AK hand. What's the best play?

[reallybigshoe]

Party NL $25 table. I'm in CO with AK of hearts. MP2 min. raises, I reraise to $3. Button calls, as well as SB and BB. MP2 calls.
Both blinds were huge stacks at the table, relatively speaking, so I felt like the Button priced them for a call and they wanted to gamble. The Button was really loose, seeing a lot of flops. No read on MP2.

Pot is $15 roughly. I have about $19 in my stack. I make up my mind that on a good flop with a potential draw I push, as a value bet is going to cost me over half my stack anyway.

Flop comes K-7-2, two hearts.

I got what I wanted, it's checked to me and I push. Button reraises himself all-in.

Does anybody play this differently? Is this more of a tourney move than a ring game?

I'll post results after some comments.

Thanks in advance.

[Malachii]

So let me get this straight: You pick up a monster hand, flop top pair and the nut flush draw, get all in against a donk, and are asking if you could have played this hand differently? Surely you have more interesting hands to post than this, come on dude.

Nice hand btw

[reallybigshoe]

[ QUOTE ]
So let me get this straight: You pick up a monster hand, flop top pair and the nut flush draw, get all in against a donk, and are asking if you could have played this hand differently? Surely you have more interesting hands to post than this, come on dude.


[/ QUOTE ]

Here me out and think this scenario through. When I push, what's really the only hand someone would call with?

(waiting)

So, is a more reasonable play a check to see what Button does? If he is slowplaying his (waiting...) then I get a free card, maybe make the flush on the turn and then he decides to play and I checkraise all-in then. Or perhaos a continuation bet of around 40% of the pot on the flop--letting me get away from the hand against an all-in reraise.

I'm just wondering, since I've been playing MTTs lately, if this kind of move is a little extreme in a cash game scenario.

[reallybigshoe]

What I'm really asking is this? How aggressive do you play
TPTK in a multi-way pot, where the set potential is far greater than heads up just by sheer statistical probability, and since most fairly loose players will call raises pre-flop with any pair looking for a set and realizing that implied odds justifies it (I play this way too and it has been fairly lucrative at the NL $25 tables)

If nobody had anything, wouldn't a smaller raise have done the job, or maybe strung an AQ or AJ along to the end and gotten more money out of him?

(I'm sort of answering my own post I know, but I would appreciate an analytical persepctive, not just the "This is waste of time" BS. I don't feel this is a waste of time post.)

[largos]

Hi!
It doesn`t matter wot the other guy has , you are going to push it in anyway , not?
You played it well , did you win?

[reallybigshoe]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi!
It doesn`t matter wot the other guy has , you are going to push it in anyway , not?
You played it well , did you win?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, the Button had 77, full house on the turn, blah blah, whine, whine, jump off a bridge, Part Poker donks, etc. etc.

And no, I do feel in retrospect that there are alternatives, mainly considering that any set is probably going to slowplay to the turn and then push, or maybe make some small bet on the flop to drag us all with him just because we're getting pot odds. (I know I would check here with a set and fire on the turn.)

Would a half-pot bet on the flop let me define his hand and get away from mine when he comes over the top? Or would most people consider themselves committed to the pot at that point? I just can't help thinking that I played this like an MTT, where as ring games are about not making bold moves without the nuts and grinding out small pots.

[reallybigshoe]

This is the second time in 24 hrs I've pushed with TPTK in a mulit-way pot where the pot had been raised pre-flop and was therefore substantial compared to my stack. Both times I have been busted by low sets.

So, in multi-way pots with AK when the pot has been raised to weed out limpers playing A or K-rag, then a flop of A or K and two low cards represents a sort of classic way ahead/way behind scenario. Is there any merit therefore to checking the flop? What is the best way to find out where you are in the hand and not do stupid sht like I've been doing and pushing when the only calls are AA or a set.

[subzero]

When they both checked, I'm betting to build the pot. Most likely nobody else is on a flush draw and another heart might kill the action. Since you only have $19, any bet commits you so you might as well push. If button had you covered, you were getting almost 2:1 on the pot when he called. You're about a 2:1 underdog to the river against 77 so the play ended up being marginal. But the button could have a high pair like TT-QQ.

Stack sizes are important. If you and the button had big stacks, you can get away from the hand when the board pairs. But with your small stack, I'd just push.

[jtr]

[ QUOTE ]
Pot is $15 roughly. I have about $19 in my stack.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is all you need to know here. I understand your question about whether your move was more of a tournament play than a cash game play, but given the size of your remaining stack compared to the pot, I believe the logic governing your flop action is pretty much identical to a high-blinds tournament situation. The guy will call you with all sorts of hands that have a K or some hearts in them.

[fimbulwinter]

[ QUOTE ]
This is the second time in 24 hrs I've pushed with TPTK in a mulit-way pot where the pot had been raised pre-flop

[/ QUOTE ]

there's your problem. you want to play AK

- all in preflop with substantial dead money/against bad opponents/in unusual circumstances
- in a raised pot where you have position against 1-2 callers
- in a raised pot OOP against one or 0 callers.
- very carefully/passivley in an unraised multiway pot OOP

bet preflop so that the above happens. also, AK is not worth a ton per instance, so taking out a blind and a limp is fine.

fim

[jtr]

But he did bet preflop, right? He re-raised.

OP, I really don't see a problem with your play here. This is not just TPTK being overplayed, you have the nut flush draw as well, and that makes a world of difference. I really like the push.

[djoyce003]

you have tptk and the nut flush draw and your stack is roughly the size of the pot. If you bet half the pot, and he reraises you all in, you have to call just from the pot odds size of this. You really have no choice on this hand other than to push. If the stacks were deeper you could consider playing it differently but i'd push and i'd be happy when he called. Anyone with a K will call, and QQ JJ 10 10 might even call. Also anyone with two hearts could also call. You didn't play the hand badly, you just got an unlucky bounce...sometimes you'll be the guy with 77 stacking off someone just like you, it happens, that's poker. Nice hand.