AK early

#1 07-20-2005, 04:09 PM

was just playing a bodog 2000$ guaranteed multitable and was dealt AKo after 5 or so hands sitting two off the button. it was reraised to 4x BB and three callers. after reading these forums a bit, i'm trying to play ultra conservative for the first few levels of the tournament so i decided to just play it safe and fold here. was a little tempted to go all in over top but think this would have definitely been the wrong move as either the first raiser or limper could have very possibly had a high pp. opted to just save my chips and fold... in retrospect i think that a call might have been worthwhile...
thoughts?

Laomedon · #2 07-20-2005, 04:20 PM

Two options 1) re-raise to 200-275 or so (I don't play on bodog but I'm assuming starting stacks of 1000-1500 and blinds of 10-15 or 10-20) and try to get the pot heads-up or 2) flat-call, take a flop and go from there.

The problem with calling is that you don't really want to invest a lot of chips to play AK in a multi-way pot.

Folding is absolutely terrible by the way. In the early stages of low buy-in MTTs people are raising and re-raising with very marginal holdings. Also, you need to be accumulating chips and a hand like AK is definitely too good to fold to a raise.

Lloyd · #3 07-20-2005, 05:04 PM

How you came up with folding in this spot after reading this forum is completely beyond me. I can't think of a single post that would suggest folding in this situation. Some people might just call, but fold - never. I also disagree with playing ultra conservatively during the first few levels of a tournament. This is the time to play speculative hands that are cheap but have a great chance of doubling through someone.

Calling isn't horrible but IMO raising is better. AK is a hand that plays much better heads up then in a 5 way pot. And if raising is much more than around 2/5 your stack I think pushing is the best option.

joeboe2001 · #4 07-20-2005, 05:19 PM

Ah, yes it is.

But consider this.

After a call by utg+1 and a raise by utg+1 last night, I wanted to reraise with my AK. 5BBs was more than half my stack, so I went all in.

Utg+1 called, utg+2 folded. Utg+1 rolls over a 9-10. Flop comes A-rag-10, and I am feeling good, until a third 10 comes on the river. Unfortunately, I had utg+1 covered and ended up "listening" to him go on and on about he "loved" playing 9-10 because "so many good things can happen."

I think I bit about half an inch off my tongue before I was moved to another table.

freekobe · #5 07-20-2005, 05:24 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Ah, yes it is.

But consider this.

After a call by utg+1 and a raise by utg+1 last night, I wanted to reraise with my AK. 5BBs was more than half my stack, so I went all in.

Utg+1 called, utg+2 folded. Utg+1 rolls over a 9-10. Flop comes A-rag-10, and I am feeling good, until a third 10 comes on the river. Unfortunately, I had utg+1 covered and ended up "listening" to him go on and on about he "loved" playing 9-10 because "so many good things can happen."

I think I bit about half an inch off my tongue before I was moved to another table.

[/ QUOTE ]

I considered it. It still makes sense to call or raise all-in with AK in this spot.

Your one instance where 9-10 beat A-K is worthless.

John W · #6 07-20-2005, 05:41 PM

I think pushing is kinda silly this early, but calling a raise in position is a no brainer. If you hit your Ace or King you could have someone in real bad shape and a great chance to double through. In order to win you have to play your good hands. If you miss then you just fold. Now if there was a raise and then a reraise then folding might be correct depending on the players involved. Cause after all you have nothing but two high cards.

Lloyd · #7 07-20-2005, 05:42 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I think pushing is kinda silly this early

[/ QUOTE ]
Why?

John W · #8 07-20-2005, 05:49 PM

Well your 5 minutes into the tourney and I don't like playing all in poker or pushing a possible coin flip situaton this early. you still don't have anything but Ace high. There are a ton of situations I would push with AK, but 5 minutes into a tourney is not one of them.

PancakeBoy · #9 07-20-2005, 05:53 PM

Why is pushing silly this early...?

Since there are way better spots to gain chips. If you get called all in you only are happy against AQ AJ AT. Any two live unders and you're about 65-35, or u may be flpping coins, or you may be dominated.

If you win the pot outright you've won what seems to be a big pot but it's early in the tournament and having 1k chips (assuming u start with 1k) isn't much different than having say 1075 (which ~5bb = 15x5 = 75 chips won)

Flat calling's the best option imo. But even then you might hit TPTK v. bottom two pair , a set, or somethign retarded, so no, folding isn't terrible either to tell you the truth, since so many people are in the pot and just one pair (albeit top pair) may not be strong enough.

BettyBoopAA · #10 07-20-2005, 05:56 PM

I don't think the fold is bad here. It's early, you don't have read on players yet. There's already been a raise and a reraise and many callers and you have nothing invested yet.
In the first rounds of a tourney, I'm looking to get info from the other players and to set traps not to get into coin flips in the first 5 minutes.