Tear apart my AKo play

[jaybird]

This is my first time posting any of my hands. Feel free to tear me apart =)

I play mostly NL25 and usually PFR $3 with AKo. Should I try for more? less? change it up?

Here are two hands I dug up from PT


Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (8 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Hero ($70.30)
SB ($46.90)
BB ($23.35)
UTG ($24)
UTG+1 ($11.35)
MP1 ($70.90)
MP2 ($25)
CO ($25)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K/images/graemlins/club.gif, A/images/graemlins/heart.gif. CO posts a blind of $0.50.
UTG calls $0.50, UTG+1 calls $0.50, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $0.50, CO (poster) checks, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to $3</font>, SB calls $2.75, BB folds, UTG calls $2.50, UTG+1 calls $2.50, MP2 calls $2.50, CO folds.

Flop: ($16) 9/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 7/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 4/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">SB bets $10</font>, UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP2 folds, Hero folds.

Final Pot: $26
<font color="#990066">Main Pot: $16, won by SB.</font>
<font color="#990066">Pot 2: $10, overbet by SB.</font>

Results in white below: <font color="white">
No showdown. SB wins $26. </font>



Paradise Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (10 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Hero ($42.25)
SB ($59.00)
BB ($16.50)
UTG ($46.00)
UTG+1 ($3.00)
UTG+2 ($25.00)
MP1 ($104.75)
MP2 ($18.50)
MP3 ($52.75)
CO ($22.00)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, A/images/graemlins/club.gif. SB posts a blind of $0.25.
<font color="CC3333">UTG raises to $1</font>, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 calls $1, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO folds, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to $3</font>, SB (poster) folds, BB folds, UTG calls $2, MP1 calls $2.

Flop: ($9.75) 3/images/graemlins/club.gif, 7/images/graemlins/club.gif, T/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
UTG checks, MP1 checks, <font color="CC3333">Hero bets $3</font>, UTG calls $3, MP1 folds.

Turn: ($15.75) 3/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
UTG checks, Hero checks.

River: ($15.75) 5/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">UTG bets $0.5</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to $5</font>, UTG folds.

Final Pot: $21.25
<font color="#990066">Main Pot: $16.75, won by Hero.</font>
<font color="#990066">Pot 2: $4.50, overbet by Hero.</font>

Results in white below: <font color="white">
Hero shows Kd Ac (one pair, threes).
Outcome: Hero wins $21.25. </font>

[ML4L]

Hey jay,

Hand 1: I might bump my raise up a little (maybe to $4) because so many people have already limped, but $3 is still fine. Easy fold on the flop.

Hand 2: Good reraise preflop. Bet the pot on the flop. Your small bet screams weakness. Turn check is fine; a pot-sized bet would be OK too. Good raise on the river (note that you made that raise because he looked weak, the same way that you looked weak on the flop... /images/graemlins/laugh.gif).

I don't see any huge problems with either hand. In general, a 6xBB raise with AKo is reasonable; maybe raise a little less if the game is playing tight and a little more if the game is playing loose. But I wouldn't lose sleep over it...

ML4L

[tewall]

I think you played the hands fine, with the same comment that ML made that you could raise pre-flop a little more, but your raise isn't bad, assuming that's your normal raise.

One caveat is to be careful of the river raise. There are players that will try to c/r raise you on the turn, and if that doesn't work will try to trick you into a raise by making a min-bet. As always, it pays to know your opponent.

[C M Burns]

the only thing i might add is about your riv rr in #2, the reason to do this would be to get a better hand to fold. generally if some one has like a small pair they would just check it down, and if they bet they have nothing, like a lower flush draw, so you could just call this. although b/c of your small flop bet and the fact that his bet is rediculously small, he may actually be betting a small pair for value. but in general u want to be carfeul w/ these type of reraises

[Ben]

Why is the turn check okay?

You've got a three-flush on the board, so you're giving a free card to a potential naked Ac.

You've been checked to twice, why not fire another barrel?

[jdl22]

I think that the turn check would be fine because he is also on a draw. Bluffing again might not be bad either but checking when you're on a drawing hand isn't bad.

[tdomeski]

He has the naked A /images/graemlins/club.gif

[Ben]

Haha...teaches me to post at 3AM.

[Zag]

[ QUOTE ]
I play mostly NL25 and usually PFR $3 with AKo. Should I try for more? less? change it up?

[/ QUOTE ]

I vote for change it up a lot more. Your goal is to get a single opponent, and you should be doing whatever gives you the best chance of that.

My rule is more like this:

If I am first UTG or UTG+1, I will consider the aggressiveness of the players behind me. If there is someone who makes a lot of raises preflop (say, more than 1/4 of the hands) then I will limp-reraise, hoping to isolate him. If the table is pretty passive, I will make the standard table raise, or a little more, which is usually to 4BBs.

If I am first in with middle position (3 or 4 folds to me) I will be more likely to raise right away, and would have to have a real raise-o-matic behind me to limp-reraise.

If I am first in with late position, I will always raise, especially since I would raise a huge variety of hands here. This raise would almost always be 4BBs, unless the table standard has been higher.

If there are limpers before me, I will raise just less than a pot-sized raise, or just more if they are the type that think that limp-fold is not allowed. Therefore, the more limpers, the more the raise will be.

In your case for hand #1, there were not only several limpers, but someone who has posted and then just checked! You absolutely want to make a decent raise and get that dead money hand out of there. Since that hand is just before you, you have to worry that he will be getting 6-to-1 pots odds with no fear of a reraise behind, allowing him to call with almost anything. You have to charge him more, there. There was $3.25 in the pot, your call would have made it $3.75, so $4.25 would have been a pot-sized bet. You should have raised to $4.00 minimum; with so many callers already, and with that post-check hand, $4.50 looks better.

[jaybird]

Thanks for the excellent suggestions. Another common situation is when I make a fair size raise Pre Flop with AKo and then get re-raised all-in.

Without a read on the player, is it safe to call this everytime? Im guessing it would be ok since there are so many fish at NL25.

[Zag]

I am a little risk-averse, especially in the few occasions that I play PP$25 tables. I feel that I have a big overlay on the players there, so I don't want to get into situations where I have a lot of money riding and only a small edge. (Note that this reasoning makes more sense in a tournament than in a ring game where you can always rebuy, but there it is.)

In my experience, in these small games a reraise all in is usually a pair, with roughly equal probability from 88 to AA, and a little less below there. If you accept this assumption, then you are dominated about 10% of the time and you are a little behind (11-to-10) the rest of the time. Typically the pot is offering a little better than 11 to 10, though it depends on the size of your initial raise and the stack sizes, but the times you are dominated are so costly you need better odds than you are getting in order to call.

On the other hand, if you have seen this play go all in preflop more than once before, he is probably doing it with lots of hands that aren't pairs. You are way ahead of all of these, and you have any Ax or Kx hand dominated, so a call is in order.

The bottom line is to know the opponent. With absolutely no knowledge, I would probably fold. (Note that "absolutely no knowledge" often means a tightish player, because I keep records on the maniacs.)