NL AK hand

David,


There's no need for me to repeat JGM's advice below which is good. The real point is, in most cases (and you have to be good to know the exceptions), betting small is the absolute worst thing you can do. You're much better off checking.


Andy.

> [preflop] I raise it to 60 with AcKh.


After two limpers, you need to raise more here. A pot sized raise would be to T110. You also have to consider now what you will do on the flop and manipulate the pot-size accordingly; therefore, I'd make a small overbet to T150, also to give myself some chance to win in right there.


> 4 to see the flop, pot is T255 [...] Checked to me. How much do you bet? I have T835 left


This is exactly the situation you wanted to avoid: 4 ppl. saw the flop cheaply (for about 5-10% of their stacks) and you are left with an umcomfortable stack size of 3.5 times the pot. Had you made it T150 preflop, you probably would be heads-up now with position, the pot would be T350 and you could push your remaining T745 in w/o a 2nd thought.


> I bet 200. I thought that might discourage chasing at least.


An open ender would get enough implied odds to take one off for T200. T50 more (i.e. a pot-sized bet) would make a considerable difference here (increase the price, cut the implied odds and decrease the chance of a multi-way pot, which further decreases the odds to draw).


> [turn] Now what?? Checked to me again. [..] I bet T100. Both call again.


A T100 bet into a T855 pot is completely useless. You either go in here, or give up (i.e. check, and check-fold the river for any substantial bet). Since the 2d is the best brick you could hope for, I vote for the former.


> [river] I think the all-in was a mistake.


If it was, it probably wasn't a big one. It's unlikely that someone stayed in there with a QJ gunshot and some players might already feel commited and call for the size of the pot. And you would have had a hard time time folding your twopair for a 1/2 pot-bet, anyway.


cu


Ignatius

> It's unlikely that someone stayed in there with a QJ gunshot


Ooops - Overlooked that QJ flopped a double gunshot. In that case, going in on the river was a clear mistake.


cu


Ignatius

Your preflop raise is to small. You need to raise at least the pot with this hand. When I have AK I am happy to take the pot with no flop. I would make it maybe 120 to go. There are a couple of reasons for this:


1) this most obvious is that you dont want them to see the flop cheaply.


2) perhaps the less obvious reason is that it allows you to make a more substantial bet on the flop (without overbetting), becaue the pot is bigger when they called the flop. So if you had made it 120 and got 2 callers there would be 360 in to pot (probably a bit more), now you really can move all in here when you hit your hand. You give them no chance to see the turn at all. If they flopped a set, well thems the breaks in an event this small.


This also helps you in the future, because players will be more reluctant to call your large preflop raise for fear that there whole stack is going in on the turn if they want to keep playing. BTW I would play AA the same way here.


Once you made the small preflop raise you now face a tougher decision on the flop. You need to make a real bet--200 is OK, I would go a bit higher (maybe 250), but moving in here is not great because it is simply to big a bet. If planning to move in on the flop when you hit after such a small preflop raise all you would accomplish is letting someone call for 40 to win your 800 stack when he hits. Thus he would be getting 20-1. if you made it 120 prflop, now he is only getting 7-1--not enough to flop a set (and that is assuming you also hit and will move in on the flop).


See the problem with this hands starts before the flop.


Anyway, on the turn you need to blow them off of the hand. You failed to do this.


You are correct, your river bet was a bad one. Only a hand that can beat you will call. because your turn bet was so small, you may as well bet small on the river to "sell the hand." Maybe 200 or so. You will have to call an all in raise, but you are better off inducing a bluff then driving them out.

I agree with what most responses have said. I would have raised a bit more preflop. On the flop your bet was a tad low but not terrible. The turn bet was the bad one. Either check or go all-in. I probably go all-in.


It is awfully tough to defend against sets and flopped 2 pair.


The nice thing about live tournaments is you can get a feel for your opponents. It is much harder in on-line tournies.


Ken Poklitar

ohKanada@Hotmail.com

Haven't looked at the other posters, but I'm sure that they all told you your initial raise was too small.


In poker of all kinds, you should consider at all times the size of the pot when making a decision. In no limit one decision that needs to be made is how much to bet or raise. A "standard" raise of 60 when you are the first one in and the blinds are 10 and 20 sounds reasonable, but when two people have limped, the pot is now 70 and the first caller is getting 3.25 to 1 on his call of your raise--and should probably call with suited connectors or a small pair. I would raise to T180-T200 here.


On the flop again, I think you bet too little--although in this case you were at least in the right ballpark--almost the size of the pot.


Dramatically underbetting the pot on the turn was another mistake in my opinion. If I was real scared by the calls on the flop I might just check in next to last position rather than give someone an opportunity to raise me out of the pot.


If someone has a j-9 or a qj for open enders or even a KQ for a gut shot, you are offering them 8.5 to one and they should take their chances. If I had a J-9 or qj and you showed this much weakness I would move in. Would you have thrown it away at that point? Could you have thrown it away? Because you probably should unless you were looking to induce a bluff.


If I don't sense that anyone already has me beat I would move in on the turn and try to end it right there.


On the river, given all the previous action, I would probably have checked rather than moving in. But moving in here is not terrible. Betting 100 on that turn is terrible.

Brad,


You'll go far in NL by not overthinking! Solid advice!