Play a Hand With the Masters #2 Pre-Flop

[Exitonly]

I really dont think theres going to be much of an edge that Gigabet's skill would have him pass up that we commonfolk wouldn't...

[the shadow]

Heck, giga's even willing to knowingly take the worse of it with some of his stack, like he did on that Q3o hand, so that he can build some blocks. What I meant is simply that with AKo, I'm willing to flip a coin against one villian for my whole stack, especially if I can get some dead money in the pot PF.

[Blindcurve]

Preliminary resp.

Do you call or raise? If you raise, to what? Raise to 300.


Since most players usually raise with AK in this spot, under what scenarios would you just limp and why? I really can't think of many. Perhaps if someone behind me was playing fast and aggressively preflop, I'd consider a limp/reraise AI. Also, if I were limping a lot of hands for some reason, and a limp from UTG+1 wouldn't look odd, I'd do it. But, my position is bad and I don't play well enough post-flop to allow a bunch of people to limp in behind me with this hand. However, if "Hero is Gigabet", he may not be operating under such constraints, and therefore may be able to exercise a certain degree of creativity.


If you raise and get re-raised, what's your plan (which obviously could depend on which player re-raises you)? I am trying to think of situations where I would reasonably fold if I get raised. I have 23BB's after my raise. A "standard" raise to about 1K would leave me with 16BB's if I just called, but with a pot of ~2000. I couldn't make a reasonably sized bet without pot committing myself. It would depend on a bunch of factors, whether I called or reraised all-in. Since I have no reads, I'll use stack size and position. Only the BB and the button can bust me. I think I'd want to use my position against the SB or the BB and just take a flop. Against the button, I'm not sure; I think I'd reraise AI to force him to make a decision preflop. Against all the other stacks, I might as well call and take a flop. With the exception of MP2, I'd imagine most of them aren't getting away no matter what happens on the flop- assuming they aren't all-in already. If someone moves in, I'll call. I just don't have any reads.

-D.

My play ::I limp in.
It's early in the tourney doubt anybody will take offense to it, a standard raise from EP will signal some decent strength, I think AK is a very sneaky hand, that you can play extremely different.

My reasoning on the Limp is to conceal the strength of the hand, you are in early position and you dont want to chase anybody out of the flop. If the BB or SB have say Ax or Kx they may be very inclined to complete the bid, a standard raise will chase them out. I Like to play to trap with AK if at all possible. I call a lot with it, and once i hit T2P, alot of the time the bidding is done for me.

If Raised, I simply call, as protecting my bid. If its raised all-in, assuming hero = seat 2, I call 3-4-6 for an all-in.

If 5&7 go all-in, and nobody else has called behind me, I will call, if there were fellow limpers inbetween, I feel like my outs may have shrunk, this may result in me folding depending on how fast they moved all-in.


If SB & BB go all-in i call either one, reasoning may be on defense of blinds if other fellow limpers tried to come along, maybe just trying to establish that their blind isnt a free ride or just a steal attempt. As discussed earlier in the post, AK is a good hand, and you cant be afraid to be headsup all-in or left with ~500 chips.


If anybody raises or re-raises behind me, dependant on position and which stacks, if 3-4-6 raise and someone else re-raises, I turbo-cold call in a heartbeat.
Turbo-coldcall any re-raise by the blinds as well.

I dont mind getting in a 3way pot, this tournament has a long way to go, and this would be a nice way to get it started.

[Jason Strasser]

I raise / yawn. Discussing this street is so pointless. Sure you can limp but obviously the default is to raise. If there is a boring street I dont understand why we dont just skip ahead.

[MLG]

[ QUOTE ]
If there is a boring street I dont understand why we dont just skip ahead.

[/ QUOTE ]

If we're trying to appeal to the whole forum then it makes sense to include this street. Just because it might be boring and incredibly obvious to you (and me) doesn't mean there arent lots of posters who can learn from the discussion.

[Ryendal]

I am disappointed you didn't follow the questions from the OP.
I respect your opinion, but your opinion, here is only to raise ? but What amount to begin ? etc.
The only boring thing in this thread is your answer, we hope more from you, gl

[Jason Strasser]

Come on.

You raise your standard amount. If there is a reason to limp then you limp and there are some obvious benefits to limping and then attacking overaggressive opponents. But for the most part the standard play is raising.

The big problem with limping is that if you raise many hands you dominate will still come along but if you limp many hands like J2o might see a flop from the BB and you really aren't any sort of big favorite against J2o.

[ QUOTE ]
The big problem with limping is that if you raise many hands you dominate will still come along but if you limp many hands like J2o might see a flop from the BB and you really aren't any sort of big favorite against J2o.

[/ QUOTE ]

Another advantage of raising is that you can get a better feel for their range from the amount they reraise.

For example a push behind your raise would usually mean a pp up to 10s. In which case I dont care what their stack size is, if its just 1 person pushing Im calling. If 2 players push after me then i might lay it down.

But if they bump it up to 600-800, I would be more inclined to think they have something like 1010-AA. I dont know for certain what I would do then, 80% of the time I push, but in all honesty I will be looking for a reason not to as this is where I usually come up against a big hand. I dont think AQ-KJ would ususally reraise to 600-800 in that spot.

If they just call im putting them on a wide range and will just have to play OOP poker.

[CardSharpCook]

Just to add my 2 cents. I'm raising to either 250 or 300. I don't really like a limp push with AK here, but I suppose it is a possibility. Limp-calling goes against 2+2 doctrine and for good reasons.