AKs, overpairs, TPTK

[EMcWilliams]

This has been bothering me for the past few days, but has always seemed to bother me so here it goes.

It is not a disputed fact that AK, AA-JJ are the cadillac of hands. They are the best of the best. So we exploit or edge and raise with them and re-raise and so on. It is commonly agreed that they are robust holdings. This is where everything seems to break down as far as agreed upon knowledge.

So we take the hands to the flop, and with AK we end up often enough with TPTK or the like. This is what I do not understand. WHY ARE WE PLAYING IT AFRAID? It seems like the common logic is well "Villian called preflop, so that means he has a PP, and that pocket pair obviously hit a set so ill just check." Then there are the select few that go "I might have a hand, i'll bet it out." So, they bet it out and bam, miraclulously they get a caller. Oh well, lets go into Check Fold mode cause villian is only calling with a hand that beats me." So he checks the turn, and folds to villians bet. God forbid the word "value-bet" and "TPTK" are in the same sentence. I know this is not sounding great and is a rant, but there is a point Im getting at.

WE NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS WEAK-TIGHT NUT PEDDLING ADVICE MODE. Last I checked TPTK is a good holding. Play like it.

The same idea goes for overpairs. PLAY IT LIKE AN OVERPAIR. How many times have your continuation bets been called middle pair or TPWK? A lot! You and I both know it. WE NEED TO STOP being afraid of everything and being pessimists.

I am not saying go to the felt with TPTK or an overpair everytime. By no means. What I am saying is that as a whole we need to start playing these hands with a little more vigor. Value bet them. These are the same people calling with crap to our continuation bets. Remember that.

In turn, I purpose one other idea. IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO PLAY TPTK strong, then DONT play AKo. Muck it, its that simple. IF YOU WANNA PLAY FOR STRAIGHTS and FLUSHES, the play J10 as your AK. If you are not gonna call and bet with overpairs, DONT RAISE THEM. Set farm them like you do with other pairs. It will save everyone a boat load of trouble.

FLAME AWAY AT ME. I actually wanna hear intellgent responses to this. What do others think? Am I just ranting and making a fool of myself? Lets open up the idea of TPTK and overpairs to debate.

[amoeba]

its simple. if you feel like you will get called down by worse hands very often then play your big single pair hands strong.

however, its predominately the case that you aren't getting called down with middle pair, top pair weak kicker, at least I've found.

do what you need to to adjust to your opponents. Its not a matter of TPTK is strong, play it strongly or TPTK is weak after being called on the flop.