Lost most of my stack on this one. Help Please!
 

Hi all,

I am really distraught at this one. This was in the 500 FPP satellite to the $215 on Stars. How should I have played it differently. Should I have bet the flop? Folded to the push on the turn? I was going for the C/R on the flop, but Villain hit a set on the turn, Quads on the river.


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (9 handed) converter

saw flop|<font color="#C00000">saw showdown</font>

MP2 (t1025)
MP3 (t1110)
CO (t1770)
Button (t1410)
<font color="#C00000">Hero (t2140)</font>
BB (t380)
UTG (t1525)
UTG+1 (t3440)
<font color="#C00000">MP1 <font color="#A500AF">(villain)</font> (t1780)</font>

Preflop: Hero is SB with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP1 <font color="#A500AF">(villain)</font> raises to t100</font>, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t300</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP1 <font color="#A500AF">(villain)</font> calls t200.

Flop: (t650) 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, villain checks.

Turn: (t650) 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t400</font>, <font color="#CC3333">villain raises to t1480</font>, Hero calls t1080.

River: (t3610) 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>

Final Pot: t3610
<font color="#009B00">Main Pot: t3610 (t3610), between Hero and villain.</font>

Re: Lost most of my stack on this one. Help Please!
 

What did he have? 66? I probably play it the same way as you except I with raise more preflop (I am more willing to push AK than most), or just call. If I just limped preflop I would go for the check raise, but if I had raised more preflop, I would just push on the flop. I'm pretty sure I would have lost all my chips here as well, looking at the board. You can't win 'em all, don't worry about it.

Aceragclubs

Re: Lost most of my stack on this one. Help Please!
 

Bet the flop, for one.

Re: Lost most of my stack on this one. Help Please!
 

What did you think he had when he raised the turn? I have a hard time laying down AK when I have TPTK, but it's hardly bulletproof.

A 5 seems pretty innocuous, but his re-raise says that has a made hand. Could be a str8, could be a set of 4s, 5s or 6s, but he can obviously beat your top pair. It's tough, but you gotta lay this down.

Re: Lost most of my stack on this one. Help Please!
 

Bet the flop definitely, I try to find out where I am as early as possible.

Re: Lost most of my stack on this one. Help Please!
 

With a stack the size of the one you have, you need to bet the flop and get an idea of where you're at. The pot is 625. A nice bet of 400 keeps you healthy if you have to fold, and keeps the fishiness out of your check.

If your opponent smoothcalls you, or reraises you, you can then act accordingly. I don't mind the reraise over a MP player at this point in the tourney. But it's still a hand you can get away from if you're not confident.

Re: Lost most of my stack on this one. Help Please!
 

I'm going to disagree. I play these things all the time, and they are the easiest way to get T$ by a long shot. Why? Because flop play is AWFUL. In this situation, I check the flop 8/10. With that turn, I can't tell you how many times I've seen QQ push here, or just as often, KT. I wouldn't advocate this strategy in actual, bigger tourneys, but in this event you have to play the players as much as the cards. Not much you could do really on this hand, about as innocuous a flop as possible.

Re: Lost most of my stack on this one. Help Please!
 

I don't agree with going for the check-raise after the preflop raise. I don't think villian will bite here, it's a rather obvious play. Had you just called the pf raise, then that's a different story. But as played, bet the standard 2/3 pot and see what happens.

BTW, when you're raised all-in on the turn, you've gotta let it go. Sux, I know, but he either hit on the turn or set a trap for you on the flop.

Re: Lost most of my stack on this one. Help Please!
 

I like the idea of reraising all-in with ak pre-flop. Is there a reason why that is a bad idea?
I can see why you didn't bet the flop, but bet the flop! That free card may have given him the straight, trips, or two pair.
damnRiver

Re: Lost most of my stack on this one. Help Please!
 

First of all, raising all in with AK here is a bad idea because there is not enough money in the pot to justify it. Being really agressive is with AK is good when the pot is bigger in proportion to your stack, that way you have some "folding equity". In this situation, if the other guy folds to your all-in, you only increase your stack by less than 10%. But if he calls you will most likely be on the bad side of a coinflip.

Anyway, I think you the way you played it preflop was good. But checkraising the flop is too fancy for its own good. TPTK is not a monster hand. If you had bet the flop you probably would not have made your original post.