Party NLHE $30 - AKo in big blind
 

This is a hand from last nights $30 tourney on Party. Villain has not entered many pots and when he has, played very aggressively.

(First attempt at posting hand, hope this is ok)

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t300 (9 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP2 (t3054)
MP3 :Villain (t4427)
CO (t3640)
Button (t4945)
SB (t5855)
Hero (t7425)
UTG (t9435)
UTG+1 (t1750)
MP1 (t3686)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP3 :Villain raises to t1427</font>, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, Hero ?

Now given the fact that i am out of position, and my read on this guy, what is the play here?

Re: Party NLHE $30 - AKo in big blind
 

Push. You're only a dog to two hands. As the bigger stack, you have a lot of FE vs his smaller pairs so you can buy the pot now instead of racing

Re: Party NLHE $30 - AKo in big blind
 

I reckon this is a great spot to push all-in. I'd be surprised if he was playing AA / KK with the kind of raise he has made, so at worst you are going to be a very slight dog and at best you'll have him dominated. You probably don't really want to play this guy on the flop given his aggression.

Incidentally, does anyone have any thoughts on an additional read from the guy levelling off his stack? His raise is designed to give him a neat and tidy amount of chips after the raise. I see this from time to time online and figured it must be a tell of sorts. I always think it indicates slight weakness - anyone else any thoughts?

Re: Party NLHE $30 - AKo in big blind
 

[ QUOTE ]
I reckon this is a great spot to push all-in. I'd be surprised if he was playing AA / KK with the kind of raise he has made, so at worst you are going to be a very slight dog and at best you'll have him dominated. You probably don't really want to play this guy on the flop given his aggression.

Incidentally, does anyone have any thoughts on an additional read from the guy levelling off his stack? His raise is designed to give him a neat and tidy amount of chips after the raise. I see this from time to time online and figured it must be a tell of sorts. I always think it indicates slight weakness - anyone else any thoughts?

[/ QUOTE ]

I know what you mean. Like if he had a "real" hand it would be more like 3/4/5x the BB?

Re: Party NLHE $30 - AKo in big blind
 

Yes, my thinking is that someone sat with a real premium hand would be thinking "how do I get most money out of this". They'll then make a conventional bet of a certain multiple of the BB.

On the other hand, someone playing a "tricky" hand is thinking more about their stack if they get re-raised. Hence the desire to make things neat and tidy (e.g. "at least I'll still have 3000 left").

Ultimately, someone with a really good hand is expecting to win the pot, so no point in them trying to level off their stack. Hence why I generally take this as a tell for weakness.

Can anyone who makes this kind of play tell me what hands they do it with?