AK in the big blind.

[scooby]

Home game - 1/2 blinds. Fishy player limps, tricky player raises in the cutoff to 12, SB folds, I raise to 30 with A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], fishy folds, tricky thinks for a bit and calls. We both have about 300 behind us.

Flop comes down A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

I'm really flummoxed here. What's your play? I have TPTK on a board that hit just about any hand that's not a mid pocket pair. Villain is capable of bluffing a hand like TT, but is also capable of folding AK here as well.

[TStoneMBD]

I would first like to point out that while I used to raise with AK out of position on frequent occasions, I tend not to do it anymore as I feel that it is -EV. The only reason IMO to raise out of position with AK is if you think you can take the pot down right there, or if you think that it will commit your villain to the pot when you flop a good hand and he has incorrect pot odds.

Assuming that your villain raises preflop with legitimate hands, your AK is in really terrible shape with a flop like this. Any AQ AJ QQ JJ AA beats you, and even a KT has your drawing dead. I would check this flop or throw out a weak-bet to see the villain's reaction. Playing this flop is extremely read dependant, but I would get away from it very quickly if he shows any strength. The only hands you can beat are overplayed medium pairs or straight bluffs.

[TheGrifter]

Ugh...the fact that he could have AQ, AJ, QQ etc is WHY you raise with AK, even out of position.

[JohnG]

[ QUOTE ]
Ugh...the fact that he could have AQ, AJ, QQ etc is WHY you raise with AK, even out of position.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that needs more explaining, because on the face of it, I disagree with your statement.

Firstly, are you referring to re-raising with AK, or just raising?

Secondly, what exactly are you hoping to achieve by raising against the above hands?

[TheGrifter]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ugh...the fact that he could have AQ, AJ, QQ etc is WHY you raise with AK, even out of position.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that needs more explaining, because on the face of it, I disagree with your statement.

Firstly, are you referring to re-raising with AK, or just raising?

Secondly, what exactly are you hoping to achieve by raising against the above hands?

[/ QUOTE ]

1. either or, the original poster said he felt that raising with AK out of position is -EV

2. I hope to achieve money going in the pot when I have a dominating hand.

[TStoneMBD]

I was referring to reraising with AK out of position. Raising with AK out of position is fine. As you can see the pot was already raised.

Btw, ironically, this SAME exact scenario came up tonight in my nl game. Struggling against my own advice in this post I realized that folding was the correct play, and as it turned out the original raiser had JJ for trips.

[TheGrifter]

Ah, the first line of your post said that you do not RAISE with AK out of position...re-raising is another story and obviously depends on a lot of factors.

[JohnG]

[ QUOTE ]
2. I hope to achieve money going in the pot when I have a dominating hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Raising or re-raising with AKo out of position is often not the best way to do that, unless teh ratios allow it to be allin. On deep money, you may show a profit if you play it well, but overall I think the profit will be greater by limping or flat calling a raise.

Against decent players, they get away from the dominated aces preflop when you raise or re-raise. Against the loose players that will call you with AX, you are still usually better off limping or flat calling a raise out of position.

[TheGrifter]

On re-raising I can see, but not on raising.

Let's say you're in the BB, you have AKo and there are 3 limpers to you...you almost always want to raise here...you have a hand that at worst will flop overcards and you almost always have the best hand...therefore when people call you they are giving you money. Let them give you money.

Let's say a couple of players were limping with AT-AQ, a raise won't discourage many of them. In fact, if an ace comes up these players may play their one pair hands even faster because the pot is bigger.

The reality of it is, players make mistakes, when you raise with a good hand it allows them to make a mistake. If you don't raise with AK preflop then YOU are the one making a mistake.

[TStoneMBD]

I don't want you to be confused with how I play poker. I gladly raise with AK out of position but I don't reraise with it very often. When I said I don't think you should raise with AK out of position I was referring to this specific scenario.