How do I play AK here?

[SoftcoreRevolt]

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I don't like to raise AK with multiple calls in front of me (see HEFAP) preflop. An AK raise in later positions is pretty much reserved for coercing the blinds. A raise of AK IN the blinds can be for value, assuming that there have been limps in middle postion. I've been reading a lot of material on AK lately, and it's all contradictory. Nonetheless, AK in big multiway pots is a weakened holding, by consensus. Raising AK EP is for protecting the hand, and assumes your table will fold to your play; with many players in the pot already, or the probability of many players in the pot, there's nothing to protect.

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This is AWFUL AWFUL advise. You do NOT raise AK preflop to protect. You raise for value. You have the best hand, and a huge equity edge. You get money in now because you are a favorite to win the pot no matter how big it gets.

HEPFAP isn't for small stakes online games where people limp with trash.

i dont see any possible way you could have 3 outs here.

100% someone has QJ

I fold this. You're almost certainly behind and you have no redraws except for a weak backdoor straight draw. It's hard for me to lay down TPTK in small stakes games, but this would be a place where I would.

As for capping versus coldcalling, I don't think it matters much because either way you're going to be paying four small bets to see the turn and chances are someone will still bet into you on fourth street.

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I fold.

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[WalkAmongUs]

I fold facing 3 cold. Somebody has something that beats TP. Ditch it.

The point is, that it's NOT awful, awful advice. In fact, the AWFUL, AWFUL advice may be to bet for "value" here. I appended this shortcut, http://www.cs.cmu.edu/People/mummert/poker/, to another question in this forum. In this link, the author discusses hand rankings, simulations, and creating viable ordering of the former by thoughtful implementation of the latter. He goes to great lengths discussing AK, and specifies its vulnerability to nFoes, as the number of players in the pot increases, the value of AK deteriorates. He advises raising the hand EP for PROTECTION, NOT VALUE in MULTIWAY pots, doing so IF AND ONLY IF a raise will prompt wholesale folds around the ring. Also, I believe it is poker stars that has a link to winning hands/values as generated by actual play, based upon every hand played at that site. AK is less successful than a pair of 9's. This is across millions and millions of hands. When do YOU raise a pair of 9's? And for WHAT reasons? Why would you recommend raising AK, if not because you've read a book that tells you it is the proper thing to do?

It is my experience that AKo especially, but AKs to a lesser degree as well, are among the most difficult hands to play. They possess all the problems of the overcard dilemma (usually they HAVE the overcard dilemma), all the vulnerability of middle pairs, and all the promise of AA or KK. Where and when to apply raising for value, protection, etc. is what this hand is all about. And any Pavlovian impulse like RAISE, RAISE!!, simply ignores the intricacy of the positional and table character variables that impact the value of this hand.

I would like to retract my citation of Miller's SSH for support on my recommendation on the value of this hand. I believe he advises always raise for value. However, though always raising for value is more proper than never raising for value, it doesnt cover all the bases, and certainly not in the kind of game we're discussing--loose, and very aggressive. And he does examine situations where AKo should not be raised.

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As for capping versus coldcalling, I don't think it matters much because either way you're going to be paying four small bets to see the turn and chances are someone will still bet into you on fourth street.

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A call signifies weakness; you want to curb the speed of this game if possible, to get your draws. Being weak will not get you those draws at an equitable price: your opponents will perceive a call as an oppurtunity to wrest more money from you, and you will definitely see raises into your hand if you do so; it is probable you will see a raise anyway, but you dont KNOW this. There are three bets that are behind, and yours may or may or may not be one of them. You want an oppurtunity to win this pot, as cheaply as possible. Your opponents will have to interpret your raise as strength. You have position, and a raise will let you use it; a call will not. This is a big pot. I am not thinking about what MIGHT beat me here, I'm thinking about the size of this pot. I don't have to win third of the time to bring down a very sweet +ev. The betting may or may not indicate a set out there, two pair, an OESD: the size of that pot, my strong pairing on the flop, the size of that pot, my outs, the size of that pot, the possibility that my foes are drinking vodka, and, to leave nothing out, the size of that pot are running through my head.

[Nikademus]

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>Text results appended to pokerstove.txt

67,262,140 games 24.359 secs 2,761,284 games/sec

Board: 3d Ts Kc
Dead:

equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 07.4910 % 07.26% 00.23% { AdKh }
Hand 2: 36.4600 % 36.10% 00.36% { TT, 33, QJs, QJo }
Hand 3: 51.7813 % 51.59% 00.19% { TT, 33, KTs, K3s, T3s, KTo, K3o, T3o }
Hand 4: 04.2678 % 03.74% 00.53% { random }
</pre><hr />

Looks like a fold, but I'd have a hard time laying this down.

say, nikademus, does poker stove have a "my opponents are both idiots and drunk" parameter?

:-)~~

i dont know much but AK is no good here. running A's or K's will give somebody a boat and the hand is no good IMO.