Profitable way to play AK?

I find it difficult to play AK and early in sng's ($11-$22). I was wondering if this would be a profitable way to play it:

OK, here's the master plan....

Push.


If I make a standard raise with other limpers in the pot (4-5x bb) I get called in usually at least 2 spots, and if I miss the flop, I have to fold the hand. If I make a larger than normal raise to thin the feild, I've committed so many of my chips that it's hard to get away from after I miss the flop (sng's on Party). So if I just push, would the times that idiots call me with Ax, KQ, etc. balance out the times I am called with AA and KK? I figure the slight disadvantage I have in coin flips is nullified by the times I win the blinds uncontested.

How stupid is this idea?

[tigerite]

Well, I tried it at a $109 today, with two limpers and an SB complete with me in the BB.. I pushed it and was called by what I thought was a solid player with 88. This was at 15/30 blinds!

But besides that, this is really not a good idea. You want lower aces to be coming along for the ride, because over the long term you will make so much money from them it's not funny. You don't always have to fold the hand, either. This is where reads come into play.. also you don't always miss the flop. You're being obsessed by short term results - don't be.

The problem with seeing a flop with this hand after a pre-flop raise at these stakes is that there are usually 2-4 other people in the pot, so TPTK doesn't hold up very well, especially when people call draws, weak holdings (that turn into things like 2 pair) very liberally.

[tigerite]

If you hit the flop just go with it, you'll be paid off enough by smaller aces to make it worthwhile, I promise. Don't be fooled by the short term results of people hitting draws (that you want to be calling you without odds anyway) or lucky two pairs or what have you. It's all about the long term I'm afraid.. as lacky said the other day, even if you lose every time playing AK for (the right size of) a raise, at level 1-2, you're still playing it the right way and must continue to do so.

[45suited]

The problem is that picking up just the blinds doesn't really do much for you in the early levels. I think at an 11 or 22, if you open push, you're quite likely to be called by a mid pair.

You did not mention position anywhere in your theory. If you have position, take advantage of it. Like Harrington said, our opponents are not geniuses (paraphrasing). Remember, they don't know what you have either. I'm not a huge fan of C betting, but if you take the lead pre-flop and thin the field, you can pick up a lot of pots by C-betting safe flops.

That said, I have an unorthodox AK strategy from EP in the early levels. If there has been a lot of limping and donkish mini-raising, I'll often limp from UTG. By the time the raised pot gets back to me, there is enough dead money to make a push worthwhile. I employ this strategy often, with good success.

Be advised, this play is not accepted by the majority of the posters on this forum, but I think it's a good idiot proof way to play AK. If you do this on L1 and the pot is unraised, obviously you're not going to go broke in a 6 way unraised pot. But often there are players who can be counted on to mini-raise after several limpers - often they will do this out of the blinds with utter crap because they saw it done on television. I am speaking now of the 11s and 22s.

[tigerite]

Just a point, which I know isn't probably relevant to the OP (and your idea does have merit at $11-33): I'd never dream of doing this at $55+. Even $33s are pushing it a bit..

[45suited]

Curious tigerite, why would you not even dream of it? I have been employing this strategy in MTTs as well with good success. It seems to me that this strategy has merits against both good and bad players:

The bad players will donkishly mini-raise and create a nice pot for you to pick up. A good player might respect the limp - reraise to the point that they will fold alot of pocket pairs.

I am not saying that I am 'right', but I like to think about the game and challenge conventional wisdom on occassion. You would agree that for low level players who lack post flop skill, the limp - reraise has merit?

[tigerite]

Because the opposition is generally stronger, and a raise will mean a real hand. Ok on the odd occasion you may get an LP player raising with AQo but he'll just fold to a push. Also with 1k stack and 10/15 blinds there usually aren't enough callers to a raise to make a push over the top worth it in terms of risk/reward..

Whereas at an $11-33 there are usually at least one or two callers to a raise, no matter the size, because of the number of donks about.