Hi Everyone! I'm new to this forum, first time posting. To give you guys a bit of background about myself, I'm very much a beginner of the game. Just started playing regularly on Pokerstars about a month ago. I've been playing 0.02/0.05 stakes, just on one table. I'm asking for advice regarding a big pot I played with Aks. Any advice is very welcome and appreciated!

blinds: 0.02/0.05
my stack: $4.45

Villian Raises to 0.20 in mid position

I re-raise late position with Ah Kh to 0.80

Villian re-raises 2.17 to 2.97 and is all-in

I called him and he turned over JJ, lost the flip in the end.


I felt it was unlikely he had AA or KK since I was holding AK. I thought his most likely hand range was TT-QQ. I calculated the breakeven % to be 3.24/2.17 = 1.49, 100/1.49+1 = 40%. As I anticipated it was gonna be a flip, I chose to call because my chances of winning the hand are greater than the b/e % I calculated. This was my thought process and I'm interested to hear your opinions. Could I have played this hand differently in this situation? Once again, any advice at all is welcome, and sorry for the long post!

Call

Sorry, I didn't get this. How did you get 3.24?

That's how much was in the pot after villain shoved I believe.

You played it great. I don't like the way villain played his Jacks.

Your 3bet is standard, imo. You have position and a card advantage versus his range and a card advantage versus his 3 bet continuation range. 3 betting is superior to calling.

His 4 bet with Jacks is a bit loose, imo. Maybe he thought he had a read on you. Had you been 3 betting a lot? Do you always fold to 4 bets? Personally, I don't like 4 betting Jacks because they aren't doing too well against anyone he wants to keep playing and they are a fine calling hand because they do pretty good versus your 3betting range. He was short stacked. Maybe he just figured WTF.

I would basically insta-call his shove. In fact, if he had just regular 4 bet you, I think you should 5 bet shove yourself. We have to be willing to play more than just AA and KK versus opponent's 4 bets otherwise we become very exploitable. (They could just 4bet every time). So we need to widen it a little bit against probably everyone but a tight EP player.

AKs isn't even doing that poorly versus a tight range like QQ+/AK. 37%? And if you think he is any looser than that, or has a light 4 bet range, then AKs is super-solid.

It turns out that you read him just right also. You should give yourself some credit for that as well. Reading the situation and reading the opponent is a big part of the game.

GL, Magnum