shaky play with AK

[Josh32]

Hello. This is my first post so if things aren't clear, let me know.
I want to improve my play so feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

PokerRoom MTT 5+1 with 247 starting

blinds are (25/50)

UTG+3 opens with a raise of 500. This is about 1/3 of his/her stack. I don't have a read as I was moved to this table 3 hands ago.

Everyone folds around to me in the CO with AK and ~1500. I call, and everyone else folds.

The flop comes J high with 2 small cards, rainbow. UTG+3 bets 200 into the 1000 pot, and I raise my remaining 1000 all-in. UTG+3 calls and shows wired jacks for a set. They hold up. I'm out in 169.

My thoughts:

Preflop: The big bet made me think UTG+3 didn't want called. I don't think calling was the best action. That leaves me with folding or raising all in preflop.

Flop: With the little bet, I thought he/she was trying to push me off the pot at minimum cost. I don't think UTG+3 can call my raise at that point without an over pair or better. Why raise that much preflop with AA, KK, QQ? Of course, that's my thought process, not his/hers.

Conclusion: I think I got tied to my hand and should've folded when I missed the flop.

[hurlyburly]

Calling PF was your only mistake. He made a pretty standard bet indicating a high PP. He was inviting action from other premium hands and pushing out junk. You don't have the depth to reraise a lot here, so pushing PF would have been best.

Since you didn't list suits I'm guessing you weren't suited and there was no flush draw. More often than not, with a spread flop and no suits, a small bet like that is actually designed to keep you IN the hand. If the flop had been AJT or 2 to a suit, he'd have bet larger (most likely all-in) to protect his set and drive out any drawing hands, and get paid off by an Ax hand.

Since you missed and he bet out, this would have been a good laydown.

[zaxx19]

Just another bad play with the ultimate donkey hand AK...
If yu just call preflop yu really have no idea what he has. If yur gonna play AK here i like a reraise to clarify where yur at. A lay isnt horrible here pre-flop, i dont care what people on 2+2 say if yur in a cumfy tourney postion why are you gambling with no reads...Dude could have AA or KK looking for a reraise, then yur in super big trouble no matter what flops...My basic point is AK is not to be grouped with AA KK QQ as a hand that bascially HAS to be played most times...

[tiger7210]

the tournament is obviously still very early, the bettor makes a raise of 10x BB overbetting the pot, and you are holding nothing more than an A high. At this point in the tourny this should be an easy fold but if you decided you really wanted to gamble and more than likely be in a race with AK then you need to push PF but there's no way you can call that size raise and then fold on the flop when you miss. AK is a great hand if you think you have folding equity which in this case I don't think you have and if you do get called you're normally only a slight underdog.

[gergery]

It's opponent dependent. I like fold best, but pushing in is ok too. calling is bad however. What does his giant preflop overbet of 10xbb mean? Since its 1/3rd of his stack, I would expect it to be a decent hand and that he won't fold.
if he has a pair you are an underdog so fold. If you think he'd do that with AQ/AJ type hands then you have good EV, so the real question to answer here is, how would he play weaker Aces?

On the flop, you are either way behind to a pair, or ahead of any non-pair hand (usually an Ax -- which means he's drawing to 3 outs. So calling is clearly best to hope to hit your hand (unless you want to fold, which is fine too). Pushing does nothing for you tho.

-greg

[zaxx19]

How in the world is pushing here "good"?? How is a move where if yur called yur hoping to get to 44% win rate good early in a tourney unless its a huge semi bluff on a huge pot alot further along in a tourney i just dont get some ideas in here [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Lloyd]

In low buy-in tournaments, a huge bet like this almost always represents a big pair. If you push pre-flop, you will surely get called and I'd be shocked if you weren't a dog, perhaps a huge one (against AA or KK). I think I would fold this reluctantly. It's just too early in the tournament.

[Josh32]

Hello. I just wanted to thank everyone for the advice and information.