AK first hand in the money

[moose47]

I normally play low-limit holdem but the current Stars reload bonus has given me a reason to go back and give SNGs a try again. I have spent the last 4 days reading every post I could in this forum and I think it has done a lot of good so I just want to say thanks to all the fine contributors here. So today was my first tournament in quite sometime and I know that I butchered this hand badly....

Button played solid aggressive poker early on but had tightened up considerably as we approached the bubble. We played about 15 hands on the bubble and I only remember him raising once preflop. Of course since the bubble burst he may have reverted to aggressive mode again for all I know. On to the hand...

Buy-In: $5 + 0.50

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (3 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Button (t5575)
Hero (t2820)
BB (t5105)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, K/images/graemlins/heart.gif.
Button calls t150, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t600</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, Button calls t450.

Flop: (t1350) Q/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 2/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 5/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero ??

This appears to be very good flop for me. Nothing suited, no obvious straight possibilities and just one high card. I'm thinking my hand is probably good here. So what should be my plan of attack? The pot is 1350 and I have more than 2200 remaining.

Do I bet a decent size like 800-900? Make a pot-size bet leaving myself with just 800 chips? Or push it all in now?

If I choose the first option then I have some room to manuever if my opponent comes over the top of me. If I bet the pot then I am pot-committing myself and I am almost forced to call a re-raise so I don't think that can be correct. If I push all-in I probably win the pot right there but if I get called I am dead to 6 outs at best. No one option is jumping out at me so I come here for help.

[1C5]

Well you can't bet 900 and then fold to a reraise. I like the all in here but either option works. You can also always chack and fold to a bet as you only have A high and he may have called you with a pocket pair that may not fold.

[moose47]

Yeah even if I bet 900 and get reraised allin I am getting better than 3-1 so I have to call that. With that in mind what do you think about a much smaller bet. As the blinds increased there was a lot of tiny bets compared to the pot that were successful. On multiple occasions people bet 150-200 into a pot of 1000 and won it uncontested. I hadn't seen it tried on this particular opponent but if I had would a bet of around 200 been an option? Then if I am re-raised I can seriously consider throwing the hand away.

[Unarmed]

Check. Seems pretty simple.
Note that checking this dry pot isn't exactly giving someone a free pass to bluff you off a better hand. What would you do with AA here?

[moose47]

With AA this looks to be the perfect flop to slowplay. My opponent is probably way behind in the hand with very few outs to catch up so I would probably check.

Now if I check the hand in question lets say villain bets. If he bets a smallish amount I would probably call and extract more chips from him if he is bluffing at me. But if the bet is pot-sized or more am I correct to just throw it away here? I think that is what I would do seeing as I only have A high and I still have plenty of chips to work with.

[2callzU]

Smallest stack. ITM. Push it in preflop next time and let the big stack double U through(or fold) giving you a better shot at 1st and helping you avoid having to outplay this dude with crappy position on a missed flop. My thoughts.

One more thing. I'm having trouble seeing how this is a good flop for you man. What hands do you put him on. Many I put him on include a Q in there somewhere. Sux cause you got crappy position.

[moose47]

When it is back to him, villain has 2-1 odds and is only committing 10% of his stack. Given his initial limp and no limp-reraise I am not putting him on a high pair. I figure he would have raised with AT+. If he has an ace his kicker is weak. He could have KQ-KT or maybe QJ-QT or JT. I also think he could have a medium suited connector like 87s+. Any pair 88 or lower is also probably a possibility.

I do need to get better at putting my opponents on a range of hands as what I just outlined could be way off for all I know. So maybe the flop isn't as good for me as I thought. I just saw no suited cards, cards that were far apart, and the single face card. I still think I am ahead a large percentage of the time.

[2callzU]

[ QUOTE ]
I do need to get better at putting my opponents on a range of hands as what I just outlined could be way off for all I know. So maybe the flop isn't as good for me as I thought. I just saw no suited cards, cards that were far apart, and the single face card. I still think I am ahead a large percentage of the time.

[/ QUOTE ] I think if you had position it would be a much sweeter flop for you. But it's definately not a bad one, just not a good one either. But I say if you are confident in your hand with that flop at that moment than you should be comfortable enough to just push it right into him instead of messing with those 'feeler' bets after the flop. Then again, I just push preflop like a m'fer ITM. _PEACE_

[moose47]

I'll be sure to play it more aggressively preflop next time. To be honest I thought my raise would win the hand right there since the table had been pretty tight all tournament long. For the record, I did push the flop, villain called with QTs and I'm out in 3rd.

[axeshigh]

Not sure pushing preflop is the best idea given that he has 19 BBs.

[2callzU]

[ QUOTE ]
Not sure pushing preflop is the best idea given that he has 19 BBs.

[/ QUOTE ] I'm sure it's not the 'best' idea but given the fact that the button had position on him, and hero was on pace to finish 3rd I don't see any problems with it either. With AA or KK I would have played this hand the way he played it with AK. He doesn't NEED to push preflop with 19XBB and I get that but if he gets called he's probably getting called with the best of it and if he doesn't then he's still takes the blinds and he plays on.. _PEACE_

[gumpzilla]

I'm going to check this flop, but I think I actually like a c/r all-in here if button bets small at this pot when you check to him, as I think he will with many hands. Basically, checking induces a bluff here, which you'll then snap off with the c/r all-in. I think he'll fold pretty often, and when he doesn't, you'll usually have six outs and even occasionally be ahead. Even though you have no pair, I think you still have a pretty good hand for 3 handed and it's very possible that the button has something silly like K9s, so I don't think you want to let yourself be moved off this pot if you check. Betting and folding to a raise is probably okay as well, but I prefer the c/r plan because you're going to need to put in 1/3 or so of your stack anyway to look convincing betting the flop.