A big leak in my play, I think. AK early

[Matt R.]

I wouldn't make a full pot-sized raise with more than 2 limpers at the 11's, it's too much of your stack. If there's a ton of limpers, and the amount in the pot is approaching ~40% of my stack, I'll push. However, if your stack is big enough, or blinds are small enough, where this isn't the case, I'll make a raise but not the full pot size (unless my stack is ginormous). For instance, if there's something like 4 limpers to you in level 2, I'd raise to maybe about 160-175. It's big enough to punish the limpers with crap cards, but it doesn't build the pot up so huge where a continuation bet is like half your stack. You might not think the 30-45 chip difference is all that much, but when you get a caller or 2, the pot gets so large that you don't have much room to work with post-flop (i.e., it's all-in or check/fold much of the time).

By the way, not a big fan of the limp-reraise all-in with the pot this small. If you're going to make this play, wait until the blinds are higher or something so it's worth doing.

[theredbaron]

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By the way, not a big fan of the limp-reraise all-in with the pot this small. If you're going to make this play, wait until the blinds are higher or something so it's worth doing.

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Yah, I was just frustrated. I have occasionally done this previously and been successful in that I get to show how "wild" I am when everyone folds, or I get called by a low pocket pair or a bad ace and double up early.

In this case AQ called and made a boat on the flop. I made a bad raise and he certainly made a horrible call, but thats poker.

[clutch]

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Don't overbet the pot that much.
On a side note, can you please read for a little bit rather than posting 6 hands a time. People, myself included, would be much more likely to give you help. Also I find that the best type of questions for new players to ask aren't new threads but questions within threads. If I or another poster says something like "push this" and doesn't explain it well, ask us why we think that.

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Ive been reading for quite a while and I have searched quite extensively. I am only posting these hands to gain insight into how others would play them. thanks for your help.

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This is the second AK post of yours I've read in the last couple of minutes. They are both horribly misplayed. Here you limped and then pushed with a tiny pot at stake. In the other hand, you raised to only 50 after 4 limpers. There's something fundamentally wrong when you are playing this hand so different from the other. It seems like you are choosing a line at random.

You seem pretty frustrated. You also seem like you want to fix the leak. You have to come up with a general strategy for how you want to play AK. The best way to do that is to follow the advice of some of the other poster's and do a search. Search for "AK". You will find threads on how to play AK in every situation imaginable.

[theredbaron]

Looking at my PT stats, I have held AKo and Aks about 300 times in 500 some odd tournaments (not a lot I know). I need to do a little further research on it. I have posted the two most extreme examples of the approaches I have tried.

In position, it's a lot more comfortable. In early position, say UTG or in the blind early in a tournament, my feeling is that AK is just about worthless. If I limp it, I give all the idjits free draws. If I raise it, I just throw money down the toilet.