($20) Early AKs

[betgo]

The caller could have AQ and he could fold to a push, giving you great pot odds against the short stack. I think the caller is more likely to have Ax or Ax than AA or KK. This is AK suited, so you are close to even agianst a pp.

At this level, I think it is an easy push. At a lot higher buyin, you would hav to give everyone credit for bigger hands and this would be a closer decision.

Flat calling is bad. A big portion of Sklansky's TPFAP is on why you want to push preflop with AK. You use AK to get people to fold preflop. If you play a flop, you miss the flop 2/3 of the time.

[Melchiades]

I'll just copy paste what badger wrote.

"Wrong, pushing all in here is the right move. You will most likely fold everyone out and if anybody does call, including the limper, you are more than likely in good shape to win and at worst a coin flip. If everyone folds you are now getting better than 2 to 1 on your call because of the extra money in the pot.

You have one of the best hands in poker. This isn't a deep stacked event when you get your good hands you have to get your money in the pot and hope they hold up. This is an easy push."

There is a benefit of putting all your chip in preflop, and it is not an unnecessary risk.

[jcm4ccc]

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Wrong.

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Why? One word answers don't say much.

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Because I said so.

[play2win]

It is a good move to push if you have had limpers. You have 2 people telling you that they have good/great hands. I give them credit for that.

I don't think you are going to get a fold here. I think you will push then be all-in with a 50/50 shot and your tourney life at stake. This is also against 3 players, granted only one can seriously hurt you. Online, low buy-in, people don't fold prelop after calling for 25-50% of their stack (usually). So if you would like to race all the power too you. Personally I avoid the 50% shots. [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

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You have one of the best hands in poker.

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QQ is also one of the best hands in poker. But could you justify raising all in preflop with it if you suspected the original raiser had KK and the cold caller had AA?

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There is a benefit of putting all your chip in preflop, and it is not an unnecessary risk.

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And in this context, the benefit is .... what????

[Melchiades]

I already copy pasted once. I suggest you read it this time.

[kuro]

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Unless you feel like you could offer Harrington, McEvoy, Cloutier and other tournament poker greats some new advice I would say that this advice is far from horrible.


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Ok. Now you're taking people's advice out of context. They aren't talking about folding in a 20 dollar online tourney where your opponents early on are idiots / action junkies until proven otherwise. When those guys give advice they are talking about high buyin tourneys against other pros and strong amateurs. I seriously doubt that those guys would fold AKs in this situation.

Folding AKs here is STT thinking where you don't have to accumulate early because you fold your way to the bubble. This is a MTT though where you absolutely have to accumulate to give yourself a chance so you absolutely must push. You just can't pass this up.

[gobboboy]

AK
IS
NOT
A
DRAWING
HAND.
Your hand is almost assuredly better than both of theirs. Push, get your money in with the best. MP will probably fold and if he doesn't, you're at worst a coinflip. AA or KK is just too unlikely to fold here.

[play2win]

I guess there are two schools of thought here on the subject of wheter or not to push on AK preflop when there has already been some strong action from other players and you are not the last one to act.

We all seem to agree that AK is a good "starting hand". But it can end up being just ace high. I have to feel in this situation you will never get the fold you want. In other spots I agree with the push.

The two thoughts seem to be:

1. Aggressive: push in knowing/ expecting a call and hoping for a coin flip.

2. Survival: play the hand out, not risking all your chips without seeing the flop.

I for one am a fan of the survival choice. I would like to hear reasons for the more aggressive route besides "it's a good hand" and "because". Why do you need to push probably going close to all in here? He isn't short stacked at the table, there will surely be more spots in the future. This may warrant some further discussion, maybe a seperate post all together? [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[Melchiades]

You wanna see all 5 cards.