AK vs 66 how high to reraise?

[TStoneMBD]

We're at 1/2 NL and both relevant players have about 100 chips.

UTG opens for 10. He is extremely LAG
Fold to me.
I'm in MP2 with AK and reraise it to 25.
Everyone folds back to UTG and he calls.

Flop comes K68r

UTG bets 20
I call

Turn comes rag

UTG goes all in for $50
I call

UTG shows 66 for 3 of a kind.


My question for this hand is, how much do you guys think I should reraise before the flop? My thoughts on the manner after the hand would be to raise it higher, maybe to 30-35 instead. I want him to lay this hand down, and if the player is as LAG as I thought he was, he was going to call my reraise with his garbage pocket pair anyway.

[Fnord]

I flat call pre-flop, unless you plan on playing Ace high or think he'll laydown to a big re-raise. Big Slick just ain't the same powerhouse in NL as he is in Limit.

Given the money in the pot relative to stacks, I push on the flop. You're losing your stack there...

[vulturesrow]

Well if your read is right he probably wont lay down his PP even if you had bet more pf. After that it is hard to fault your play..sets are tough to read and more often than not you will be paying the guy off.

Chris

[TStoneMBD]

In reply to the post who said I should push all in on the flop: I disagree with this entirely. Chances are with his raise preflop I am either a huge favorite on a flop like this or a huge dog. If this player is feeling me out with JJs why should I let him know that I have him beat when I can just flat call here. The only hand that he can river me with other than a PP is QK.

[Boylermaker]

I would also disagree with the idea of flat calling the preflop raise rather than reraising when holding AK. AK is a huge hand irregardless of whether its limit or no limit.

[Ian M.]

I would probably reraise it to 30-40 here.

[cornell2005]

flat calling the flop is better than pushing for several reasons. you dont want to fold out aJ, A10, even Ax. hands that are behind you are pretty far behind also. and you arnt folding out any hands you want to fold out by raising. the better strategy is to call then get all in by the turn. you definently had it correct.

[t_petrosian]

Sometime you just lose. I think you played fine.

[t_petrosian]

By the way, if he had AA and you reraised it as some here are suggesting, then you would have posted this hand and people would be saying you shouldn't have raised it so much. So, like my previous post - you played fine. Sometimes you just are not going to win. We all know how lovely it is to flop a set, because it's so deceiving and we make good money. He flopped his set and made money - reload and win it back!!

Good luck!

[JohnG]

[ QUOTE ]
My question for this hand is, how much do you guys think I should reraise before the flop?

[/ QUOTE ]

With 100 chips and 10 to call, just call. This is roughly the borderline. If you both have less, say 70, then re-raise. Have position post flop, and can double through hands that fold to a re-raise preflop. You can also make money when he keeps bluffing. Can also get away when beat. etc.

[JohnG]

[ QUOTE ]
I would also disagree with the idea of flat calling the preflop raise rather than reraising when holding AK. AK is a huge hand irregardless of whether its limit or no limit.

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends on money ratios.

[Leo Bello]

I think it was well played. It is tough to read a seat, and if he is really LAG as you describe, he wouldn´t fold to a bigger reraise pre-flop, and risking 40% of your chips in a hand like this.

[soah]

According to Ciaffone: "Raising on AK in a NL cash game is by no means automatic." He does recommend raising to isolate a loose player, but doesn't say anything about ever re-raising with it.

In your situation, reraising to to 25 creates a situation where the pot is 50 and each player has 75 left. At this point the pot is so big that it's tempting to push with nearly anything, and it's hard to fold anything as well. Reraising to 30-35 only makes that situation worse. You're creating a situation where you're either going all-in on the flop with ace high, or where you're folding a huge pot to a maniac. Pushing all-in up front would at least give you better fold equity, but I don't think many would would agree that all-in with AK pre-flop is winning poker. /images/graemlins/frown.gif Your only option left is to call and see what happens. I just don't think there's any way to avoid losing your stack here when the guy raises so much and then hits his set.

[JohnG]

[ QUOTE ]
According to Ciaffone: "Raising on AK in a NL cash game is by no means automatic." He does recommend raising to isolate a loose player, but doesn't say anything about ever re-raising with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think he would re-raise, unless the money ratios are such that it would be allin.

I also don't think he would automatically raise a loose limper. Other factors would come into it. i.e. his position and how likely an isolation raise would be to get him position seeing the flop. i.e. loose limper UTG and he is next to act, he may well just limp.

That's the feeling I get after discussing the subject with him.

Cash game or tournament is irrelevant. It's depth of money that really matters, along with lack of ante.