AKo Shorthanded

[Danenania]

PP .25/.50 blinds, table is 5-handed

Hero's stack ~55.00
SB's stack ~28.00

SB is typical loose party player.

Hero is BB with A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

Preflop: all fold to SB who openraises to $4, Hero makes it $12 to go, SB pushes

Easy fold, easy call, what's the best line?

[Huskiez]

5 handed, on Party, NL 25, having to call off 16 win a 40 pot, with AK, this is an auto-call for me.

[Danenania]

Ok, that's what I thought.

I called and SB flipped over his 99 which held up.

[Leo Bello]

AK is not a good hand to call in this situation. I mean, AK is aiming for top pair, and when someone goes all -in in no-limit, almost always they have PP, that are favorite over your hand.

According to twodimes:
http://twodimes.net/h/?z=29777
pokenum -h as kh - 9s 9h
Holdem Hi: 1712304 enumerated boards
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
As Kh 768883 44.90 935350 54.63 8071 0.47 0.451
9s 9h 935350 54.63 768883 44.90 8071 0.47 0.549

And if you look at AK against any Pocket Pair the best u can say is that it is a coin flip.

Anyway, I wouldn´t play AK all-in pre-flop.

[SkippingGoat]

Personally I don't like reraising with AK, I like to just call behind the SB in this situation. You have position on him so you can win a nice sized pot if you hit (either from him bluffing into you or from a dominated hand like AQ or KQ, either of which could make this raise). Furthermore, you won't be at risk of having to put all your chips in without a made hand.

[umdpoker]

"And if you look at AK against any Pocket Pair the best u can say is that it is a coin flip."

ummm..... you realize there is a buttload of dead money in the pot, right? he has way more than enough odds to call unless he is up against aa/kk, which won't happen often enough to offset the massive pot odds he is getting

[Danenania]

Well if it's a coin flip, shouldn't it be an easy call when he pushes? I'm getting better than 2 to 1.

You really wouldn't reraise with AK here? When it's shorthanded and could be a steal raise, I felt like I was obligated.

I think I should have waited longer to post the results.

[stinkypete]

this situation comes up so much, it doesn't matter if you post the results.

you obviously had to call with that much in the pot.

whether your first raise was a good play or not is definitely debatable. i'd say it depends more on your read of the guy than anything.

[mak1277]

I think this is an auto-reraise preflop only if you are willing to call the SB's all-in if he pushes. The raise to $12 means that 1/2 his stack is already in if he just calls, so he should be pushing if he has any kind of hand. I think this is a much easier re-raise if the stacks are deeper, as he could indeed be on a total steal.

[SmileyEH]

You played it fine - villian is just as likely to have AQ, AJ, AT, KQ as AA or KK or a low pp. If you aren't willing to reraise with AKo out of position - what will you reraise with? AA, KK,...maybe QQ?

Especially playing shorthanded you will get run over with that lack of preflop aggression.

-SmileyEH