Any opinions on this hand.

[jpg777]

PokerStars $20 NL tourny with rebuys. The rebuy period is over. Blinds: 100/200 no ante.

I'm on the button, slightly below avg. with T4900, and I'm dealt AsKs.

UTG (T5300), who seems to have become more aggressive with the end of the rebuy period, raises to 400. It's folded to me and I make it 800. Blinds fold, and UTG calls.

Flop comes 4d 4c 2d, UTG checks, and I bet 600 (Is this sufficient?), UTG now goes all-in. I use up most of my time bank and decide to call.

Any opinions on my decision would be appreciated.

Results later. Thanks,
Jeff

[DougBrennan]

Your post flop bet of 600 probably is too weak. If my math is correct the pot was at T1900 after your raise to T800 + UTG call + Blinds. Thus a bet of T600 is less than 1/3 of the pot, which can be interpreted as a weak bet. Given UTG described aggresiveness you may still have him beat, but he could also be betting an overpair, or worse, A4.

Also, you pre-flop raise of 400 is on the slender side to be able to determine for sure if UTG has any kind of real hand, or something in the nature of AQ or AJ, which would obviously be your dream hands for him.

The two diamonds on the board don't thrill me, either.

All in all, I think I would have had to lay this down, in your shoes and in the position you found yourself in. Of course, it's easy to lay them down in theory, much harder in practice--believe me I know. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I hope he had nothing but the urge to bet and that you doubled up. Let us know.

[CrisBrown]

Hi Jeff,

This is an easy fold. I'd put him on a medium pair, and he wisely didn't reraise pre-flop for fear of being all-in on a coin flip, or dominated by a higher pair. Your weak (1/3 pot) bet at the flop basically telegraphed that you didn't have a big pair, and he moved in to shut you out.

Hope you got away light....

Cris

[curtains]

If I raised I would definitely make it more than 800...maybe something like 1300 or 1400....but even this can get tricky because its hard to say what to do when you miss the flop. The main problem with making it 800 though is that there is basically zero chance your opponent folds, and thus you are often going to face one of the toughest situations in NL holdem....which is being first to act after flopping overcards.
I think that you can also just call. Because most players in such a tournament (low buyin event) are so bad, they are liable to double you up if they hit top pair with you. If you had half as many chips (like 2000-3000 range) I'd go allin preflop. This means that itd be a real shame to chase out his AJ if he will give you all his money if the ace comes

[Ignatius]

Preflop, a meaningful reraise would require at least 1/3 of your stack which is about the worst case for big slick if you get called and would make you pot stuck if he moves in. So it's either all-in or flat call. Since you have position and your AK is suited, I prefer a call here.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Preflop I think you either have to call or make a pot-size (1500) raise.

The flop checkraise makes me think the preflop miniraise was a middle pair and he's pushing an overpair.

The problem with the way you played this is that you helped make the pot big enough that the only way you win the pot if you don't hit the flop is to commit all your chips.

On the flop, the pot is 1900 and you have 4100 left. If you bet the pot and get reraised all-in, you've got 2200 and the pot is 6000 so it's going to be tough to get away from your hand.

The way it worked out, when he reraises you all-in, the pot is 6000 and it costs you 3500 to call. You're likely behind. You have to fold.

AKs against a preflop miniraise to me is an easy call. The pot is then small enough that if you're checked to on this kind of flop, you can bet the pot and release the hand if you get reraised.

[PlayerA]

I think you have to lay it down. However, you may very well be laying down the best hand. If I were in your opponents shoes, I would make the same play with a variety of hands.

[jpg777]

Thanks for all the replies. As per usual my play is rather suspect. My opponent must have figured my flop bet was weak, and tried to steal. He had AhQc, I doubled up, and ended up placing 14th.

Thanks again,
Jeff

[Yeknom58]

What do you think about checking behind?