AK
 

In an effort to improve my play of AK, I've decided to post all of my AK hands from the 4 sng's I'm playing right now. I'll post them individually as responses to this post. I welcome all comments, and realize that many of the hands will be pretty "standard".

Zephyr

Hand 1: All in preflop against small stack
 

This was around hand 3 and the villain had been involved in every pot so far.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) converter

Hero (t785)
UTG (t740)
UTG+1 (t785)
UTG+2 (t800)
MP1 (t700)
MP2 (t820)
MP3 (t450)
CO (t865)
Button (t1270)
SB (t785)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, MP2 calls t15, MP3 calls t15, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t80</font>, MP2 folds, <font color="#CC3333">MP3 raises to t450 (All-In)</font>, Hero calls t370.

Flop: (t925) 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Turn: (t925) 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

River: (t925) Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t925

Hand 2: The standard missed flop steal
 

Pretty standard...I think.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (9 handed) converter

Hero (t1250)
SB (t895)
BB (t770)
UTG (t785)
UTG+1 (t700)
MP1 (t690)
MP2 (t865)
MP3 (t1270)
CO (t775)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, UTG+1 calls t15, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP2 calls t15, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t90</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, UTG+1 calls t75, MP2 folds.

Flop: (t220) 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
UTG+1 checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t125</font>, UTG+1 folds.

Final Pot: t345

Hand 3: Very boring
 

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (7 handed) converter

Hero (t600)
MP1 (t915)
MP2 (t2275)
CO (t1540)
Button (t845)
SB (t1060)
BB (t765)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
<font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t600 (All-In)</font>, <font color="#666666">6 folds</font>.

Final Pot: t750

Hand 4: Interesting
 

This hand comes from my second set of sng's. I could have just as easily pushed the flop.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) converter

Hero (t775)
MP1 (t850)
MP2 (t1110)
MP3 (t770)
CO (t695)
Button (t770)
SB (t750)
BB (t1020)
UTG (t775)
UTG+1 (t485)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
UTG calls t15, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t75</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP2 calls t75, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, BB calls t60, UTG calls t60.

Flop: (t310) 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>
BB checks, UTG checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t300</font>, MP2 folds, BB folds, UTG folds.

Final Pot: t610

Hand 5: Very Interesting
 

My preflop raise probably wasn't big enough as it didn't do much to limit the field. Any suggestions of what to do after a min raise preflop. I don't like just calling, but I don't like commiting a lot of chips either. The flop seemed like a pretty easy fold.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) converter

Hero (t775)
Button (t860)
SB (t445)
BB (t785)
UTG (t595)
UTG+1 (t790)
UTG+2 (t1225)
MP1 (t905)
MP2 (t775)
MP3 (t845)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
UTG calls t15, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">UTG+2 raises to t30</font>, MP1 calls t30, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t100</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, SB calls t90, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, UTG calls t85, UTG+2 calls t70, MP1 folds.

Flop: (t445) 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">SB bets t345 (All-In)</font>, UTG folds, UTG+2 folds, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t790

Re: AK
 

I like your AK play here. Although it seems like betting less might encourage people to call and so you win more chips, I find that it hurts more in the long as you loose a big pot to a suck out.

Btw, are you the same Zephyr of saskatoon from RFD? If so, small world! [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Hand 6: Am I being trapped?
 

When I'm called on the flop I'm worried and ready to shut it down to much more action. When it's my turn to act on the river I just can't see having a bet called by a worse hand. Thoughts?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (9 handed) converter

Hero (t1365)
Button (t860)
SB (t755)
BB (t120)
UTG (t610)
UTG+1 (t1240)
MP1 (t1580)
MP2 (t685)
MP3 (t785)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, MP1 calls t30, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t150</font>, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, MP1 calls t120.

Flop: (t345) 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
MP1 checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t175</font>, MP1 calls t175.

Turn: (t695) J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
MP1 checks, Hero checks.

River: (t695) K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
MP1 checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: t695

Hand 7: Boring
 

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (7 handed) converter

Hero (t930)
CO (t2029)
Button (t1180)
SB (t485)
BB (t575)
UTG (t790)
MP1 (t2011)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t150</font>, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>.

Final Pot: t225

Hand 8: This may be a leak of mine!
 

I think this is an easy call at the 10's, but what about the 30's. What about higher?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (8 handed) converter

Hero (t2405)
UTG+1 (t860)
MP1 (t690)
MP2 (t285)
CO (t1185)
Button (t910)
SB (t635)
BB (t1030)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
<font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t150</font>, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Button raises to t910 (All-In)</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, Hero calls t760.

Flop: (t1895) K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Turn: (t1895) 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

River: (t1895) 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t1895