AKo in the BB.

Small pot limit HE game. Blinds are 2/4 (Swedish crowns, divide by 10 to get approx $ amount).


I'm in the BB with AKo, it's folded to SB who raises the pot. SB plays well but is overaggressive at times. Primarily a limit player. I've seen him raise preflop several times with KQo, AJo and similar hands. I figure that he'll keep firing at me all the way if he hits a hand that I have dominated. I just call for deception. SB has about 250 and I have him covered.


Pot: 24

Flop: Ks Td 9s


Not a perfect flop. But I have top pair which I think is good. I also have the As for the backdoor. SB fires the pot at me. I call.


Pot: 72

Turn: (3h) Ks Td 9s


SB fires at me again. Again I just call.


Pot: 216

River: (Jh) Ks Td 9s


SB fires 150 more all-in. It's up to me.


Flame away. I know I played this hand very unconventionally, if not straight out crappy.


Sincerely, Andreas

Big mistake on the flop. There are too many cards that can come to put the frighteners on. Reraise the flop and see where you stand. If you want a guy to bluff off his whole stack do it on the K73 flop, not a flop like this where half the deck looks bad on the turn or river.


After incorrectly calling the flop, i would make a big raise on the turn(possibly allin), if i felt i had him and the pot is big enough. Normally i would not make such a play on just top pair top kicker, but in this situation it looks like a big enough hand to back with your whole stack. Playing the way you did, you are far more likely to trap yourself rather than him, which is precisely what happened.

Headsup pot limit is a tricky ball game. AK is not a trap hand. So don't try to trap with it.


Is he so aggressive that he'll check-raise on the turn with only a weak top pair? Is he only aggressive pre flop? Have you seen him go all in on the river as a pure bluff? Have you seen him call all-in bets with only a draw? blah blah blah......


Here's how I'd do it.


Re-raise preflop right away. He's almost certainly going to see a flop with you, so get some money in there now while you likely have the best hand and to build a pot for later. Also, if by some chance he has a monster like AA or KK, you can figure it out sooner and get away.


On the flop, raise now. Hopefully he has a straight draw or flush draw and will push it hard. In either case you have one of his outs. So he's drawing to 8 or 7 outs. And you have a redraw on the flush if it comes on the turn anyway.


You're in even better shape if he has a worse king.


If he out-flopped you so be it. Against a player like this, flopping top pair ace kicker heads up is a golden opportunity. By letting him see the flop cheap and giving him the momentum, you may have let him out flop you and it was worth it because of the implied odds.


By re-raising preflop, you get a nice chunk of chips in there and can feel good now about committing with a big hand like top pair ace kicker. If he stood a re-raise with KT, oh well. If he was holding a monster like KK or TT oh well that's poker.


There's a threshhold in pot limit where committing with top pair is ok. In order to get there, you gotta build the pot preflop.


natedogg

Natedogg said most of what you needed to hear. I will add a general comment. You cannot play timid poker at pot-limit (or no-limit), you will be eaten alive by the better players and you give bad players opportunities that will kill you - as the above hand illustrates so well.


You must be aggressive when the situation calls for it and your situation clearly called for it.

I started to look at the board. K J T 9 3. Not many reasonable hands I can beat with that board. AA/KK/JJ/TT/99/33/KQ/KJ/KT/QJ/QT/Q9/JT/T9/J9. My only hope was either that he had two spades and was desperate on the end or a stone cold bluff. It would take a set of steel balls to bluff every street.


I folded.


Both natedogg and Mr. Peterson are right. I feel that both reraising and calling preflop are OK options vs. this player. But Mr. Peterson is absolutely right that this is not the flop to play meekly with. That was my biggest mistake.


My opponent showed med 7-2o. If the river was any other card then a J or a Q I would have called. So my trap almost worked. But I trapped my self instead.


Sincerely, Andreas