was this bad play? opinions wanted

[leachini]

Playing in a £20 no limit game. We're down to the last 3 players and i'm in the small blind. Chip stacks are fairly even. Button folds and I raise 4 times the big blind with AK (hoping to take the blinds) which leaves me with just under half my chip stack. the BB then re-raises me all in. I call because to fold would leave me disastrously short. He turns over 55 and wins.

Was it bad play from him to re-raise (he could only have been a slight favourite if I had 2 overcards or a massive dog if I had a higher pocket pair)

Or was it a bad play from me to call his re-raise as his re-raise should have made it clear that he had a pocket pair and so even with 2 over cards I was a slight dog and if he had KK or AA I was nearly drawing dead.

[MentalCombat]

what were the blinds, what were the stacks?

I dont see how calling heads up with AK could ever be bad already in the money, pushing with the 5's depends on how much FE he had.

[microbet]

The mistake was in your initial bet. You should have gone allin.

[GoldenHorde]

A good general rule to follow is if your stack is < 10xBB and you are going to raise push all in.

That being said you have to call his raise no matter what cards you are holding and should be thrilled to call with AK 3 handed.

[Sidekick]

Without knowing stack sizes, how large the blinds are (though they appear large if you have only about 8 times the BB), how loose/tight/aggressive the BB is, it really isn't possible to say whether BB is making a bad play.

But since the blinds appear to be large, and your bet looks like one of two things... either a moderately strong hand that you are hoping he calls or a very weak hand that you are trying to steal with.

With the raise coming from SB and it down to 3, I certainly cannot fault BB for coming back over the top of your bet with ANY reasonable holding. By betting half your stack with large blinds this looks more like a weak steal attempt with a weak hand (so you can let it go and still have a few chips left if BB comes back over the top).

The real flaw in this hand was you betting half your stack. When you raised with half your stack, as you noted to fold would cripple your stack so you couldn't afford to fold the hand. Since that is the case, you should have just pushed all your chips to begin with. This does a number of things for you. One is that it makes it tougher for BB to call you since if he calls you, you are now playing for all of your chips and there is no chance of you folding your hand. Another is that by pushing it shows BB that you like your hand enough to put your tounament life at stake and if he holds a hand like 55, he has got to be worried about a larger pair or over cards.

Any time the blinds are large enough (or your stack is small enough) so that putting in a standard size raise will use 33-40% of your stack you are generally better off just pushing. The basic reason behind this is what you noted above in your own ananlysis of your hand. Once you bet out almost half your chip stack preflop, you are either committed to the hand or you have crippled your chip stack and most likely lost all of your folding equity.

Hope this helps.

[embersonfire]

I had a fairly similar situation recently when three handed. I had 77 in the SB (UTG had folded), and raised up to half my stack, guy pushed over the top... I had to call. He shows AQ and turns a Q and rivers an A. Ok, I had the best hand and lost. But if I'd moved allin my fold equity was much higher. If you push allin the guy has to there and then make a decision for all/most of his chips, and he knows most likely on a coin flip.

[cha59]

[ QUOTE ]
The mistake was in your initial bet. You should have gone allin.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pushing all in makes your opponent's decision to call much more difficult. Also, when you play AK, it helps a lot if you can see the flop, turn and river.

[leachini]

Thanks for the advice guys