Is folding AK preflop an option here? (4 handed to a cold call)

[Unarmed]

$5 PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (4 handed)

SB (t3325)
Hero (t2345)
UTG (t3570)
Button (t4260)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K/images/graemlins/heart.gif, A/images/graemlins/heart.gif.
UTG folds, <font color="CC3333">Button raises to t600</font>, SB calls t525, Hero...

[NotMitch]

I would push.

[Bremen]

I assume the button has been pretty aggresive to build his stack? Cold call from SB gives me a little pause for concern. Button could be on quite a range of hands, SB is hopefully calling with AQ however a pp is not out of the question. Since you're the short stack I push and hope to double up.

[Unarmed]

No notes on either, which basically means they haven't done anything stupid.

[Monster]

You most certainly do not fold.

Personally, I would just call. If the flop doesn't hit you, check &amp; fold. However, if it does, you push. With a pot that large, I would guess that you'll get at least one caller and therefore won't miss out on the "double up" opportunity that you had by pushing pre-flop. In addition, you have less uncertainty to deal with, which is huge in a tournament in my opinion.

[Bremen]

Call and push only if the flop hits him? I dunno, you're calling 1/4 of your stack and you're already the short stack on the bubble.

[Unarmed]

I considered folding because:
1) These guys weren't idiots
2) I was hoping they would bust/cripple each other

I didn't fold the hand, just was curious if anyone considered it a true option. Calling isnt horrible from an odds perspective. I'll hit my A or K 1/3 of the time, (slightly less if raiser has Ax but my implied odds are great when the ace falls in that case) and I'm getting better odds than that from the pot.

Pushing I don't like because of point #2.
Then again, point #1 sort of makes point #2 unlikely.

[Bremen]

You know, now I'm not sure /images/graemlins/crazy.gif I've always played for bust when I'm the short stack on the bubble. This means I do bust out 4th alot however I place 1st more often than any other position. Perhaps I need to rexamine how aggressive I am... I guess it mostly depends on how soon the blinds go up. If they're going up real soon then potentially call/fold looks really bad to me. If you have time to play at the current level... well maybe call push if the flop hits you is correct.

[ChrisV]

PUSH. If you aren't pushing here you need to look at your game because you are playing scared. You're on the short stack, what's your alternative plan? Fold until you make the money? Calling I don't like because the pot is going to be laying you a massive price on the flop.

AA and KK are incredibly unlikely holdings for either of them, given your hand. KK is virtually impossible for the SB in view of his play. SB either has AA (very unlikely) or absolute rubbish, something like 55 or KJ. Imagine you are SB facing a push from BB with 55 here. Do you call? And even if he does, you have very good odds to double through on him, leaving you with over 5000 chips and a commanding position.

[betgo]

Push! AK is a big hand 4-handed. Sklansky wrote a section in his tournament book on how good it is to push with AK. You are short stacked and you probably shouldn't be flat calling any raises. I will probably be flamed for this, but I would push here with AQ as well.

[lastchance]

Y'know what?

You guys are right. AKs is monster hand 4 handed. You're not going to get better spots than this. Send all those chips on in, be damned the consequences.

[ZBTHorton]

Your 4 handed... if your not pushing with AK...what are you looking for exactly?

This is automatic in my opinion.

Personally, when you get four handed...I always see alot of "all in or nothing" bets anyway. So KK and AA are not very likely.

[Unarmed]

HAHAHAHAHA

Relax guys... I pushed it. /images/graemlins/grin.gif
But I at least thought about my other options, and wanted to see if that made any sense.

Anyway SB had QQ and took it down, not that it matters.
Reason I posted this is I finish 4th 20% of the time I play (1st 18%, 2nd 17%, 3rd 11%) and wanted to post a few bubble hands as this seems overly high to me. I normally play extremely aggressive on the bubble.

[ChrisV]

Not sure about "these guys weren't idiots". I can't think of a much worse hand to just call with than QQ. I guess JJ is worse.

Note that if you just call, on a typical ragged flop, say Jc 9h 3s, you are pretty close to having odds to call the rest of your chips against SB's QQ. Being allin vs folding represents a loss of something like 270 chips. I think this is more than compensated for by your fold equity if you reraise, plus the times your preflop reraise is called by something like AQ.