How many people think I should have gotten away from this hand?

[mikewvp]

Pokerstars $500+$30 NL tourney. Anyone play this hand differently? How?

EDIT / CLARIFICATION: Converter I used didn't show blinds etc. This is very early in the tournament, no reads. Blinds are still 10/20. UTG raises 200, UTG+1 cold calls, then to me preflop. Villain is UTG+1 throughout.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (9 handed) pokerhand.org hand converter (http://www.pokerhand.org)

MP1 (t2470)
Hero (t2460)
MP3 (t2270)
CO (t2560)
Button (t2590)
SB (t2520)
BB (t2240)
UTG (t2680)
UTG+1 (t2760)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, K/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
<font color="#CC3333">UTG raises to t200</font>, UTG+1 calls t200, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, Hero calls t200, MP3 calls t200, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>.

Flop: (t830) A/images/graemlins/spade.gif, T/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 8/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>
UTG checks, <font color="#CC3333">UTG+1 bets t400</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t1000</font>, MP3 folds, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls t600.

Turn: (t2830) 3/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
UTG+1 checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t1260 (All-In)</font>, UTG+1 calls t1260.

River: (t5350) K/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t5350

[ThrillFactor]

No, you can't get away from it. But why raise the flop? If you're ahead, then your opponent is at best drawing to 4 outs for a gutshot with KQ/KJ. I can't imagine he'd raise J9 UTG. So call and let him fire out again on the turn with his Ace-worse kicker, pocket pair, or total whiff.

[TheTimeIsUp]

But you think he would raise 10bb utg with KQ or KJ?? I don't think you could get away from this, unless you lay it down PF.

[MeanGreenTT]

By title, I assume you lost to a Set of Tens or Aces.

The only thing I'd consider is either re-raising pre-flop or tossing the hand away all together. I don't think folding is an option but I have to think that the UTG raiser doesn't want any callers with a 10xbb bet this early. I also have to assume that UTG+1 has to have some kind of hand to make this call.

[Rotating Rabbit]

[ QUOTE ]
But you think he would raise 10bb utg with KQ or KJ?? I don't think you could get away from this, unless you lay it down PF.

[/ QUOTE ]

Think you've got the villians confused.

I dont think hero can get away from it.

[ThrillFactor]

Damn misread the big blind as 50 and the raise to 4x.

Forget the KQ/KJ part, but the rest is pretty sound i believe.

Definitely a WA/WB situation, and almost certainly way ahead. Let him fire away till and hopefully he pot commits himself on the turn so that you can set him in.

Can't get away from it though.

[ThrillFactor]

Missed so many important details in the original hand that it's not even funny.

Most importantly that you had multiple opponents see a flop.

Disregard everything else I've said. You played the hand perfectly but you lost to TT or 88.

meh

[redsoxsox]

Im playing this hand the same way, Not much you can do if beat by a set of tens or aces.

[McMelchior]

AK is a long shot in a 4-way pot, and TPTK is far from always good with that many players seeing the flop.

Without reads you have no way of telling what UTG+1's half pot bet means, but considering there are 2 players to act after him it probably means he likes his hand.

When you move in on the flop you have pretty much decided for yourself - and without any additional information to support it - than you have the best hand. Once in a while you will see a player trying to move a multiway pot home from EP with marginal or drawings hands, but I'm not sure you're getting the necessary implied odds to check it here. On top of that you still know nothing about MP3.

AK is a hand I like to re-raise all-in PF, or call an aggro's EP all-in. Multiway flops with AK means "Proceed with uttermost care".

I would have liked a PF re-raise to T500 - enough to curtail the number of callers, and to gauge UTGs reaction to strengh. You would be facing a basically different situation on the flop if you had the 2 additional players cold-calling 20% of their stack preflop.

Best,

McMelchior (Johan)

[Kronon]

I cant see any big flaws in your game, except preflop. AK is a raising hand, and this pot is no exception. Raise to about 1k to get some suited connectors and small pairs to fold.

When he cold-calls on flop I would be slightly worried, but he would probably do that with an weak ace as well. Still, a more careful way to play it would be to check behind him on turn and then call him down on river. That way, you might get him to bluff if he missed his draw. The drawback is ofcourse that he could outdraw you on river.

But if he has you beat, and you have top two-pair with no strong draws on board, its not really much you can do. If you play pots like this weak, you will definitely win less in the long run.

[Bataglin]

Can't see any problem to get away from this. Easy fold preflop.

[runout_mick]

Why is this an easy fold preflop? Because of the cold call?

[TaintedRogue]

Call me what you will, but I have to put the 1st bettor preflop on a middle pair and the 1st caller on a bigger pair or AK.
I don't see someone betting 10x the big blind with KJ QJ, even if they are suited, or AQ when in early position and I definitely don't see one calling with less than a pocket pair.
Now when the flop came, you didn't know if your top pair was the best hand or not.
No, I don't play AK in that situation, not this early in the tourney.
Maybe that's why the best I've ever done in the $200 tourney is about 50 places out of the money. I've never won a satellite into the $500 tourney.

[wallofchips]

I like folding. The utg raised 10x the BB. This is a HUGE raise (It's early, so I'm assuming there's no ante) and utg+1 cold-calls. The cold call seems weird. This could be a slowplay with AA, maybe KK-at the very least it's a good hand. With both these players in you're trying to beat a big pair with at least one card dead. It's very possible another AK is out and you're playing for half the pot and more likely than usual the dreaded AA or KK could be out.

Against 2 players showing this much strength I think AK has negative implied odds. Every poster has agreed that you can't get away from this after the flop. That's the problem...you're either chopping with AK or losing to a set if you play a big pot. If you do win it usuall will be a small pot and you've risked a lot to win a little. In a tournament this is really bad because you could go broke on this hand.

If you do play it, how do you play it? Raising is scary because you open yourself to a reraise which you cannot call and giving the action that seems very posible (I'd be more worried about the caller reraising). If you reraise and get flat-called how are you going to feel? Is it a trap? Queens waiting for a safe flop? Will you bet the flop if you miss, or show weakness and take a free card? Raising seems crazy to me. It's too easy to get shut out before the flop, or get trapped, or end up bluffing off half you're stack on A-high.

Calling is not great either. You surrender the initiative and you may allow drawing hands behind you in cheap. However, you have to assume AK is a drawing hand in this situation. So I like calling better than raising to avoid shutting yourself out. This way you you can wait and use your position after the flop when you'll have more information about the hand. Also calling may disguise your hand.

Obviously I like calling better than raising, but I still like folding the best. It seems like a win small, lose big situation anyway you play it. You have nothing invested and no pair yet. Also, remember it's a tournament. You should be avoiding close gambles and protecting your chips, especially early. A final note: the blind structure at this point dictates very tight, conservative play...there's no need to gamble at this point.

I know some people will think folding is too tight. I would apprectiate feedback. I think my thought process here is pretty good, though. If not, please enlighten me. What am I missing?