After some good responses to defending my BB with ak2 in a NL game on the bubble with a short stack, I thought I'd post a similar hand with ak2 when the stack sizes and dynamics were different. A big part of this move was from my read on the opponent. He was easily the weakest player at the table and had put some bad beats on players earlier in the tournament to accumulate his stack. He was raising junk high hands like pocket jacks and queens with no low and junk low hands with no ace, generally trying to bully myself and the other player (a tight and good regular who knew how to defend and shove). I had the tightest image at the table and villain had previously folded a raise to my three bet several orbits prior. That is why I attempted to end this hand pre rather than on the flop. Would anyone take another line here? Thanks for all the thoughts and advice.

Poker Stars $15+$1 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament - t300/t600 Blinds - 3 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN: t1904 M = 2.12
SB: t6683 M = 7.43
Hero (BB): t4913 M = 5.46

Pre Flop: (t900) Hero is BB with A 2 K 5
1 fold, SB raises to t1800, Hero raises to t4913 all in, SB calls t3113

easy all in!

Did you really think you could end this hand pre flop?

Anyway, you have a great hand blind vs blind and you can't have him bully you on the flop so of course this goes all in. Nobody would take another line against a player like this.

Only reason I say that is because he folded a 1200 button raise in the 200/400 level to my 3 bet. Should've figured he'd call the next one. Thanks for the response.

Richard

Based on the description of this villain, where you believed you had fold equity, I would raise all-in. Against a number of villains though, I would call and reassess the flop in position. If OOP, I am always getting it in pre-flop.

All you can eat baby

More thoughts on the hand:

I know a2k5 with the suited ace is a very pretty and strong hand, especially blind versus blind. Against stronger, aggressive players (AngriBob is a good example), I would be very happy using my fold equity or at least flipping a strong hand against. Against the big stack table fish, often there is a greater skill advantage in taking a flop and assessing the situation. I feel flipping, even with a hand far ahead of his range, negates some of the advantage I have over this kind of player.

For the sake of argument let's assume I call the 1200 raise preflop and take the flop. Here is the flop:

Flop: (t3600) J Q K (2 players)

The pot is now 3600 and I have 3113 behind. Assume the SB puts me all in. What if he checks? Min bets? Moves now? Anyone getting away from this?

I feel I could have played conservatively, and had the fish eliminated the strong short stack, I could have taken some flops and attempted to out play the weaker player, with the consolation prize being 2nd instead of 3rd on a loss. Also, the short stack could have doubled through the fish and I could have had a bigger problem on my hands.

Summary: Is playing preflop hand selection the optimal strategy against your typical table fish big stack, with a strong short stack remaining? Or do we prefer to take flops with this kind of strong hand? Anyone feel like playing uber passive and folding, hoping the short stack is eliminated before we play the fish? The more I think about this, the less cut and dry it seems.

Richard

Easy all-in pre for me ; if you see a flop you may get outplayed when it comes weakly for you and he makes a big bet, but preflop you are a solid favourite unless he has aces (which you would expect to be less than 10% of the time here, so negligible).

Lol. This.

At this stage of the tournament, i.e. these blinds and stacksizes, is there ever a hand you could just call with? I don't think so. Either shove or fold. In this case I'd advocate a shove.