how would you play this

[Sly_Grin]

Early in Pokerstars 1 table turbo. I pick up AsKs from the BB, with 5 limpers there is $150 in the pot when it gets to me, I raise to $500 and UTG is the only caller.

So $1090 pot, flop comes <font color="blue">AK7 </font> all diamonds. I go all-in for $1130, UTG thinks for a while and calls all-in for his $1090.

He shows Js<font color="blue">Jd</font> and hits a diamond on the river.

I know he has a pair so he couldn't have flopped the flush, no way he has AA or KK or he would have just put me in before the flop, so I figured I'd shut him out right there. Of course disaster strikes.

When I run the numbers his call was actually correct, he's only a 60-40 dog to my hand and he's getting 2-1. Of course if I have AA or KK his call is wrong since it's 71-29. If I have QdQx his call is REALLY wrong, as in 93-7.

Question is, should I have waited to see the turn first ? If no diamond hits he can't possibly call a huge bet with just 1 card to come.

I think I made the right move since there are other hands I could have had that make his call clearly wrong. If I was him I would have folded in a heartbeat. But of course if he really thought I had AK then he made a great call.

[BettnTibetn]

I think you raised to much preflop...by raising 500 preflop you were basically all in when you hit the flop. If you raised a smaller amount preflop say 200 you still will be able to get most of the others out of the hand. I think even checking and seeing the flop for nothing is better than raising to 500. Just my personal opinion

[Roman]

The raise was too big. It risked too many of your chips with AK so early in the tournament. I usually only play would raise that much with AK (1/3rd of stack) when blinds are really high or I am shortstacked. I would be worried on the flop, but the play wasnt terrible.

[fnurt]

The amount of the preflop raise seemed reasonable to me, punish those limpers if they want to play their trash against your AKs, but from a pot odds perspective it did limit your ability to protect your hand.

From a mathematical perspective, I think you'll find that pushing on the flop is about the same as waiting until the turn, with these particular holdings.

But here's the thing. Say you check the flop, and he checks behind. Now a diamond comes on the turn, you check, and he bets 400 or so. Are you planning to lay it down? He might have the flush, but he might also have Ax or even Kx. My point is, either you're going to pay him off somewhat even when a diamond comes, or else you're going to be folding a lot of hands when he didn't even have the flush.

On top of that, giving a free card might really hurt if his holding is QJ or JT (or, for that matter, any pocket pair).

So I think you have to push on this flop. Just because it was a good call doesn't mean it was a bad bet.

[woodguy]

Sly,
I have been having the same problem getting beat by flush draws when I have flopped a set.
I have changed tactics and now try I get to the turn without the push, and if the scare card doesn't come, I push.
Many will call with 2 cards to come.
With only 1 card to come most will lay down.
regards,
woodguy

[FloppedFlush]

I agree with the others that the pre-flop raise was too much. If you're going to raise that much, just go all-in. If you're willing to put in 1/3 of you're stack and then fold, you can get the same information with a raise to 200 that you can with a raise to 500.

Once there's that much money in the pot, your analysis looks right -- if your opponent has a diamond, then he's correct to call an all-in bet. So if he has a diamond, there's no way you can push him off the hand.

If he doesn't have a diamond, then there's no draws that you're particularly afraid of - most likely would be a two-outer to make his set. The best possible non-diamond draw he could have would be a 4-outer to a straight but it's not very likely that he's playing QJ or QT to your big raise (although it's early in a turbo SnG, so you never know).

So since you can't push out a diamond draw on the flop, I guess the right play would be to bet small on the flop, then make your big bet on the turn if a diamond doesn't come when you do have a shot to push out the diamond draw.

But again, with a smaller pre-flop bet, you would be able to bet enough to protect your hand on the flop and the turn, if necessary.