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View Full Version : Too tight or good AKo laydown?


trumpman84
10-07-2004, 07:02 AM
This is a live 8 person $10 tournament allowing one rebuy apiece, but the rebuy's starting chips is less than the original starting amount.

The total prizepool is $110 after a few rebuys and we decided to divide the money 70, 30, 10 respectively for 1st, 2nd, 3rd.

Anyway, there are six still remaining and blinds are 25/50. My stack is at about 1500 which is at or a little below average when I am dealt AKo on the button. After one limper I raise to 250. Small blind folds.

Big blind, had caught some hands earlier and had the entire table covered by at least 2 times, I'm guessing at least 5,000. He re-raises to 900. Limper folds and its back to me. I have a strong read for a pocket pair on this guy. I didn't think he'd make this move with AQ, AJ or any of the hands I'd like to see.

I was sure at best I was at a coinflip with a slight possibility of being a big dog, and I still had about 25x the big blind in my stack and felt no need to risk my stack on a coinflip and to wait for a better spot, and especially didn't want to risk a coinflip with someone who had me covered and had a easy call if I decided to move in.

In the end, I folded and showed my AKo, my opponent shows his JJ. The early position limper couldn't believe what I had just done. I have a lot of respect for the early position player and think he is a very good poker player, so I explained my reasoning by telling him I was risking my entire stack for at BEST around 47% odds. He told me I should come back over the top.

I asked him why I should risk my whole stack on a coinflip when I still have plenty of chips to play with and said that it's different putting all your chips in with AKo rather than calling them all off.

He said AK is the 3rd best starting hand and I should should at least see a flop with it. So, I said, "what should I do if the flop misses, which it will most of the time?" "Fold with only 350 chips remaining?, push with ace high and only two cards to come? call with ace high on a sure flop bet"

I told him I was 90% sure he had a pocket pair and asked him that if he was in my position and KNEW for a fact the big stack had a pocket pair, would he call off his entire stack on a coinflip? He said yes.

I think I'm in the right here, but I just want to see if any opinions here differ.


No less than 10 hands later, I bust him with pocket aces and say, "That's why I fold AKo there, there will be better chances to double up."

SunofTzu
10-07-2004, 07:20 AM
Fully agree with you. Unless you could have put the other player on something other than a pair then you are at least an 11:9 dog (even worse if he had Aces or Kings).

Second, AKo is never the 3rd best hand as far as most of the published hand rankings go. Some may have AKs as 3rd but AKo is down there round about 9th if you just want to work on that.

Lastly, my own feeling is that as pretty as AK looks..it's still not a made hand...it's a drawing hand, you have to pretty much hit something on the board to win. I tend to play AK fairly passively and prefer to see a flop cheaply with it.....not everyone plays it this way & of course I will vary depending on circumstances.

trumpman84
10-07-2004, 07:45 AM
Yea, I agree...
Sometimes, I play this hand differently. But it seemed that with 25 BB in the bank, up against the big stack and a reraise that's not going to make anyone fold, it was a really bad spot to be playing AK especially considering I was pretty sure he had a pair.

rjb03
10-07-2004, 07:55 AM
"what should I do if the flop misses, which it will most of the time?" "Fold with only 350 chips remaining?, push with ace high and only two cards to come? call with ace high on a sure flop bet"

Never call here. Push or fold and you don't have to ask these questions.

betgo
10-07-2004, 08:49 AM
I would push and I cetainly wouldn't show. If people know you will fold AK to a reraise, you will get reraised every time. A raise from the big stack is more suspect to be weaker. You are getting better than 3-2 pot odds. You are a slight dog against an underpair, a big dog against AA or KK, 3-1 favorite against Ax or Kx ,and atleast a 3-2 favorite against any other junk he may be making a move with. The odds favor a call. You can't play scared.

trumpman84
10-07-2004, 09:02 AM
Wouldn't being re-raised everytime work to my advantage when I wake up with a high pair or AK when I don't have such a strong read to my opponent having a pair?

rjb03
10-07-2004, 09:08 AM
[ QUOTE ]
I would push and I cetainly wouldn't show. If people know you will fold AK to a reraise, you will get reraised every time. A raise from the big stack is more suspect to be weaker. You are getting better than 3-2 pot odds. You are a slight dog against an underpair, a big dog against AA or KK, 3-1 favorite against Ax or Kx ,and atleast a 3-2 favorite against any other junk he may be making a move with. The odds favor a call. You can't play scared.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point I forgot to mention above. Don't show anyone that you folded this hand. They will walk all over you.

trumpman84
10-07-2004, 09:20 AM
[ QUOTE ]
If people know you will fold AK to a reraise, you will get reraised every time.

[/ QUOTE ]


How does this not work to my advantage if people are reraising my premiums with weaker hands? Obviously, I won't fold AKo to any re-raise...only an idiot would, I just thought this was a good situation.

betgo
10-07-2004, 09:47 AM
If you are going to fold anything less than QQ to a reraise, I certainly wouldn't let everyone know about it.

shadow29
10-07-2004, 09:51 AM
AK is not a drawing hand.