only 33bb you're better off calling pre to avoid precisely this situation. You leave yourself no room to maneuver postflop with an SPR of only 2.

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I dunno man, AKs 33 bb deep? calling is obviously + ev, but i think raising or even just shoving would be more ev here (though higher variance)

on this particular flop i think i c bet 1/2 pot to see what happens but x/f isn't wrong either (presumably aa, kk, qq, jj, tt, aj and at would also bet this flop as well as AhKh, AhQh, KhQh

just my two cents.

This is the problem with 3-betting AKs here. Generally you should follow your preflop 3b with a CB, so when you don't on this flop you basically turn your cards over. You likely would cb QQ-AA on that flop so when you check it looks a lot like a missed AK/AQ hand. But if you CB you leave yourself with a pot sized bet on the turn and possibly no hand.

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Pick up flopzilla and play with ranges. This program will help you evaluate what the equities are o tf and hence what your best plays are.

Generally both options yeild the same result. If you raise preflop and cbet, check back the turn, and then fold to a bet on the river or check back for showdown is pretty much the same as calling his raise pre flop, calling his cbet on the flop and then folding to his continue bet on the Turn .... or betting when checked to and then check back the river if he calls your bet on the turn. It really comes down to how you use your position... do you use it by being aggressive or by floating? People here are opting for the floating play because it gives you a better chance to get to Showdown without sacrificing a lot of chips.

In tournaments you can often make abnormally small c bets and they'll still work if villain whiffed because he doesn't want to risk his stack when your range is uncapped and stacks go in by the turn.

So I would bet like 6BB OTF and shove any A/K/Q non-heart turn. If you get raised OTF just give up. But it's worth risking 6BB to win over twice that. Villain will have whiffed more often than not and when he flats you likely have outs.

AP bet a similar amount OTT. Given stack sizes it's not inconceivable you would play TT+ this way. Villain should fold often enough to make the bluff worthwhile and you do have 4 perhaps 10 outs.

AP just fold. Villain could easily be betting air after you checked twice but it's going to cost you a lot to find out and at this point you don't even beat hands like 44.

I think if you 3b all your air you have to 3b this too, we can induce 4bs with worse so I think I would never flat here.

As played I don't like cbetting this texture, we only really have 4 clean outs, no hearts and no position, its also hitting his defending range from the btn. I think pairs <10 are going to at least check the flop, maybe even the turn so we might get to see some free equity vs this type of hand and try to hit our 10 outs.

Your mistake was not Cbetting the flop. I would have bet about 30 percent here. And he will fold most of the time.

Agree that after 3 bet you should cbet the flop, but I'm one and done unless we improve subsequently

Overall I like a flat preflop because it:

1) gives a workable SPR (c 6x)
2) forces your opponent to continue with his weaker hands (particularly those we dominate but that he might fold to a 3bet, small suited aces for example)
3) gives the BB an opportunity to try an ill-timed squeeze and we can happily get it in with 33bb when he does

Raising puts you in an awkward spot every time you miss the flop

Whole thing comes down to stack sizes - I'm jamming if shorter and a smaller 3 bet becomes better if we're a bit deeper. We're in that really awkward spot though where a shove is too big and any other raise leaves us stranded a lot of the time

I think the 3-bet is a good idea but too small. I would 3-bet at least 8 BB. I would c-bet flop. I´m thinking about jamming pre but 33 bb?!

So a lot have advocated calling preflop. So my follow up is, what is our plan on this flop? AK seems pretty strong given that situation, x/c then feel out turn?

It seems crazy and unbalanced to shove, but I don't see how it could be exploited...its +EV and you don't ever get put in these awkward spots. Plus you get the added benefit of the BTN always having that in the back of his mind when he thinks about stealing.