AK hand on PokerStars

[M.B.E.]

This is from a 4-player winner-take-all heads-up NLHE tournament. (Buyin $52.50, winner gets $200.) I won the first round and this was the fourth hand of the second round.

I have a small chip lead, 3210 to 2790. Blinds are 20/40 and I have the small blind on the button. I am dealt A/images/graemlins/diamond.gifK/images/graemlins/diamond.gif and just call. My opponent checks his option. 80 in pot.

FLOP: J/images/graemlins/spade.gif 9/images/graemlins/spade.gif 7/images/graemlins/club.gif

My opponent checks, I bet 90, my opponent calls. Now 260 in pot.

TURN: [J/images/graemlins/spade.gif 9/images/graemlins/spade.gif 7/images/graemlins/club.gif] A/images/graemlins/heart.gif

My opponent checks, I bet 140, my opponent calls. Now 540 in pot.

RIVER: [J/images/graemlins/spade.gif 9/images/graemlins/spade.gif 7/images/graemlins/club.gif A/images/graemlins/heart.gif] J/images/graemlins/club.gif

Now my opponent pushes all in. This seems really odd -- as I mentioned this is only the fourth hand I've played against him, and I certainly haven't seen him go all in before. The pot size is only 540, and he's betting all his chips, 2520. Surely if he had a great hand and wanted me to call, he would bet less. Or maybe that's just what he wants me to think.

If I call and my AK is good, then I'll have won the whole tournament. If I call and lose, my opponent's chip lead will be 5580 to 420. What should I do?

Results later.

[1800GAMBLER]

I'd fold but i'm intersted in why you didn't raise preflop!? I bet some of your reasoning for calling his river bet is your hand is hidden away.

I wouldn't be calling, you played the hand like you held a jack and when the 2nd jack hell he went all in. I'll give him credit for flopped monster.

[thetman]

I think you fold...no doubt about it.

[crockpot]

one thing i dislike about the WPT is how often the phrase "the only way he can win this pot is to bet" is used. in the limit games this is great since you can always afford to call a bet. in no limit it becomes sort of annoying because of hands like these.

that said, i still fold. when someone comes out of the woods like this it almost always means you are beaten badly. if he check raised you all in on the turn, would you have called? and with that second jack on board, you are more likely to be beaten now than on the turn.

[jerrybai125]

I agree with JayP, he flopped some monster and you played it like you have the J, so he goes all in assuming u can not lay down your trips.

[M.B.E.]

I folded. My opponent didn't show his hand. We played on, and after about 40 more hands my opponent won the match.

I'm heartened that everyone who responded agreed with my decision to fold, but I'm still not so sure. Yes, he could have been slowplaying a flopped straight or set. Yes, he does have every reason to put me on a jack, but if he could beat what he thinks are my trips, why wouldn't he checkraise all-in instead of betting out? From his perspective that would have been the better play if he did have a monster.

At the time, I thought it was approximately 50-50 as to whether he had me beat on the river. My pot odds were better than that (slightly), but I folded because I thought that I had quite a good chance of beating him in any event if we just played on, so I didn't want to take a 50% chance of losing almost immediately.

Perhaps I should have raised preflop. But with AKs, I didn't want to win just the blinds. I was hoping he would raise from the big blind preflop, so that I could make a big reraise.