AK on the Button $10 MTT Late

$10 MTT, 4 players off the bubble. Im sitting on the button with AdKh with a stack of approximately 10,000. (Blinds at 400-800). I made it $2,000 to go, wanting action from weaker hands and especially the ones I would be dominating. Big stack at the table had limped in MP. Blinds fold and the big stack puts in a call.

Flop comes 6A10, two spades. I lead with 2,000 into the 5,000 odds, giving him 2.5 to 1 odds if he decides to chase the flush, but small enough for him to call with something like a pair of 10s or better yet a small ace. He calls and we go to the turn.

Turn comes down 7 of spades. Now I begin to worry as he leads out $1600 into the pot which is now around 9000. Thats a small bet that he knows I am obligated to call. I just call and we go to the river, thats a 6. At this point I had a pretty good idea that I was beat, putting him on something like a queen high flush. He bets another 1,600 into the now $12,000 pot - mandatory call and he shows A6 for the boat.

Anything I could have done better here or any comments at all? This took most of my stack and was one reason I busted out 23rd out of 330. That and I lost with KK to 1010 on the river later in the tournament.

I dont think I could have done anything but call him down because of the pot odds, and he had a lot of chips so I don't know how big of a raise he woulda called. My raise was pot sized so it only gave him 2 to 1 odds to call with a pretty skimpy hand..

Comments, profanity, flaming?

You probably would have gotten stacked because I doubt it would have looked like a flush, but I'd bet the flop, then raise him on the turn. Since he had 2 pair, he is probably going to call anyways, but thats what I would do.

[nath]

There was a limper and you only raised 2.5xBB? That was a mistake.
You got the action from a worse hand, but you gave him a pretty good price to break you. Raise more preflop.

[Jeremy517]

[ QUOTE ]
Flop comes 6A10, two spades. I lead with 2,000 into the 5,000 odds, giving him 2.5 to 1 odds if he decides to chase the flush, but small enough for him to call with something like a pair of 10s or better yet a small ace. He calls and we go to the turn.

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If you put in 2,000 when the pot is 5,000, he'll be getting 3.5 to 1, not 2.5 to 1. Your forgetting that he'll win the 5,000 plus your 2,000.

[Matador225]

You don't really want "action" when your holding AK. Even though it is the best non-paired hand you are still a dog against any pair.

Better to take it down preflop without the hassle.

Dunno this was on the bubble and the majority of the players were folding to any raise..I still wanted the limper in ironically so I decided to make only a 2.5xBB raise. In internet poker most players arent smart enough to realize the difference between a 2.5 and a 3xbb raise, but if you bet 2000 it pretty much serves a psychological barrier..But in retrospect I might have wanted to pop it to at least 2500 or 3000 even..

You're right I gave him 3.5 to 1 odds, didnt calculate that right. Still it was 3.5 to 1 for just one card, I was planning to commit a lot of chips on the turn before he lead into me..Thats when I pretty much figured I was beat but I had almost 7ish to 1 pot odds at that point or some such..

I think any way you look at it I was going to lose this money. Thats my read on the situation. If he had put me all in on the flop I might have even considered it there.

[betgo]

AKo is not all that strong a hand. The normal procedure is to use its power to try to take the pot down preflop. You want action with a big pair, not with AK. I would probably push, but you need to raise to atleast 4xBB.

Maybe you see from the play of this hand why it is good to just take down the pot with AK.

It's amazing you didn't bust out against the boat. Villain was small betting too much.

Another question..

With the turn and river bets..I think it was 1600 into 8000 and then 1600 into 10,000 or some such..look up top..

Is there anyway that I could have folded there? On the river im getting more than 7 to 1 pot odds there, so I need to be more than 88% or so percent sure Im beat. Do you think I can be that sure from the way the hand is played? I have no read on this guy, other than that he is the chip leader at the table and could be playing any number of hands.

[aaronbeen]

Was he the only limper? If there were others I am definitely shoving. Even with one limper you are looking at a 2k pot already. A pot sized raise is 3.6k, one third of your stack. You should be committing yourself and raising the amount that maximizes your folding equity, depending on what your read is. Without any specific read that a raise less than all in will scare him off better just go all in.

[JustPlayingSmart]

[ QUOTE ]
Another question..

With the turn and river bets..I think it was 1600 into 8000 and then 1600 into 10,000 or some such..look up top..

Is there anyway that I could have folded there? On the river im getting more than 7 to 1 pot odds there, so I need to be more than 88% or so percent sure Im beat. Do you think I can be that sure from the way the hand is played? I have no read on this guy, other than that he is the chip leader at the table and could be playing any number of hands.

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You can't fold to his turn or river bet. Sometimes in poker you don't have the best hand. Next time raise more preflop. I would almost certainly have pushed. The 2,000 that you would take represents 20% of your stack.

As you play more poker, you'll have worse beats than this. Just because you lose a hand, it doesn't mean you played badly, or could have avoided it. Even the best players in the world have their KK run into AA, and things like that. Hopefully, in a little while, you'll look back and wondered why you even posted this hand.