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.