So whattya think about this play of AK?

[Student Caine]

So I have found AKo to be one of the tougher hands for me to play. It seems like I either win a small pot or lose a large one. I have been woprking on it, so please tell me how this looks:

Villain is a solid player.

Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (10 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

SB ($77.65)
Hero ($100)
UTG ($85.60)
UTG+1 ($68.55)
UTG+2 ($47.25)
MP1 ($215.95)
MP2 ($91.50)
MP3 ($70.85)
CO ($79.80)
Button ($103.25)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A/images/graemlins/heart.gif, K/images/graemlins/club.gif.
<font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, MP1 calls $1, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, CO calls $1, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($4) Q/images/graemlins/club.gif, 4/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, K/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(5 players)</font>
SB checks, Hero checks, <font color="#CC3333">MP1 bets $4</font>, CO folds, SB folds, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $8</font>, MP1 calls $4.

Turn: ($20) 5/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets $15</font>, MP1 calls $15.

River: ($50) 6/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="#CC3333">MP1 bets $25</font>, Hero calls $25.

Final Pot: $100

[DoubleDown]

Some might say to raise PF (but I think its alright to check here every now and then too ... especially if the table is loose, theres a good chance you will miss the flop and then be OOP for the rest of the hand) I think I'm probably 3:1 as to ratio of how often I raise PF vs. check.

Bet the flop ... youre OOP and need to find out where you are ... no need to get fancy with a check-min-raise. thats tells you nothing about the strength of your opponents hand and only inflates the pot when all you have is an OOP TPTK.

Bet the flop. If you get any callers, lead the turn strong again. Still getting callers to the river, value/blocking bet on the river ... re-evaluate if ever faced with agression

[dibbs]

The check PF is fine to me, mix it up though. If you think you could shake the early limpers (as I feel there is often a decent chance on UB) you might wanna kick it up.

I'm really not a checkraiser, if you are gonna checkraise it here I dont think it should be a minraise, it should be bigger. Problem with a min-checkraise here is you've swelled up the pot OOP and still don't really know where you're at. I like leading better but I'm interested in what others think.

I like turn and river combo, I think you have a decent shot to snap off a bluff on the end.

Hope it worked out.

[Student Caine]

Thanks for the input.

How big of a Flop bet? I was goin gto bet 1/2, but I figured that told my opponent I was weak. 3/4 - Full pot?

[DoubleDown]

i think being OOP in a multi-way pot i'd probably fire out for full-pot

[MixedNuts]

70% of the time I'd play it exactly like you did with one minor exception. Id raise on the flop $12-16 rather than $8. Is this too aggressive? i'm just not a fan of the 2x re-raise it seems like an auto-call to me by the villan

Of course AKo is a big loser for me. I win small pots or lose big ones to 2-pairs etc.
/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[theredpill5]

Ok, I can fix your problem but you have to listen to me. I absolutely hate the check raise on the flop. You are just inflating the pot way too big when you only have TPTK . You want to keep the pot somewhat small so you want to do some pot control or whatever. You can check/call here but I don't like raising to $8 on the flop. Especially since there is a Q and K on flop. Many people play KQ .

I say bet out on the flop. If they all call, bet out 1/2 to 3/4th pot on the turn providing no scarey cards hit (no 3rd suit cards, no possible straights made, etc)
You don't want to overdue your timidness but I'm saying if you bet the pot on flop and get called by 4 people and there were 2 hearts on the flop and a 3rd heart hits the turn. I would say proceed with caution and check the turn since it's highly likely someone has a flush.

Because you checkraised to $8 on the flop, your turn bet is huge . If you don't checkraise on the flop, you see how much smaller your turn bet would be ? I like to bet a lot when I have like two pair or better and save the smaller pots for one pair like pair of aces and king kicker. It's AK but it isn't a monster hand. By checkraising big on the flop, now you have huge bets on the turn and river. That isn't good in my opinion. Oh yeah, also, raise preflop 4x blind.

You are losing big pots because you are finding out that the only people willing to put in about $50 total by the river are people with two pair, sets, flushes, straights, etc. So basically you want those with middle pair and top pair bad kicker to call you and get some money out of them.

[theredpill5]

[ QUOTE ]
Id raise on the flop $12-16 rather than $8. Is this too aggressive?

[/ QUOTE ]
Bad advice. Why inflate pot so big on the flop ? Jesus christ, you are practically pot committing yourself. You only have top pair decent kicker. He could have had KQ and flopped two pair very easily. The trick to winning at poker is getting your opponents to put in a lot of money when you have a great hand like two pair, set, flush, and putting in a small amount when you aren't so strong like only a pair of aces, etc.

[MixedNuts]

Red,

I see your point, I'm trying to gather info and protect what I think is the best hand somewhat and paying too much for the information here. I guess my point was that If you were to CR, why just raise a "small" amount that has practically no chance of driving the guy out since you want to win the pot right there?

I tend to CR alot from the blind, but can see the danger in that strategy.

Thanks for the insights.
/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[noggindoc]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, I can fix your problem but you have to listen to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

priceless

[DoomSlice]

I'll gladly pot commit myself when I think I'm ahead.

[salloch]

PF-Raise pre flop to around $4
Flop - bet 1/2 to full pot on the flop (check-minraise, yuck)
Turn - okay
River - the way you played it through the check on the river makes this a very tough call. You really have no clue where you stand, because you played it so weakly.

-salloch

[TheWorstPlayer]

I either lead out on the flop or c/c, lead turn. I'm folding to a raise at any point. C/r flop just inflated the pot, OOP, with a hand that can't take much heat.

[Student Caine]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ok, I can fix your problem but you have to listen to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

priceless

[/ QUOTE ]

Hahaha yeah that line made me laugh. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Student Caine]

RESULTS: Villain had KQ and cleaned my clock.

Thanks very much to everyone for your input. This all makes sense and shows me why the logic I was using was wrong.

My Min-Check Raise was meant to strike fear into the better's heart as it was a check-raise, however in thinking about it I see people at the $1 tables pulling BS bluff min check-raises, so it is an idiotic raise.

Also, the fact that I check raise is in fact inflating the pot, which wound up sucking for me in the end.

Thanks a ton to everyone.