Early AK hand

[Turk]

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

MP2 (t800)
MP3 (t740)
CO (t1135)
Button (t320)
SB (t1360)
BB (t550)
UTG (t800)
Hero (t800)
UTG+2 (t695)
MP1 (t800)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif.
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t55</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, MP2 calls t55, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, Button calls t55, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">BB raises to t550 (All-In)</font>, Hero folds, MP2 folds, Button calls t265 (All-In).

Flop: (t990) T/images/graemlins/club.gif, 2/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 6/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 2 all-in)</font>

Turn: (t990) A/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 2 all-in)</font>

River: (t990) 7/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 2 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t990

[Voltron87]

Since you only raised to 55 it's an ok fold. I can definitely see the pushed having a premium hand as several people called a raise, so he probably thought "3 raise callers, I can get action, push". If you had raised to 100 or so it would have been a call. I might push to isolate, but if you don't it's an ok fold.

[Irieguy]

How did the BB and Button lose all their chips in level 1? Well, they either suck or got unlucky, and either way they are mad.

With this betting sequence it's usually an easy fold with AK, but under the circumstances my chips go in post haste.

Irieguy

[Voltron87]

[ QUOTE ]
How did the BB and Button lose all their chips in level 1? Well, they either suck or got unlucky, and either way they are mad.

With this betting sequence it's usually an easy fold with AK, but under the circumstances my chips go in post haste.

Irieguy

[/ QUOTE ]

I think a push to isolate could be good here. There is lot of dead money in the pot, so if you aren't against AA or KK it is a nicely +EV play.

As Irie said, it depends on how they lost their chips. Most of the time they are not beating AK.

[Turk]

[ QUOTE ]
How did the BB and Button lose all their chips in level 1? Well, they either suck or got unlucky, and either way they are mad.

With this betting sequence it's usually an easy fold with AK, but under the circumstances my chips go in post haste.

Irieguy

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess I just don't understand how to arrive at the conclusion that it is the correct play to get all in at this stage of the game.
Especially my understanding of the fact that AK is basically nothing unless you improve against a full table.

[Voltron87]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How did the BB and Button lose all their chips in level 1? Well, they either suck or got unlucky, and either way they are mad.

With this betting sequence it's usually an easy fold with AK, but under the circumstances my chips go in post haste.

Irieguy

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess I just don't understand how to arrive at the conclusion that it is the correct play to get all in at this stage of the game.
Especially my understanding of the fact that AK is basically nothing unless you improve against a full table.

[/ QUOTE ]

AK is a weak showdown hand unimproved, but it is a very strong "race" hand. If you go all in preflop with Ace King, think about the possible matchups:

AA or KK: Badly behind.
QQ on down: 50 50
AQ, KQ, AJ, etc, any unpaired cards: You are a big favorite over anything that will call.

Now, from a pushing pf point of view AK looks a lot better. Think about possible matchups (AK vs AQ, AK vs JJ) and you will get a better sense of how strong your hand is.