AKo on the BTN UTG

[Maulik]

It's pretty important I play these kinds of hand very well before I move up, so thoughts here are appreciated.

the raise + caller = me popping it big, what's a good size? how should I respond to the small raise on the flop?



Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 5 handed) converter

Hero ($89.81)
SB ($83.50)
BB ($32)
UTG ($34.55)
MP ($50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. SB posts a blind of $0.25. MP posts a blind of $0.50.
<font color="#CC3333">UTG raises to $2</font>, MP (poster) calls $1.50, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $7</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, UTG calls $5, MP folds.

Flop: ($16.75) Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">UTG bets $3</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $15</font>, UTG folds.

Final Pot: $34.75

[Isura]

With those stacks, just push the flop instead of raising to 15. Calling isn't bad either since he's giving you a decent price. I'm not sure about preflop either. I hate putting in so much money preflop when we are going to miss 2/3 of the time. And the caller inbetween is another concern. If the utg raiser is fairly tight, I think I just call preflop and try to outplay him with position.

[Maulik]

[ QUOTE ]
With those stacks, just push the flop instead of raising to 15. Calling isn't bad either since he's giving you a decent price. I'm not sure about preflop either. I hate putting in so much money preflop when we are going to miss 2/3 of the time. And the caller inbetween is another concern. If the utg raiser is fairly tight, I think I just call preflop and try to outplay him with position.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I get the hand HU, I can make a c-bet and evaluate from there. By simply calling, I'm allowing him to be in the driver's seat and I don't like that.

I would raise a bit more preflop (~$9) and on the flop (~$20), but otherwise I like it.

Dumle

[Isura]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
With those stacks, just push the flop instead of raising to 15. Calling isn't bad either since he's giving you a decent price. I'm not sure about preflop either. I hate putting in so much money preflop when we are going to miss 2/3 of the time. And the caller inbetween is another concern. If the utg raiser is fairly tight, I think I just call preflop and try to outplay him with position.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I get the hand HU, I can make a c-bet and evaluate from there. By simply calling, I'm allowing him to be in the driver's seat and I don't like that.

[/ QUOTE ]

He's not exactly in the driver's seat when you autocall his flop bet and bet the turn hard when he checks, or autoraise his flop cont bet on any board.

Edit: FWIW, reraising preflop is probably the standard play. But I like calling against decent/tight players and seeing a flop with position.