A big leak in my play, I think. AK early

[theredbaron]

I am almost to the point of folding AK preflop in level 1 UTG. I can't seem to ever fold out anyone and every time I limp-reraise it, I GET CALLED!!!!. Just venting. Obligatory HH follows:


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

MP2 (t1123)
MP3 (t995)
CO (t400)
Button (t775)
SB (t770)
BB (t807)
UTG (t815)
Hero (t775)
UTG+2 (t695)
MP1 (t845)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A/images/graemlins/club.gif, K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif.
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, Hero calls t15, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP1 calls t15, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP3 calls t15, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">BB raises to t30</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t775 (All-In)</font>, MP1 folds, MP3 folds, BB calls t745.

Flop: (t1590) 2/images/graemlins/club.gif, A/images/graemlins/spade.gif, Q/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Turn: (t1590) Q/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

River: (t1590) 7/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t1590

[bkbluedevil]

Don't overbet the pot that much.
On a side note, can you please read for a little bit rather than posting 6 hands a time. People, myself included, would be much more likely to give you help. Also I find that the best type of questions for new players to ask aren't new threads but questions within threads. If I or another poster says something like "push this" and doesn't explain it well, ask us why we think that.

[lastchance]

Just raise preflop first in and call a raise for a nice standard line that doesn't make you do stupid stuff like this.

[tminus]

why are you pushing so early ? you're risking 775 chips to gain 50

thsi early in the game its only a couple of high cards...just raise 4 bets and fold if it doesnt hit

[theredbaron]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't overbet the pot that much.
On a side note, can you please read for a little bit rather than posting 6 hands a time. People, myself included, would be much more likely to give you help. Also I find that the best type of questions for new players to ask aren't new threads but questions within threads. If I or another poster says something like "push this" and doesn't explain it well, ask us why we think that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ive been reading for quite a while and I have searched quite extensively. I am only posting these hands to gain insight into how others would play them. thanks for your help.

[pokerlaw]

Raise PF. Don't do this anymore please (unless you are at my table /images/graemlins/smile.gif)

[11t]

Why limp-reraise people with AK? Just play it straight and fold on the flop if you don't hit and you have a community pot or throw out a continuation bet if its HU.

[yabastid]

baron,
you seem to have AK backwards early on. Against 5 opponents you're basically miniraising (see other post when you raised to 50) and against one you're pushing? This doesn't make good poker sense. As for this hand you can repop him to 100-125 or just call his miniraise. If he had 22 or 77 he's folding to a good sized bet on the flop if he has AQ well you're in trouble. Take it easy early on with AK- there' no shame in limping in the early levels and definitely no shame in folding when rags hit the flop. When the blinds are at 75/150 and 100/200 and so on be very aggressive with it- Reraise, open push, make big raises from all positions, etc.

yabastid

[theredbaron]

My "standard" play for AK is to raise the pot if multiple limpers or 4x bb if only one or two. Lately though, I often get callers in either scenario and end up out of position on a a rag flop without a clue.

If reraised, I have to look at any history or notes I have on the opponent to see if I want to call.

I appreciate the help.

[pokerlaw]

[ QUOTE ]
My "standard" play for AK is to raise the pot if multiple limpers or 4x bb if only one or two. Lately though, I often get callers in either scenario and end up out of position on a a rag flop without a clue.

If reraised, I have to look at any history or notes I have on the opponent to see if I want to call.

I appreciate the help.

[/ QUOTE ]

keep on playing it w a raise first in and a reraise to limpers. don't let a few unlucky hands throw you off your strategy.

[Matt R.]

I wouldn't make a full pot-sized raise with more than 2 limpers at the 11's, it's too much of your stack. If there's a ton of limpers, and the amount in the pot is approaching ~40% of my stack, I'll push. However, if your stack is big enough, or blinds are small enough, where this isn't the case, I'll make a raise but not the full pot size (unless my stack is ginormous). For instance, if there's something like 4 limpers to you in level 2, I'd raise to maybe about 160-175. It's big enough to punish the limpers with crap cards, but it doesn't build the pot up so huge where a continuation bet is like half your stack. You might not think the 30-45 chip difference is all that much, but when you get a caller or 2, the pot gets so large that you don't have much room to work with post-flop (i.e., it's all-in or check/fold much of the time).

By the way, not a big fan of the limp-reraise all-in with the pot this small. If you're going to make this play, wait until the blinds are higher or something so it's worth doing.

[theredbaron]

[ QUOTE ]


By the way, not a big fan of the limp-reraise all-in with the pot this small. If you're going to make this play, wait until the blinds are higher or something so it's worth doing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yah, I was just frustrated. I have occasionally done this previously and been successful in that I get to show how "wild" I am when everyone folds, or I get called by a low pocket pair or a bad ace and double up early.

In this case AQ called and made a boat on the flop. I made a bad raise and he certainly made a horrible call, but thats poker.

[clutch]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Don't overbet the pot that much.
On a side note, can you please read for a little bit rather than posting 6 hands a time. People, myself included, would be much more likely to give you help. Also I find that the best type of questions for new players to ask aren't new threads but questions within threads. If I or another poster says something like "push this" and doesn't explain it well, ask us why we think that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ive been reading for quite a while and I have searched quite extensively. I am only posting these hands to gain insight into how others would play them. thanks for your help.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the second AK post of yours I've read in the last couple of minutes. They are both horribly misplayed. Here you limped and then pushed with a tiny pot at stake. In the other hand, you raised to only 50 after 4 limpers. There's something fundamentally wrong when you are playing this hand so different from the other. It seems like you are choosing a line at random.

You seem pretty frustrated. You also seem like you want to fix the leak. You have to come up with a general strategy for how you want to play AK. The best way to do that is to follow the advice of some of the other poster's and do a search. Search for "AK". You will find threads on how to play AK in every situation imaginable.

[theredbaron]

Looking at my PT stats, I have held AKo and Aks about 300 times in 500 some odd tournaments (not a lot I know). I need to do a little further research on it. I have posted the two most extreme examples of the approaches I have tried.

In position, it's a lot more comfortable. In early position, say UTG or in the blind early in a tournament, my feeling is that AK is just about worthless. If I limp it, I give all the idjits free draws. If I raise it, I just throw money down the toilet.