how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop? (nc)
 

for me, i have to have a ridiculous read on the opponent.

this thread is just an observation ive seen at the really low (25NL and 50NL) tables how people with shove everything in the middle with a hand like this.

i know there are a lot of bad players our there, but i just dont see how people do this.

Re: how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop? (nc)
 

im young. i take risks. i play cards. roughly 2 out of 4 times in the 25nl tables im up against AQs, AQ or AJs. roughly 1 out of 4 im up against TT, JJ, or QQ, and the other 1/4 is AA or KK. complete domination 50% of the time, and a coin flip 25% of the time is enough for me to get my money in preflop. i usually wont do it against a player i respect however, or someone i know respects me and wont come back over the top with less than AA or KK.

Re: how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop? (nc)
 

That being said, you might as well just call the all-in with TT as well.

You'll be completely dominating any lower pairs, and slightly ahead, rather than behind all other situations.

Of course, JJ-AA is completely dominating you, but AA,KK would have been dominating you anyway. So really, it's just JJ/QQ.

Weird, huh?

Re: how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop? (nc)
 

I'm happy to be aggressive with AK against all but the tightest players. It's generally no worse than a coin flip against the set of hands that a low limit player is going to war with (mid-high pp's, AQ, and the occasional AJ/AT/KQ garbage). It's an awkward hand for me to play post-flop (I'm not very strong post-flop generally).

In general, for me playing AK very aggressively preflop is slightly +EV and very much +variance, which is a trade-off I'm ok with.

Of course there is a big difference between raising AK all-in and calling an all-in with AK. I do the former nearly 100% of the time, the latter is my default play but is more read-dependent.

Re: how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop? (nc)
 

when i first started playing, i would call with TT, only to realize i was behind 75% of the time, same with JJ. only hope being to catch a set. much better to let go of jacks and tens after raising and being re-raised all in.

Re: how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop? (nc)
 

When I see players going all in with < KK, I make a note and put them on my buddy list. When I look for them later, they are always playing tournaments... go figure [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop? (nc)
 

[ QUOTE ]
When I see players going all in with < KK, I make a note and put them on my buddy list. When I look for them later, they are always playing tournaments... go figure [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

When I see players making notes of players who go all-in with < KK, I categorize them as weak-tight losers.

Re: how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop? (nc)
 

I will very rarely get it in pf w AK, unless villian is a complete moran. That said I will almost never get it allin pf w KK/AA [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]. 3 betting pf(which is generally what it takes to get it allin pf) is a donk move most of the time. Getting your money in with a coinflip is not the object of a cash game, and if you actually consider villians entire range it's not even a coinflip. JMO

Re: how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop? (nc)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
When I see players going all in with < KK, I make a note and put them on my buddy list. When I look for them later, they are always playing tournaments... go figure [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

When I see players making notes of players who go all-in with < KK, I categorize them as smart observant players .

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP

Re: how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop? (nc)
 

[ QUOTE ]
how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop?

[/ QUOTE ]

at times, very willing. some conditions obviously apply:

- effective stacks should be small. shoving 20BB in is much different than 200BB
- opponents should be at least somewhat loose. Loose as in their initial bet doesn't automatically mean a premium hand, and loose as in they'll sometimes call me with dominated holdings.
- dead money is good. I expect to be shown mid pocket pairs quite a bit, so if i'm putting 25BB in the pot i want to get at least 60 back when i win.
- fold equity is good. Put another way, i'm more willing to make an all in bet with AK than i am to call one.
- maniacs are fun. some people are so wildly aggressive (read: drunk) that i don't mind calling a relatively large preflop all in bet with AK. they're more apt to do this small pairs so i'd really rather have 1010/JJ here, but AK comes out ahead in the end also.

Re: how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop? (nc)
 

Some strange replies to this thread lol. Assuming the other player is full stacked 95% of the time I am unwilling to shove it in preflop. Against shortstacks often I may be pot committed enough to make it worthwhile to just shove or call the all in. And very often AK will showdown the best hand against short stacks looking to gamble and not properly rolled for the game.

Re: how willing are you to take AK to the felt preflop? (nc)
 

When I'm playing a Short stake of 10 to 20 big blinds ... every time.

Think about it.

All in with AK is a short stacks paradise!

No getting bluffed off.
You get to look at all 5 cards.
No implied odds offered.

Part of playing short stack is getting it all in with AKo AKs

This is why deep stacks loath short stacks.

No better place than I want to be than all in preflop with AK if I have a short stack.