final table spot

[citanul]

9 handed, we're at 1500/3000, with 750/1500 blinds, limit holdem,

hero has 9k, to his immediate left there are two players with 7k and under, then a guy with 15k, then the guy with 48k, then another guy with 5k, and the remaining players have between 10k and 15k i think.

utg open raises at this fairly tight final table. hero is utg+1 with AKo.

prizes are something very close to:

9: 480
8: 640
7: 800
6: 960
5: 1200
3: 1700
2: 2700
1: 4300

hero's play and plan for the rest of the hand?

c

[bawcerelli]

three bet and take it all the way and hope you've got the best.

[ace_in_the_hole]

I am assuming you are playing for the win, so I raise and hopefully isolate with position. You will only have 4500 left on the flop so you might just have to go to showdown. I just don't see folding this if you are playing for 1st.

[splashpot]

I would probably just re-raise and keep betting/raising until I'm all in.

[xJMPx]

I'll take a shot at this.

Your options:
-Fold
-Call
-Raise

Fold: you only have 6BBs remaining with the blinds coming up in two hands, so I don't think you're going to find a better hand to play, so I don't think folding is an option here.

Call: Calling will put 1/3 of your stack in the middle, committing you to the pot. You will be more likely to get into a multiway pot. AK is a good drawing hand, but your likely to miss the flop and be in a tough spot OOP.

Raise: Raising puts 1/2 of your stack in the middle, but at this tightish table will likely isolate you with UTG and have you in position.

So, I don't like folding here and because both calling and raising commit you to the pot, I would perfer a raise here to isolate and then be willing to put the rest in on remaining streets.

[The Yugoslavian]

I like assaulting the pot with bets/raises.

This is obviously hypothetical b/c we all know citanul couldn't make a final table of tiddlywinks, [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img].

[img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Yugoslav

[Scuba Chuck]

[ QUOTE ]

utg open raises at this fairly tight final table. hero is utg+1 with AKo.

hero's play and plan for the rest of the hand?

c

[/ QUOTE ]

Fairly tight for an UTG raise 9 handed is something like what? 99+, AJs+? Is that too wide? I think it's important to decide if calling or raising here is best based on what range you think villain has here. Do you have any VPIP numbers? Do you have any VPIP numbers for this guy in this position?

Considering villain has 7k, he is likely committing his entire stack on this hand.

Anyhow, once you consider that against the range I used, we're only 53% against that range, I think you could advocate a call if you were confident that you wouldn't get called by anyone behind (except perhaps the BB). Is BB gonna play this tight? Will he fold most hands?

I think it's important to know BB's stack, and how he plays (if you know) in order to decide wether a call or raise is better here.

Anyhow, how are we going to play this postflop? I think that we are going to have a difficult time committing to this hand if we don't have 10 outs or more to improve if we whiff. If you completely whiff, are you the type of player who can call down with nothing? If your opponent has AJ+, can he bet the flop if he whiffs? How will he react by your just call vs a raise?

Ack, this is a difficult spot. You can't fold this hand though.

[citanul]

ok, so:

1) clearly doubling up here is quite major, this is true.
2) in some way not going broke on this hand if i am doomed to go broke on this hand could easilly mean several moves up the payout ladder
3) i'm still out of position
4) a debate could be had about isolating or calling to get a few more players to try to have a bigger chance to double/triple up and/or in a heads up situation have ammo for more than one street (i'd estimate the likelihood of a 3rd or more player entering the pot at this table behind even a call being <<50%)

more: the guy in the bb was amongst the shortest of the mid stacks, probably around 10k, and not showing any real signs of wanting to play lots of hands.

keep it coming, it seems like "reraise, try hard to get all in" is winning the day.

c

[microbet]

What's UTG's stack? A shorter stack will often Agg up UTG here.

Anyway, that would make a difference for AQ, but AK is too good. I really don't like calling. Raise, and unless something wierd happens, play this hand hard.

I'll go with the crowd this time.