What do you think of my line with AKs? ($11)

#Game No : 3207395143
***** Hand History for Game 3207395143 *****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny:18309277 Level:5 Blinds (50/100) - Thursday, December 15, 20:43:21 EDT 2005
Table Multi Table(541822) Table #65 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: builder1000 ( $2345 )
Seat 2: ottoleave ( $1685 )
Seat 3: garypokrnuts ( $2175 )
Seat 5: kingjackoff_ ( $755 )
Seat 6: thornsfan ( $4150 )
Seat 7: castanza_g ( $1410 )
Seat 8: juneau1 ( $3985 )
Seat 9: turdfer ( $980 )
Seat 10: smg279 ( $2709 )
Seat 4: pokerbabka ( $4132 )
Trny:18309277 Level:5
Blinds (50/100)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to castanza_g [ Ad Kd ]
kingjackoff_ folds.
thornsfan folds.
castanza_g raises [275].
juneau1 folds.
turdfer folds.
smg279 folds.
builder1000 calls [275].
ottoleave folds.
garypokrnuts folds.
pokerbabka calls [175].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Jc, 6d, 9s ] POT: t875
pokerbabka checks.
castanza_g bets [350].
builder1000 calls [350].
pokerbabka folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ac ]POT: t1575
castanza_g checks.
builder1000 bets [500].
castanza_g is all-In [785]
builder1000 calls [285].


What would you do on the turn if you don't improve?

Why the small pre-flop raise?

I dunno, its my standard raise in lvl 4....er, 5....Should I be raising more in multi's?

I do 3-4x the BB with AK generally. 2.75 seems a bit low.

[Lloyd]

Buy-in?

[ QUOTE ]
I do 3-4x the BB with AK generally. 2.75 seems a bit low.

[/ QUOTE ]

I lean more toward 4x with AK for opening and 5-6 if limped to me. I like to take down the pot preflop with AK if possible and, if not, be in position post-flop.

[Lloyd]

The answer to how much you should raise pre-flop with AK is very simple - the smallest amount possible that accomplishes the job. It could be 2.75 BBs. It could be 4 or even 5 BBs. It all depends on the blind level, stack sizes, player skills, buy-in, table dynamics, etc. With AK you'd like to get as few callers as possible. It's a hand that plays better heads up. So you make the smallest raise possible that will accomplish that. You'd particularly like to get called by AQ/AJ so you don't want to raise so much that you take those hands out.

You should have a good feel for the raise amount that will work most of the time. And you're absolutely right in that the blind level is a factor in that amount. If your normal amount doesn't accomplish the objective (narrow the field) then raise more. Otherwise, stick with it.

So 2.75 BBs might in fact be a good amount to raise. It's certainly what I would raise (thereabouts) once the blinds start to increase and I could definitely see myself raising it that amount at this blind level in the $109s and above. I would normally only raise more than 3 BBs if playing on a very loose table and usually only during the early rounds.

I guess this is a long way of saying that I don't necessarily think it was the wrong amount.

I often find that continuation bets against 2 opponents don't work often enough to make them profitable. You'll very frequently get called by at least one and unless you improve on the turn you usually have to give up the hand. So I would just normally check the flop and see what happens, prepared to fold against any real bet.

When you make your pair of Aces on the turn I don't see how you're going to fold given your opponents stack size. So the question is what's the best way to play it. I'm inclined to lead out although checking doesn't seem horrible. The reason why I'd lead out is that my opponent has to at least put me on a decent hand at this point. I've got a pair of Queens or better. So by checking all we're doing is giving a free card. If we're behind we're going to get it in one way or another. If we're ahead, they're going to typically check behind on the turn.

[ QUOTE ]
Buy-in?

[/ QUOTE ]

^^^^$11

wow, good reply, thanks.