This is a common situation but one that I struggle with. Do we shove here? A lot of the time villain is showing AA/KK which I am miles behind. Do we like getting AKs/Ako in pre?

Villain was running at 37/7/4 over 55 hands


Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG: $10.15
MP: $11.14
CO: $9.90
BTN: $12.86
Hero (SB): $10.50
BB: $10.34

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is SB with K A
3 folds, BTN calls $0.10, Hero raises to $0.40, 1 fold, BTN raises to $1.20, Hero raises to $2.50, BTN raises to $12.86 all in, Hero?

Just variance that you keep running into top of their range, getting it in here is super standard. I'd have 4-bet $3.50

you're right to get it in, but your 4bet is too small, needs to be more like $4

4b sizing sucks and yes this is standard.

Easy call

Agree with 4bet needs to be more especially oop

@ ipoker this is a fold

i'd rather shove than minraise here, sucks looking at a 50bb pot OOP if we whiff. $4 or so is even better as a minraise has about zero FE

When its in my control, im almost always felting AK preflop in LP / blinds, simply because its a drawing hand and i want to see all 5 cards -Dont want to be forced into folding the flop with 40% of the board missing.

Question!!
I do something else w/ AK which i'm not sure if its a leak. My standard 4bet for value / bluff is 25-27% effective stacks. However, with AK alot of the time i will 4bet to at least 30%, solely for the purpose of making sure the villain knows he has no fold equity (and therefore doesn't get too fancy with the hands im flipping with). Is this bad for the micros / ssnl? I assume that because of the massive player pools, most players wouldnt be picking up on it

Well the reason to 4 bet small (not quite this small) is to allow yourself to get away when it is apparent you are crushed. I like 2.5X. Edit: actually its more in play when you are including light 4 bets, which are almost non existent at this level.

Not saying I dislike the play since I have only laid down AKs like a couple times max in the past 20,000 hands but I am not convinced it is long term +EV against a tight raising and 3betting reg at <25NL...

This, you're almost min reraising him there, and are never going to get him to do anything other then shove it over the top.

Oh I def. understand the theory behind small 4b, to induce shoves and get away from bluffs on the cheap. But its def not necessary at 10NL and in situations like this its really not necessary because villain will have no clue what we are doign regardless. But I agree with what you're saying, but nonetheless the sizing is still on the small side. If we're doing that i prefer like 3.

Well if making this bet could make villain spaz with a wider range then that's actually an argument for making a 4bet of this size. If he has QQ+ I doubt our 4 bet sizing is going to be important unless he views us as an ubernit.

Incidentally, I am not sure if I have ever laid down QQ preflop head to head.

AK sucks in all-ins on NL10. And when guy with PFR 7 raises you all-in, you`re either behind or see another AK.
Why you reraised him? And why you did it so small? You wouldn`t scare him off the hand with that.

i used to think the same thing, but I've changged. you can't mindlessly go AI with AK w/o considering your opponent, but you have to consider -

- fish, especially short fish, will always go AI with worse aces and sometimes weird **** like j7o

- you'll probably also fold pocket pairs up through JJ, and there's usually enough dead money to make it worthwhile, we're flipping with QQ and still somewhat live against KK

i would still much rather shove AK rather than call a shove though, especially from a 7%pfr. here I would probably find a fold as he's the one shoving our FE is shot and he's raising such a narrow range, but it isn't always an instafold.

So for example with a shortie here whats the best move? Call his all in 4 bet? He had just joined our table 3 hands ago and had played every single hand


Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG: $37.58
CO: $4.29
Hero (BTN): $11.10
SB: $11.50
BB: $11.03

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with A K
1 fold, CO raises to $0.30, Hero raises to $1.20, 2 folds, CO raises to $3.75, [color=red]Hero?

Yeah, gotta put him in for the rest.

I'd be prepared to get it in with AQ against that guy tbh, with a little more history sometimes I shove as low as AJs