Quick no-read live 2/5 200NL question

[boondockst]

First orbit at a newly opened table...It's folded to the button who makes it a curious $22...the SB flat-calls, you have AKo in the BB and you ______ because _____ (You have almost the full $200 buy-in and both Button and SB have similar) What range do you put each on and how does this influence your decision?

The table thus far had been tight and players whining about no action on big hands.

I've played a lot of SSNL and live 4/8 but it was my first live NL experience (only two places in my state) and somehow froze up in this situation because of the stack size/stake/unexpected raise amount/flat call by SB......

[Ghazban]

[ QUOTE ]
First orbit at a newly opened table...

[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The table thus far had been tight and players whining about no action on big hands

[/ QUOTE ]

So there's been a lot of whining and big hands in the first 10 hands?

I push; great image builder if you get called (you might even have the best hand) and, with only 40BB in my stack, I'm fine with picking up the dead money and not having to play out of position. With a brand new game, getting a good image play in the first orbit can be great as nobody at the table will be leaving for a while and that impression will stick with them.

[boondockst]

Yes it was amazing...A player who limped with AA and lost to the BB's 94o on a 9x9xx board replied that he'd rather get outdrawn with aces than "not get paid"....Why a player would not be happy adding 12% to his stack at the minimum (some players buy in for $100 only) is beyond me. I snidely remarked that it was easy to say that now (insinuating he regretted playing it that way) but he honestly looked as if he felt that way, giving some b.s. # like "2/3 of the time slowplaying them pays off big" Idiots. I was not impressed. BTW, with deeper stacks and say a read that the players could do this with anything from 22 to JTs what's the move? Still all-in to add 25% to my stack?

[phillydilly]

i raise to 70
because
i want to get this heads up, i dont want Ak multiway out of position, also, i think that the button may have been on a blind steal, and after SB calls, and i raise, he may lay down. going from AK 3 way out of position to heads up in position is huge.
i also like the 70 range because it makes my postflop action fairly simple, heads up, i open push which will be just under a pot sized bet before i even see the flop, 3-way, if i hit, i can push and move someone off a drawing hand, but if i miss, i'm still not pot committed

edit: just read the push preflop reply, i like this also for the same reasons, getting it heads up, eliminates the out of position problem, one thing this does have over my raise to 70, is the push preflop maximizes fold equity

[Jester999]

I call and take a flop. Personally, when I sit down to play (especially live) my adrenalin is flowing and I have a tendency to overplay hands. I just wouldn't want to start building a big pot OOP with this hand. But the flip side is that you guys are so short (40 BB) I'd be willing to get it all in with TPTK.

Finally, I don't know about this game but whenever I go play 2/5 in Shreveport I'm shocked at just how bad most of the players are. The $200 NL game on Party is much harder. It actually takes me a few orbits to adjust.

Hope it worked out.

[TheWorstPlayer]

make it $70 because AK is in good shape against the hand range of someone opening from the BN and you only have 40bbs so you can easily just push any flop once you make it $70. Of course call a push preflop.

Edit: Now after reading the thread just wanted to add that I'm fine with pushing since it is good for image and you will often even get calls from dominated aces like AQ/AJ thinking they are coin flipping with a pocket pair. But I think calling is terrible. You are going to be check/folding too many flops. Put him to the test. Don't put over 10% of your stack in hoping to get lucky on the flop.

[Ghazban]

With short stacks, bad players, and poor position with AK, I like being all-in. I push it at Foxwoods ($100 max buyin, 1/2 blinds so 50BB stacks) after a $10 raise and a call or two all the time. They'll fold their mid pairs (which is great) but still call with stuff like KQs or AQo (which is even better). If you run into a monster, oh well, you get the maniac image of pushing with "a drawing hand" and get tons of action later. I've limp/reraised 33 all-in with similar effects, too.

[boondockst]

I flat-called, thinking (incorrectly) i had to be against at least one big hand and as my first and unplanned trip to 2/5 NL didn't want to drop 200 on my first played hand (idiotic). The flop came 4 5 6 rainbow and SB checked, I checked? (stupid), Button bet around $30, SB pushed and I of course folded and Button called..

Button had 86s and SB had A3o...And I immediately realized I missed the easiest PF take down of $50 ever.


Sidenote: cold-calling an over-raise OOP with A3o???? I didn't know the play could be THAT bad. I later saw the guy trying to make a pot odds calculation on a board of 9333 against a table-changer who came with $2200 within 20 minutes of the table opening. He folded reluctantly but said he should have called because he had (not maybe had) 15 outs (wow, I always count flush outs in full with trips on the board....) What a donk.

[boondockst]

For anyone who hasn't tried live NL, please do so as soon as possible.

For anyone who lives in Washington and doesn't want to drive to Tulalip in favor of limit play at Muck, Diamond Lil's or some other crap casino, please get to Tulalip as soon as possible.

The entertainment value alone is worth it.

I got to see a player agonize after a PF 3-bet (push) when he was getting about 7 to 1 to call off the rest of his chips. I saw his dilemma (which still wasn't one) when he was trying to steal (on a short stack) with 98o. The original raiser only had 33 thought but thankfully a 3 spiked on the flop and even though drawing dead on the flop, the idiot with 98o got all excited when the turn brought an 8 for him...

I limp with AJo in MP and it's 3 to the flop of Ax 7c 2c...I check, player2 checks and Button bets 20. I check-raise to 70 total. Player2 folds and button flat-calls. I vow to push any non-club turn (and probably a club one, too) and it is a delightful red four. Button thinks and thinks and finally folds, declaring, "I should have called you, I had a pair. You didn't have the aces did you?" WTF would i check-raise 3.5x your bet with???? A flush draw?