fine line between clever and stupid

[Guy McSucker]

My new home turf (for this week), Party $50 NL.

I have AKo in the small blind, $50 stack, most players have similar or more. Six limp, including an EP player who will call any raise once he's limped and seems to play quite well post flop; nothing special but not a total moron.

I decide not to raise, for the following reasons:

- EP player is going to call and I will have to make a guess about what to do postflop from out of position. I don't like this much.

- Once EP player calls, others might join in the fun. I don't want to play my hand against many players from up front.

- Not raising AK occasionally can't be all that bad, can it? If I get a good flop I might benefit from the deception gained by failing to raise.

So I just complete, and the BB raises to $10. EP player calls as predicted. The others all fold and it's back to me. The BB is a solid player, aggressive only with good hands, so I put him on AK minimum here. EP could have anything.

I fold.

How did I do?

Results are below in a standard black font.

Flop comes 842 rainbow, BB bets $15, EP makes it $30, BB calls. Turn is a K. BB goes all in for $60 and is called. BB's AK beats EP's pair of tens.

Guy.

[Gomez22]

GUy.. I can't really give advice, but I had AK from the BB this morning..... here's the hand:


Paradise Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

UTG ($17.30)
UTG+1 ($9.70)
MP1 ($14.25)
MP2 ($19.25)
MP3 ($8.85)
CO ($2.30)
Button ($17.55)
SB ($19.30)
Gomez22 ($8.60)

Preflop: Gomez22 is BB with K/images/graemlins/club.gif, A/images/graemlins/heart.gif. SB posts a blind of $0.10.
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $0.10, MP3 calls $0.10, CO calls $0.10, Button folds, SB (poster) completes, Gomez22 checks.

Flop: ($0.50) Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 4/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 6/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
SB checks, Gomez22 checks, MP2 checks, MP3 checks, CO checks.

Turn: ($0.50) J/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
SB checks, Gomez22 checks, MP2 checks, MP3 checks, CO checks.

River: ($0.50) T/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">SB bets $0.1</font>, <font color="CC3333">Gomez22 raises to $0.2</font>, <font color="CC3333">MP2 raises to $0.3</font>, MP3 folds, CO folds, SB folds, <font color="CC3333">Gomez22 raises to $1.2</font>, <font color="CC3333">MP2 raises to $3.8</font>, <font color="CC3333">Gomez22 raises to $8.5</font>, MP2 calls $4.70.

Final Pot: $17.60
<font color="#990066">Main Pot: $17.60, between MP2 and Gomez22.</font> &gt; <font color="white">Pot won by Gomez22 ($17.60).</font>

Results in white below: <font color="white">
Gomez22 shows Kc Ah (straight, ace high).
MP2 shows Qs 4s (two pair, queens and fours).
Outcome: Gomez22 wins $17.60. </font>

I really don't think there's anything wrong with limping from the blinds with AK (assuming you have 2 or more limpers), since you have terrible position for the rest of the hand. If it were just 1 limper to me in the blinds with AK, I think I'd have to raise, but it may depend on the player involved.

[Paul2432]

Results are below in a standard black font.

This must be what you were referring to in the subject line. I found it mildly amusing, not sure if I'd go so far as to call it clever.

All kidding aside, if you know the BB has AK or a large pocket pair, your play if it is wrong at all, cannot cost you much in the long run. Re-raising all-in would eliminate the positional problems you mentioned and may be the next best alternative.

Paul

[1800GAMBLER]

I raise 10 - 20BBs because:

- EP will call with anything and i like value on my hand.

- Others may come along and i get more value on my better holding.

[NaobisDad]

Calling 20% of your stack on AK out of position against a solid player you can confidently put on AK minimum? If that is al acurate I wouldn't have called here either.

I'm not even a quarter the player Jay! is. But this specific situation is not one I'd like to push in on, so I wouldn't raise that big a portion of my stack.

[dogsballs]

Guy,

Does it mean your luck's turned if you're playing teh 50 games regularly..?.. /images/graemlins/shocked.gif

I'd be tempted to raise pretty big initially - clear out the dross and charge the sucker (other Sucker.. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif).

However, since you didn't, and you put the other guy on AK minimum, then I can't see any problem with just getting out of the way cheaply - as you did.

[Guy McSucker]

[ QUOTE ]

This must be what you were referring to in the subject line. I found it mildly amusing, not sure if I'd go so far as to call it clever.


[/ QUOTE ]

Glad it amused you. No, it's not clever. The subject line referred to my play. I dodged a very poor situation by my preflop limp - clever! - but perhaps in general I made an error - stupid! Jay certainly thinks I messed up.

I am pretty sure the fold is okay. Big raise from solid BB player, and call from EP, puts me in a tough spot. The question is whether the limp is okay. I still think it is but I'm not sure.

Any further thoughts on the first limp would be most welcome.

Guy.

P.S. By the way, the subject line is a (mis)quote from "This is Spinal Tap."