Re: Laying AK Down Preflop
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All you need is about 1.2 to 1 to make it neutral so this is a +EV call and losing will not hurt your stack much.
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You do not need only 1.2:1 unless you will be able to see all 5 cards, and the fact is that in this hand you aren't likely to see all 5 cards if the other guy has a pair and you miss on the flop. He's about a 2:1 dog to flop an A or a K on the flop.
This is very similar to the AK example in HoH v.2, the second one where Harrington advises calling because you "probably" have implied odds, UNLESS you were against a very tight player. Something tells me that there are actually a lot of players who could be labeled very tight in Stars MTTs. I think this fold is correct against most tight players as a big re-raise of a UTG raise from UTG+1 which committs about 1/3 of the guys stack is showing SERIOUS strength.
Interestingly, and wrongly IMO, Harrington also advises FOLDING the AK if you are against a player who raises approximately half of his stack and is thus pot committed if you suspect he has a pair. The reason given is that you should prefer to go all in to see all 5 cards but if you do go all in and are called, which you will be, by a lower pair you are only getting a fair price and fair priced coin flips are situations that most players try to avoid for the majority of their chips.
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