should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

I was just thinking about a situation that comes up late in online tournaments. Let's say it's in the money with 3 tables left. The blinds and antes are so high that someone is open-pushing nearly ever hand. Let's say you have about 10 BBs - say $120K and the blinds are 6K/12K/600 ante. You pick up AK in a middle spot and it's folded to you. Is this an auto-push every time? Or, do you want to make a smaller raise to $30K or so, intending to call any reraise?

In the past I have always shoved in this spot. I want to send the message that "I have a big hand, so dont try a resteal." However, if you raise smaller, maybe someone will make a move with QsJs or AT, hands over which you are a favorite. Thus you'll be in a better spot to double up, rather than just win the blinds and antes. On the other hand, someone may reraise with a small pair like 44, and you will have a coin flip, when they would have folded that 44 if you pushed. It's a riskier play, but could it be worth it in order to break through the field and build a final-table stack?

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

IMO, trying to trap gets you in trouble more often than it helps you. I see people sometimes late in a tourney (had it happen once yesterday in the 2+2 NA vs. EU) try to trap with AA preflop, and it sometimes ends up biting them for doing that. AK is a hand that loves to see all 5 cards, and with that stack, raising 1/4th of your stack is only good if you think that they will either fold to you, or if you think they will come over the top with a lessor hand.

Personally, I don't think making that raise there is trapping, but if you limped with it on the assumption someone will raise and get the bb checking then raising all in on the flop on a 10 high board, you made a big mistake.

I'd push there still, but putting in a decent raise hoping someone raises pf with a worse hand wouldn't be bad either. Just depends on how aggressive the table has been I guess.

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

The thing is, picking up 24k is pretty sweet for you at this stage, so don't be too bummed about that result. In fact, just push and hope someone is willing to look you up with AQ/AJ.

If I trap with AK late... well, first, I need more chips than you have (probably about twice your stack as it stands); second, I probably limp/RR all-in; third, I have to know someone behind me is going to raise it up with a worse hand if I limp.

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

I never do it because unless you trap a guy who also has an ace you're not an overwhelming favorite. But I've seen it more and more lately and have fallen victim to it.

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

Hey toro, off topic, but what was that hand that you folded when I raised you all in when you said "I got a decent hand here"?

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

I dont think you should make a smallish raise. If you have AA or KK then you could go for the trap, but not AK. Youre still probably going to get called by 99-AA and AQ maybe even AJ from a very short stack who hopes he is in a race.

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Hey toro, off topic, but what was that hand that you folded when I raised you all in when you said "I got a decent hand here"?

[/ QUOTE ]

K9 suited. As it turned out, I should have called because my patience didn't pay off as I didn't find a hand before being forced to go all-in with Q high.

What was I up against.

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

Not with AK, mostly because you're forced to fold on a ragged flop that your opponent bets at - also allow stop n gos. With 10xBB, you shove.

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

[ QUOTE ]
The blinds and antes are so high that someone is open-pushing nearly ever hand. Let's say you have about 10 BBs - say $120K and the blinds are 6K/12K/600 ante. You pick up AK in a middle spot and it's folded to you.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't slowplay AK here, in fact I don't think there is any hand I slowplay in this situation. First off, if open-pushing is the status-quo, I wouldn't want to send up any red flags with a monster hand. Secondly, just picking up the blinds/antes is a nice boost at this position.
Unless I have a read on a player still to act (say a very aggro big stack in the BB who has been often coming over the top to protect), I would just push it all in.


I would check out HoH II p. 35. Harrington talks about slow-playing pf, and mentions that the conditions for doing so are rare (full table, EP, AA/KK/sometimes QQ, laggy table).

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

I'm not kidding when I tell you this, but I had A9 of hearts there, so you were dominated, just not as much.

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not kidding when I tell you this, but I had A9 of hearts there, so you were dominated, just not as much.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL. You liar. I had hearts!

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

Oops A7 of hearts...


PokerStars Game #2875365980: Tournament #13079392, Hold'em No Limit - Level X (400/800) - 2005/10/23 - 17:35:17 (ET)
Table '13079392 4' Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: ajmartino (25078 in chips)
Seat 2: Jcardshark (21406 in chips)
Seat 4: pasty11 (12467 in chips)
Seat 6: fromthedirty (36459 in chips)
Seat 7: Toro85 (5090 in chips)
ajmartino: posts the ante 50
Jcardshark: posts the ante 50
pasty11: posts the ante 50
fromthedirty: posts the ante 50
Toro85: posts the ante 50
fromthedirty: posts small blind 400
Toro85: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fromthedirty [Ah 7h]
ajmartino: folds
Jcardshark: folds
pasty11: folds
Toro85 said, "only 2500 players left"
fromthedirty: raises 4800 to 5600
pasty11 said, "its tighty tight for ages"
pasty11 said, "then BOOM"
Toro85 said, "my hand isnt bad"
fromthedirty said, "then call me"
Toro85: folds
ajmartino said, "heh heh"
fromthedirty collected 1850 from pot
ajmartino said, "change your answer to asian triplets, eh?"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1850 | Rake 0
Seat 1: ajmartino folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Jcardshark folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: pasty11 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: fromthedirty (small blind) collected (1850)
Seat 7: Toro85 (big blind) folded before Flop

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

In my experience, any raise less than all in looks like a trap here, and if u let the BB in for cheap and he hits a pair hes pushing you all in... Blinds + Antes make this an easy push every time.

Re: should you trap with AK late in a tourney?
 

Okay, well, what if you have a few more chips - say, 170K at the 6K/12K/600 level? A push would now be an overbet.