BB decision vs. Gank WCOOP #4

[Zoe's Echo]

Sitting in BB with AKo and having trusted instinct throughout 7 hours my first thought was I don't want to play a big pot with this hand.

T $100,000 in 9th place - 3rd stack at table. Made mental note that if either big stack move I will pick a better spot. Folded to Gank with $37.5K T in SB. He moves in.

Blinds are T$1K/T$2K at this point.

Know he is strong player that had been sitting patiently on T$30K-T$40K for 2 hours.

Hit the call button. JJ Gank takes out my drawing hand.

Never recovered and spiraled out in 93rd.

I know how the hand played out but faced with the same decision and stack sizes I am wondering thoughts as to clear fold or need to gamble. Had just read McEvoy's commentary earlier in the day on "trying to win the torny too early".

I think this clearly was the case.

NH Gank - congrats to the winners.

[z32fanatic]

I don't think you can fold AK heads up. He could've made this move with any 2 cards, as I have done before. You can basically discount AA and KK so the only hand you are a dog to is a pair, and even then it's a coinflip. I would call every time.

[TonyG86]

I agree with fanatic, he could be making this move with any 2 cards especially if he knows you to be a solid player. I wouldve been calling with a smile on my face if this situation happened to me.

[0evg0]

Yeah, you've got to look at it as it really is - AKo vs XX heads up. You've got to like your chances regardless of the circumstances. Only thing that might've made me hesitate was if this happened on the bubble. But then again, there'd be arguments that gank was just trying to steal some blinds there to stay alive, so... you made the right move. A definite call.

[Barry_G]

I made a final table against Gank in a stars $10 rebuy. He raised all-in and i called with KK. He showed 63o. He rivered and straight and i'm out in 4th or 5th(don't remember a few months back). You got to call here.

[Grivan]

Barry is right. I play with Gank all the time he is capable of raising with any two cards in that spot. Laying down AKo would be a huge mistake.

[shaniac]

It was 8 handed in the $109 rebuy event last week and I had AQo in the BB. Gank was on the button and we both had comparable stack sizes, around 50K IIRC. When I saw my hand, I said to myself, "I'm calling gank's allin."

Sure enough it was folded to gank on the button who pushed allin. I called. He had K2s and flopped two pair. It sucked, but I think I would make that call any day of the week and, well, twice on Sunday.

Gank is a maniac. I'm sure he's a decent player but he's also prone to some goofy over-aggressive allins and plays that are just senseless in my opinion.

Also, AK, as FossilMan has pointed out previously here, is not a "drawing hand"--it's a hand that's in decent shape over all but the best two starting hands and quite often dominant--especially against gank. The only time to consider folding it in a scenario such as this is when folding ensures to a reasonable degree that you will enjoy a bump in the payout soon. Folding here is not the way to win the tournament.

Also, I understand that you dropped about 40% of a nice stack here, but are you suggesting this was the cause of your downward spiral?

You made a fine call and you got ganked, it happens.

Shane

[Zoe's Echo]

Shaniac - thanks to you and everyone else for your responses.

That hand didn't kill me - the meltdown was my own doing thereafter. It was the self questioning and desire to get those chips back too quickly afterwards.

I made some moves in LP when the blinds were big that had to be mucked when people came over the top and stupidly bet at a flop that I had missed and needed to laydown to a reraise.

When I needed to double up I got KT sb all-in vs. my KQ BB and ended up spliting the pot with twopair on board.

I opened up at the wrong time and got stung. Still couldn't sleep last night having been in 9th place with 160 left and going out in 93rd.

I have learned a lesson here though that I hopefully will take with me next time.

Good Luck