Bubble time - AK - Line check

[mybrainssore]

Live MTT.

10 players left, 9 cash.
9th pays £55, 1st pays £850

Smallest stack has 3.5K. I have 22K with blinds at 1K/2K.

Folds around to me on the small blind. I look down at AhKd.
Big Blind has roughly 30K. Average stack is about 35K.
I have just been moved to this table.

Whats the play here?

An all in move seems like an overbet, but folding seems to be a little tight. A limp could be used to entice action, but how much action do you want at this stage?

Personally at this stage i'm not going to get too involved with a big stack that can break me. But if i'm feelin it i may take a shot at him with a raise somewhere between 6-8k and see what happens. If he pops me back, i'll fold, if he calls, i'll use post flop strategy on how the flop comes, and if he folds, lucky me and continue on. If i'm only an average stack on the bubble like that. I'm generally a pretty passive player and trying to survive.

[Yuv]

Do you need 55 euro so badly to be afraid of this? You got 10.5 bb's after posting. This is a clear push to me. You want to see 5 cards, you can't raise and fold. If he calls you with a pair, outdraw him. If he has AA/KK, it wasn't meant to be. If he calls you with Ax, you're in great shape for the final table.

Just push.

[MeanGreenTT]

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....But if i'm feelin it i may take a shot at him with a raise somewhere between 6-8k and see what happens. If he pops me back, i'll fold,

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Put in damn near 1/2 your stack just to fold to a raise, leaving yourself with a whopping 5-7xbb???

If I read right, 2 tables, 5 handed?

This is one of those situations that always gets me in trouble 'cause a poosh looks like an overbet but a standard raise leaves us tied to the pot....

This has got to be a push, right?

I think you have 3 choices here: push, bet 6k w/ intent to play a stop and go, or limp w/ intent to move-in on any pre-flop raise and if called to lead the flop w/ a pot sized bet on a whiff and a min bet if you hit (to make it look like a delayed steal). Which one I'd pick would be based on what I'd seen him do and what he'd seen me do. At this point I'm OK w/ getting my chips in the middle since I'm looking to win it so: if I'd seen him aggressively defend his blinds I'd push (or if I'd already pushed and not shown recently); if he'd played weak/tight pre or post-flop I'd go w/ the stop and go; if he'd played LAGGY I'd limp.

[Firefly]

Just push it.
Unless the $55 Euros are that important to you, then fold.

[ QUOTE ]
Just push it.
Unless the $55 Euros are that important to you, then fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

How many Lira is 55 Euros??

PUSHPUSHPUSHPUSHPUSH

nuff said

[TomHimself]

stop n go arent good with AK, please people stop saying to sng with AK.

just push

Perhaps - but Greg views AK SnG as a viable play (his comments can be found in the MTT Anthology - I'm a new poster and couldn't see immediately how to link it). We could debate the merits in this particular case but I don't think it can be summarily dismissed as a viable play.

Regards,
HC

[ QUOTE ]
Perhaps - but Greg views AK SnG as a viable play (his comments can be found in the MTT Anthology - I'm a new poster and couldn't see immediately how to link it). We could debate the merits in this particular case but I don't think it can be summarily dismissed as a viable play.

Regards,
HC

[/ QUOTE ]

There's actually a few different reasons why I don't think a SnG is the right play in this situation. What do you do when the flop comes 3 of a suit you don't have, paired or draw heavy to a straight that fit a lot of calling hands which leave your AK drawing to only a few outs - or perhaps drawing dead. The whole idea is to get your money in when your equity in the hand is high and your opponent can either get away from the hand or call with a (hopefully) lesser hand and double you up. Once the flop comes and completely misses your AKo (which happens 2/3 of the time) is a SnG still the right play? Do you still have the guts to push all your chips in the middle thinking that you could easily be beaten and drawing dead at this point? Often the answer will be no, where a push preflop would still be the correct move as it puts maximum pressure on your opponent and almost requires that he has a "calling" hand or a strong desire to "gamble it up" in order to make the call.

In addition, when you add enough dead money into the pot due to blinds and antes then villain's calling range for a push becomes even wider thanks to the increased pot odds. This will allow you to double through with looser calls from villain where allowing villain to see a flop with a smaller raise lets him get away from the hand when the flop misses him and you miss out on the opportunity to double up through him. I think that this is the more important point here, as you want to force villain to commit more chips to the pot. Letting him see a flop before he makes that decision is a huge mistake since I think you are WAY ahead more often than not here and a raise all-in looks more like a steal attempt.

[Jeremy517]

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bet 6k w/ intent to play a stop and go

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You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

your starting hand is not relevant in pulling off the stop n go. your chips stack is. your opponents chip stack is. your table image is. a read on your opponent is. the flop is also relevant. your starting hand is not. obviously we would all like to have decent cards in any situation where we are putting our chips in to the pot, but alas it is not always to be. "play your opponents, not the cards"

[Exitonly]

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stop n go arent good with AK, please people stop saying to sng with AK.

[/ QUOTE ]

stop making a rule.. a stop and go could be good here.. i'm a bit lazy to look back up at the situation.. but i'd like to point out this is a satelite, so anything that would increase the % that you win the hand, would probably be more important than maximizing cEV here

[Ben5505]

Easy push...you are playing for 1st place not 9th. If someone calls and you double up you will be in great position having over 20 BB. As some like to say, "Turbo Push"

[nath]

Push push push. Any other raise you make should only be done with the intent of getting all-in on this hand.
A stop and go doesn't make much sense because it's designed to induce a fold; here we are perfectly happy to get our chips in.

You notice how much bigger top prize is than 9th place? That's why the bubble doesn't matter.

And for [bleep]'s sake, you almost certainly have the best hand, anyway! Talking in terms of folding this hand, ever, is foolish.

Easy push.

If I was at myself on this board and had a read on the BB saying that he loves to raise when it gets limped/folded to him I would just call and pushing to his raise. BUt since I don't have a read on him, I would push instantly.

Also, a push here may come out as weak to him meaning he can call with A10+ any broadway and any pair.

[Exitonly]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
stop n go arent good with AK, please people stop saying to sng with AK.

[/ QUOTE ]

stop making a rule.. a stop and go could be good here.. i'm a bit lazy to look back up at the situation.. but i'd like to point out this is a satelite, so anything that would increase the % that you win the hand, would probably be more important than maximizing cEV here

[/ QUOTE ]


Wow, ignore me, i just cheecked and i was thinking this was the AK satelite hand.

I'm an idiot.


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Push

1) If 9th place money is very meaningful to you, then fold. I assume it's not. At least it shouldn't be, or maybe you're playing too high a tournament. Otherwise, you have way too good a hand to fold, so let's discount that.

2) A standard raise to 6K or 8K can easily be reraised by a hand you are dominating or at least a coinflip with a big overlay. You CAN'T fold to a reraise and now you are CALLING off all your chips on the bubble with no pair, a much weaker spot than raising all-in.

3) A standard raise which gets called, you will miss the flop 2/3 of the time. With 16K in the pot and 14K in your stack, you must either push all in with nothing or check and fold with a strong hand.

4) BY process of elimination, a push all-in seems to be the best choice. If you get called you are either a coinflip or dominating (except in the rare case of AA or KK, in which case them's the breaks and you might miss out on the 9th place money) and if you hold up you have an excellent shot at 1st place prize money.

5) One other advantage of the all-in here. BB folds, you show the AK, now you have added FE next time you push with J7o. That could easily be worth an extra 5K in chips a round or two later.