UTG is pretty loose/spewy from what I have seen so far (he doubled me up on AT9A4 board after calling my river shove with 77 when i had AQ earlier). He opens quite frequently so I am not overly concerned with him. MP hasn't been at the table too long, but he hasn't played too many pots so far and has been pretty tight (I don't have PT yet so no stats ). The button has been relatively active, and although he hasn't done anything too terribly bad I wouldn't exactly say he is a good player either. On to the hand...

UTG opens pretty light/often like I said so nothing new there. This hand was the first time MP had 3-bet pre so that set some alarms off. But as soon as he 3-bet the button snap called without hesitation. I wasn't sure what to think about it. I figured the button more than likely had a medium strength hand, and given the action ( and the fact that 4 bet bluffs are very very rare at 10 NL) I figured that there was a decent chance that I could get them all to fold, and that even if somebody shoved I still would have decent equity. Please let me know what you think is the optimal line for me to take here...


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

BB: $5.00
UTG: $9.95
MP: $10.00
CO: $10.40
BTN: $12.90
Hero (SB): $16.20

Pre Flop: Hero is SB with A K
UTG raises to $0.25, MP raises to $0.80, 1 fold, BTN calls $0.80, Hero raises to $3.50, 2 folds, MP calls $2.70, 1 fold

Flop: ($8.15) 2 7 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $7, MP calls $6.50 all in

Turn: ($21.15) Q (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($21.15) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Shove pre flop. Thats ur only choice here. The reason for that being they may fold better hands like 8-10s and you just pick up the money there. The other reason would be so ur not in a horrible spot on the flop. If ur leading the flop why not just shove pre flop?

Shove pre seems awful to me. I really dont see the point in shoving in whats it effectively 100 BBs into a 20 BB pot. Am I wrong for thinking that?

I'd prob cold call preflop.

Ok this is another possible line to take. What are the advantages of cold calling preflop? I know were very deep but this doesn't seem like a great spot for me to profitably play AK oop post flop. Do I just hope to flop a monster and folding everything else?

Hmmm no...do you see why?

edit: BTW, thats a very sucky PF spot here, I agree calling is best. I bet any flop with an A or a K and go from there. I c/f anything else...

Cold four betting is massively overepping your hand... AK *seems* a bit too strong to just fold preflop, so I call. Play for high card value is about it. I'd do same with QQ/JJ. Folding isn't a bad line either. Unless the 3bettor is a spewtard, I don't like 4bet. And as played def c/f this flop.

The reason I jammed the flop was because he tanked it preflop before cold calling and kept asking me to show my hand if he folded. I figured the only shot I had at taking the pot (aside from making a pair) was to jam and make him fold.

you really must be joking with your entire response.

one---you'd just call with QQ?????

are you aware this is 10NL? the players in question could easily have A7 and J9sooted. calling here with QQ is just plain disgusting.

As for AK, i'm raising, and i'm happy to get all my chips in.

yes, i have absolutely no respect for the opponents at 10nl and nobody else playing there should either. raise their weak/tight backsides into submission.

I agree that cold calling is a good option here but shoving is not that horrible either.

So what happens if we call here and see an Ace high flop with another broadway card? Would we lead out and fold to a raise? C/c any non 3 bet? Is this generally a good spot to play AK weak?