Re-raising AK with position?

[mannika]

Seeing as how I'm currently on a small posting streak within the past few minutes, I figured I would post a general question that I was just thinking of.

What are your thoughts on re-raising AK against a preflop raiser if you have position?

Here's how I see it:
Pro: May induce a fold (unlikely, depending on size of raise)
Pro: If you get re-re-raised, it's a pretty safe laydown
Pro: If you get called, and an A or K flops, you can be fairly confident in your hand
Pro: Pretty well guarantees a heads-up match with position

Con: You are committing quite a bit of money with a re-raise, and if you are played back, that money is lost
Con: If you get called, and an ace or king does NOT flop, your play gets quite a bit more complicated.
Con: May kill your action if you flop an A or K


Ultimately, the decision is probably a 'Depends'. I tried it out when it was raised preflop by the villian, who had a PFR of > 10%. I figured I was probably ahead, and would avoid losing my entire stack in a worst case scenario. Villian ended up calling, ace flopped, I underbet the pot to try and represent KK, got called, then villian folded on the turn to a larger bet.


Ultimately, I think the decision depends on a few other factors, namely:
- range of hands villian is willing to PFR with
- overall aggressiveness of villian (willingness to re-re-raise with non AA/KK)
- how deep the stacks are (deeper stacks this is probably a better move, to avoid losing it all when an A or K flops)

Given all of this, what are your thoughts? Also, what would you say is the ideal re-raise amount? I think putting out a bet that is 2.5x the original raise is a good size, primarily because you wont get a fold with weaker hands, and a re-re-raise requires a significant bet by the original raiser.

Anyways, that's it, looking forward to hearing comments.

[PoBoy321]

It depends on the size of the original raise. I always like to reraise with AK when I have position for the very reasons you said. You could get the other guy to laydown his hand, you can be very confident if an A or K flops, and I think that this is the best reason, you can find out pretty quickly whether or not you're up against AA or KK. If you can find out that you're up against AA for $4 before the flop, it's a lot better than finding out for your entire stack AFTER the flop.

[edge]

It depends on the raiser. With a loose raiser, I'll just smoothcall, since I could have his AQ or AJ dominated. It also depends on whether or not I can get it heads-up. If you can only get heads-up with position by reraising (ie. others will come along behind if you just smoothcall), go for it. I much prefer to play heads-up when I have position. Of course, if you get 3-raised (my new term for rereraise), you can drop your AK quickly.

Most of the time, I like to smoothcall, but I don't play on Party, so the game is a bit different (100 BB stacks, more passive players). Actually, I think AK plays better with smaller stacks, since it's always obvious when you hit.

[soah]

Most of my opponents will not fold to a reraise, and they will generally spew chips with shaky holdings on the flop. I find that it works best against them to just wait until flopping a pair, as they will commit their chips regardless of whether you've reraised preflop. If I reraise and miss the flop, then I'm the one spewing chips (bluffing at the flop) rather than them.

I'm more likely to reraise if there's a chance I can take the pot down without seeing a flop, and if I'm not likely to get action from weaker hands when I hit the flop. For example, I had $450 at a $100 buy-in table last night and a LAG to my right had me covered. I had been playing very conservative and won a monster pot against him with flush over flush, and despite being drunk he was quite aware that he did not want to play another big pot against me. He was raising about 20% of the hands he was dealt, but unlike most LAGs, he actually folded when I came over the top of a couple of his raises. Given his fear/respect of me, I would not have been happy if he put a lot of chips in against me when I had TPTK. So taking the pot without a flop made sense in that instance.

[Tilt]

Say you do so, and the first raiser goes all-in. Whats your move?

I see this all the time at NL50. Your opponent could have many different pp's at these limits, so you generally have to call if you reraised AK cause there is enough in the pot by now to warrant the gamble. Thats why I wait for the flop...I dont want to risk surrendering my position advantage to a preflop pusher.

[BigToga]

I think that the decision to raise/call also depends on what position the original raise came from (in addition to the aforementioned bits and pieces). If it was from UTG and there are no callers, I'm probably just calling a player who's at least halfway tight. If it's from MP+2 position or later from a loose raiser, I'm raising. Playing the button, I might be more inclined to call here if others have called behind. I have position and there's no need to overplay the hand.