AKo out of position

[Jonathan]

Hi,

I'd appreciate comments on this hand. It seems like
the kind of hand that occurs all the time. But when
I look at, I realize that I don't know how to play it.

In particular, how many reraise with this preflop?

Thanks,
Jonathan

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx (http://www.zerodivide.cx/converter)

Hero (t1585)
BB (t1220)
UTG (t1205)
MP1 (t1540)
MP2 (t2415)
CO (t4700)
Button (t835)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, K/images/graemlins/club.gif.
<font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP2 raises to t150</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, Hero calls t125, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>.

Flop: (t350) 3/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 7/images/graemlins/club.gif, 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t150</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP2 raises to t350</font>, Hero calls t200.

Turn: (t1050) Q/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, MP2 checks.

River: (t1050) Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, MP2 checks.

Final Pot: t1050

[SammyKid11]

I often push this in your spot. I hate playing AK out of position...and AK plays best if you get to see all 5 cards. Plus, a push here gives you a ton of FE, often against hands that you're &lt;50% against. Also, if you're playing against a donkey, you very well may get a call with AQ, AJ, AT, or even Ax or KQ.

FWIW, I may be a donkey for how I play this hand...but it's working for me at the moment.

On other occasions, I just call and play the flop.

For the very reason you are out of position, I'd be re-raising this pre-flop.

You should have dumped to his flop raise, definitely. Why are you continuing with just a-high?

[ QUOTE ]
For the very reason you are out of position, I'd be re-raising this pre-flop.

You should have dumped to his flop raise, definitely. Why are you continuing with just a-high?

[/ QUOTE ]
he doesnt just have A-high. He has AK on an 8-high flop. He's ahead often here. It does get tricky when he gets raised.

He could have a pocket pair, or something like AQ. If you think he wouldn't raise AQ on that flop, pushing the turn would be very cool. /images/graemlins/smile.gif But as always, this is read dependant. (Because people might call you anyway in low buy-in games with an underpair..)

EDIT: Am I the only one who wants to call or push, and not something in between? Reraising sucks, because you're OOP in a big pot, I think.

[Doylestown]

Have to agree with Donk here. My preference would be to call or push. Calling vs. pushing would be situation dependant.

[Jonathan]

In retrospect, I think I should have pushed
preflop. That saves alot of the problems of playing
the hand OOP.

i suppose folding to the flop raise is a possibility,
but that strikdes me as a little weak.

My opponent showed down pocket 4's, and I felt a little
silly. I think a stronger bet anywhere along the line
would have taken down the hand.

thanks for the input,
Jonathan

[bluefeet]

Sometimes we get strong hands like AK in the blinds.
Sometimes someone in E/MP will raise in front of us.
Sometimes the stack sizes in play in relation to the blinds do not warrant a push.
Sometimes we do have the chips to call the raise OOP.
Sometimes we whiff completely on the flop.

Sometimes we simply check-fold the flop.

- TT/JJ becomes a lot more tricky in this situation.

At this point in the game there's no reason we have to go broke, or invest what is now 1/3 our stack on this hand.

[DyessMan89]

[ QUOTE ]
I often push this in your spot. I hate playing AK out of position...and AK plays best if you get to see all 5 cards. Plus, a push here gives you a ton of FE, often against hands that you're &lt;50% against. Also, if you're playing against a donkey, you very well may get a call with AQ, AJ, AT, or even Ax or KQ.

FWIW, I may be a donkey for how I play this hand...but it's working for me at the moment.

On other occasions, I just call and play the flop.

[/ QUOTE ]

You contradicted yourself. Do you see why?

Anyways, Im probobly re-raising and expecting to get all my money in on the flop.

[suited_ace]

Oh boy, you're getting some awful advice... Listen to bluefeet, he knows what he's doing.

You're both (Villain &amp; you) too deepstacked for a push PF. A push would just be absurd. It's totally OK to check/fold the flop, there's no shame in it.

What is your plan for the hand? Do you have one? What are you trying to accomplish with the flop bet? What is the range of hands you put Villain on?

Pushing all-in already? The BB is only 50 and you have about 1500 chips. Do you really need to raise all-in? If the blinds were up to 50/100, I understand. Here you have a lot of room to play some poker.

Raising him accomplishes a few things out of position. You might be able to end the hand pre-flop, you gain more information on his hand, and you gain the initiative in the hand incase he only has overcards or a small pocket.

[patrick dicaprio]

if you just call preflop then you have to fold once you miss, the pot is too small or just barely good enough assuming your K will be good. personally i never play the hand this way, i would reraise big preflop and be willing to get all in.

Pat

[patrick dicaprio]

why push?? if he has a hand that beats you he is calling and if he has a hand worse than yours unless it is AQ he isnt calling most likely, so a reraise is probably enough. you have a deep enough stack that you neednt do this, think about more than just this particular hand.

pat