This pot is huge. I mean huge. And it's getting bigger. Cap it, and follow along. A cap will often stabilize the betting in situations like this: your opponents will each see two or three other opponents willing to call down a bet, which will result in at least one of them evaluating his holdings as a draw, and at least one is on a straight draw here. You should be able to fold the river with one additional bet on the turn, if you fail to improve, adding to the 3BB you've put into the pot before fourth street. Total cost, 4BB. I cap here, because it lets me maintain my positional advantage, and it stirs doubt in the other players. Ive played in games like this at this level, and their texture is always a lot of betting that seems to indicate monster hands, which too many times turns out to be drunken posturing. To quote miller: do not think about how to save bets in circumstances like this, think about saving pots. If you cap, you enter fourth street with 14BB.

It's true that there are two raisers and a lead out bettor who will join you at the turn, and this may make this analysis secondary to that consideration. Still, you have TPTK, and the pot is huge.

The pot is huge.


That's 14BB huge, and you've not progressed to the turn. You may be drawing dead, true, if there's a set here, but you may be drawing lively, with your opponents drawing to 2 pair, or a pair of Kings. A = 3 outs, K = 2 outs, and 1 out to the 2 gap gut shot (turn and river). You need 7 to 1 to 14 to 1 to justify staying in, and the implied odds promise you a surplus in every case. I know it's hard to follow through on this kind of play, but I think you have to grit your teeth and do everything that will slow the betting down, minimize your risk, but persist.



I don't like to raise AK with multiple calls in front of me (see HEFAP) preflop. An AK raise in later positions is pretty much reserved for coercing the blinds. A raise of AK IN the blinds can be for value, assuming that there have been limps in middle postion. I've been reading a lot of material on AK lately, and it's all contradictory. Nonetheless, AK in big multiway pots is a weakened holding, by consensus. Raising AK EP is for protecting the hand, and assumes your table will fold to your play; with many players in the pot already, or the probability of many players in the pot, there's nothing to protect.