Plugging holes - how's my play on this hand?

[CBenfer]

OK - hand for you all to examine and let me know how I did. I will post results later.

Playing 1-2 at Party. I'm in the SB, only second time I've posted, so no reads. 9 players.

Dealt AK /images/graemlins/diamond.gif. Not too bad. 2 EP players call, 1 MP calls, Button raises. I'm thinking that my hand plays well in big pots, and I'm out of position, so I call rather than raise. BB calls, all others call, so 6 to Flop.

Flop is 4 /images/graemlins/club.gif, 5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif, 10 /images/graemlins/spade.gif. Checked around to Button, who bets. I figure I have pot odds to draw to my overcards, although the probability that Button has at least one of my cards doesn't help. I call, BB folds, rest call. 5 to Turn.

Turn is A /images/graemlins/club.gif, which I figure is a good card for me. I check, planning to check-raise the button and drop some other players out. Works fine - checked to Button, who bets. I raise. Next thing I know, EP re-raises me, followed by other EP, who cold-calls all three bets. MP folds, Button thinks about it and then folds. I'm not liking my chances, but as the last person to act I figure I can call to the river and take my beating. I'm still holding out hope that EP2 is calling with a flush draw and raiser is semi-bluffing.

River card is J /images/graemlins/heart.gif. I check, raiser bets, the other two of us call.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[Bob T.]

I would three bet preflop every time. Either they call, and you have a big pot which I don't mind with AK suited, or they fold, and your chances of winning a mid size pot have improved greatly.

After that, I think that you just make the crying calls after the turn three bet, and river bet.

[bunky9590]

Allow me to give my input.

I am three betting this preflop all day long and twice on Sunday with AKs. Those limpers had better really like their cards to stay now. I want heads up with the button. (Major mistake just calling here IMHO)

As far as flop goes I would bet the flop outright (whether I raised or if you just called you need to come out firing) If you get raised here, slowdown and call for the overcards.

Turn you need to come out smoking again. I think you would have the best hand now if you did re-raise preflop. But at party 1-2 you could be looking at two pair against morons who play any ace, or bothe the caller and raiser could be on spades and club draws and semibluffing, but I dont think so.

At that point I Check call the river as well expecting to probably see two pair, but at those tables could be anything. I'm guessing he showed A5o.

I may still have lost this hand, but moral of the story, bust them up preflop with the three bet.

[gacm]

G'day,
Ime with the others on this. Its a big mistake to not three bet this hand. Its a fantastic position that the button puts you in!! you get the immediate re-raise so every one has to put in two more bets in one hit. I dream of the button raising when Ime the SB with this hand!!
As for the actual hand... I reckon you run into Ax making two pair. you still have outs on the river if this is the case but I reckon you should call him down even if you dont improve.

[WillMagic]

One part of the hand I'm sure of - three-bet with AKs.

On the flop...if i had just called preflop, I think i check-call. If I had raised it, I would lead out.

Does anyone else fold to the turn three-bet? In the best case scenario, I think you have 3 outs. Worst case, you are drawing dead. The EP re-raiser has at least two pair, and the cold caller has a flush draw. There aren't many cards that improve you enough to beat the reraiser but don't make the cold-caller's flush.

Or maybe I'm just weak-tight.

Will

[GrinningBuddha]

Issue 1: Re-raising/not re-raising preflop. You have a lovely drawing hand and have a good chance of getting some dead money in the pot by 3-betting. You are also in the worst possible position to play the rest of the hand. I'd lean towards raising, but cold-calling is also acceptable.

Issue 2: The flop call. I'm rather surprised that no one else is questioning continuing on with this hand after the flop comes black and low. If there was a flop that misses your hand, this is it. I don't bet or call here, check-fold. You are drawing to 6 outs (plus a runner-runner broadway) that by your own admission may or may not be good, and there's a chance you're drawing almost dead. Ugh. Look for better situations to chase.

Issue 3: The Ace on the turn. Ok, so you hit one of your outs, and you got check-re-raised. Oops. You're kinda pot-stuck now, so you'll be seeing the river, but you won't be liking it. Like the others, you're likely looking at A4, A5, AT, or a low set here. Pray for a King!

Issue 4: Calling the river. You've gone this far, and I've seen semi-bluffs played like this, but you're going to lose most of the time. Sorry.

AKs is quite pretty to look at, but if the flop comes with 2 of the wrong suit and none of yours, strongly consider folding rather than chasing overcards. You never know when your outs are tainted by those weenie Aces.

Good luck!

[CBenfer]

As most of you have guessed, raiser was playing A5 offsuit. I later found out that this was fairly typical for this player. Caller did not show hand, so I don't know what he had.

After the hand I was wondering if I shouldn't have three-bet pre-flop to drive out the A5 offsuit, but I thought the call was good at the time, so I didn't know if I was just second-guessing based on the results. From what everyone is saying here, looks like I missed that one.

I'm still not sure about betting out the flop, as a couple of you suggested. At these limits, with this many people, too many of them will stay in on low pairs, so I don't usually push AK or similar hands. If there were only 2-3 other players I might try it, but with that many players in I'm going to assume I need a real hand to win.

One of you mentioned folding the flop. I thought about it, since I was worried that I might be drawing almost dead, but I often play weak-tight and I'm trying to stop.

Anyway, thanks all for the advice. I'll try posting some more hands and improving my game. Overall, I'm still up quite a bit (well, quite a bit for me), so I'm not a BAD player, but I'd like to be able to play some higher limits and feel like I'm not the big fish at the table.

Thanks again - catch you all later, and may the flops be with you...