AK

[zephyr]

In an effort to improve my play of AK, I've decided to post all of my AK hands from the 4 sng's I'm playing right now. I'll post them individually as responses to this post. I welcome all comments, and realize that many of the hands will be pretty "standard".

Zephyr

[zephyr]

This was around hand 3 and the villain had been involved in every pot so far.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) converter

Hero (t785)
UTG (t740)
UTG+1 (t785)
UTG+2 (t800)
MP1 (t700)
MP2 (t820)
MP3 (t450)
CO (t865)
Button (t1270)
SB (t785)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, MP2 calls t15, MP3 calls t15, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t80</font>, MP2 folds, <font color="#CC3333">MP3 raises to t450 (All-In)</font>, Hero calls t370.

Flop: (t925) 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Turn: (t925) 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

River: (t925) Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t925

[zephyr]

Pretty standard...I think.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (9 handed) converter

Hero (t1250)
SB (t895)
BB (t770)
UTG (t785)
UTG+1 (t700)
MP1 (t690)
MP2 (t865)
MP3 (t1270)
CO (t775)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, UTG+1 calls t15, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP2 calls t15, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t90</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, UTG+1 calls t75, MP2 folds.

Flop: (t220) 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
UTG+1 checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t125</font>, UTG+1 folds.

Final Pot: t345

[Crosby]

Looks fine, though I think I'd usually bet a little more on the flop because I wouldn't want him to think this is a good opportunity to reraise allin and pick up the pot.

[zephyr]

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (7 handed) converter

Hero (t600)
MP1 (t915)
MP2 (t2275)
CO (t1540)
Button (t845)
SB (t1060)
BB (t765)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
<font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t600 (All-In)</font>, <font color="#666666">6 folds</font>.

Final Pot: t750

[zephyr]

This hand comes from my second set of sng's. I could have just as easily pushed the flop.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) converter

Hero (t775)
MP1 (t850)
MP2 (t1110)
MP3 (t770)
CO (t695)
Button (t770)
SB (t750)
BB (t1020)
UTG (t775)
UTG+1 (t485)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
UTG calls t15, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t75</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP2 calls t75, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, BB calls t60, UTG calls t60.

Flop: (t310) 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>
BB checks, UTG checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t300</font>, MP2 folds, BB folds, UTG folds.

Final Pot: t610

[Crosby]

Just wanted to point out that with the Ah redraw, I think you could check this or bet around half the pot depending on the players involved. You're not terribly likely to lose this pot if you're ahead. Preflop I'll often call here, but it seems like you get a lot of coldcalls in your game so you're probably doing the right thing.

[zephyr]

My preflop raise probably wasn't big enough as it didn't do much to limit the field. Any suggestions of what to do after a min raise preflop. I don't like just calling, but I don't like commiting a lot of chips either. The flop seemed like a pretty easy fold.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) converter

Hero (t775)
Button (t860)
SB (t445)
BB (t785)
UTG (t595)
UTG+1 (t790)
UTG+2 (t1225)
MP1 (t905)
MP2 (t775)
MP3 (t845)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
UTG calls t15, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">UTG+2 raises to t30</font>, MP1 calls t30, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t100</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, SB calls t90, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, UTG calls t85, UTG+2 calls t70, MP1 folds.

Flop: (t445) 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">SB bets t345 (All-In)</font>, UTG folds, UTG+2 folds, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t790

[Crosby]

You mention that you don't like it, but I would suggest just calling the 30 preflop. If you are going to raise, I believe you need to raise enough to give yourself some chance of taking down the pot, say around 200. IMO, you don't have enough chips to just raise the AK for value and then fold if you miss. You're going to want to take some shots sometimes when you miss because the pot will be around half your stack, and I don't think you want to be taking these risks at the 10/15 level with your stack. So I'm for a cheap flop or a big raise, interested in other opinions.

[bigredlemon]

I like your AK play here. Although it seems like betting less might encourage people to call and so you win more chips, I find that it hurts more in the long as you loose a big pot to a suck out.

Btw, are you the same Zephyr of saskatoon from RFD? If so, small world! [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]