Raising with AKs

[Usagi_yo]

5/5 blind BB with AK [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], Every body has you covered because you're the only one who's been losing for the last hour. You've dumped off two $500 buy-ins alread and this is your third.

EP limps, MP1 raises to $40 and the whole table calls. Pot comes back to you like $295 and you raise to $250. You get one caller, the button -- who probably is unaware of what button means. He's playing the game like a hand of blackjack. Bet and see if you win in the end. Any two cards, no matter. You may thinking I'm kidding, I'm not. You cannot raise this fellow out pre-flop.

Flop comes Q 8 6 all [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

You stare at your AK:SPADE: and consider, do I blow off the rest of my stack with another $250 shot -- then go home if you lose, or check fold to a bet and torture yourself with more play.

Sometimes I think there is one ace and one king in the deck and they keep giving it to me before the flop. [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[Voltron87]

I would not reraise out of the BB with AK. This is why. OOP this hand is hard to play right, IP it is pretty easy. Don't go allin here it is a losing play against this player.

[LuvDemNutz]

[ QUOTE ]
5/5 blind BB with AK [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], Every body has you covered because you're the only one who's been losing for the last hour. You've dumped off two $500 buy-ins alread and this is your third.

EP limps, MP1 raises to $40 and the whole table calls. Pot comes back to you like $295 and you raise to $250. You get one caller, the button -- who probably is unaware of what button means. He's playing the game like a hand of blackjack. Bet and see if you win in the end. Any two cards, no matter. You may thinking I'm kidding, I'm not. You cannot raise this fellow out pre-flop.

Flop comes Q 8 6 all [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

You stare at your AK:SPADE: and consider, do I blow off the rest of my stack with another $250 shot -- then go home if you lose, or check fold to a bet and torture yourself with more play.

Sometimes I think there is one ace and one king in the deck and they keep giving it to me before the flop. [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

I think I would either push here PF or just cold call the raise and hope to hit top two or a spade draw. I think with $300 already in the pot it's worth the push with what is likely the best hand at the moment (considering that most sane players will drop PP lower than QQ in this spot).

I think 95 times out of 100 everyone folds and you pick up $300 here.

Another reason to push is that with AK you want to see all five cards. What you DON'T want to happen is exactly what happened. You completely whiff on the flop and have to make a difficult decision OOP.

[Loci]

Couple of things.
1. You sound like you're running bad, whether you're on a bad streak or outmatched at the table, after the second buy in why not walk? Come back another day. Maybe your game is off, maybe just in a bad place, think about walking then and there.
2. You raised a 290 pot to 250. With everyone flat calling, I think limiting the field is good, but I would prefer to see a push to win the pot there. If you're not facing AA or KK, you're good to go. By betting 250 you're pot committing yourself anyways, so take it down then and there for the 300 win. If you get called with anything but bullets or Kings you're fifty fifty on the pairs and a 3:1 favorite ahead of A/Q (or a loose AJs).
Assuming you have the whole 250 back, you're now looking to bet at a 750 pot with two overcards and no draws. if opponent has a pair at this point you're drowning quickly. (two of your outs make a 4-flushed board)
Hope it worked out for you.

[AZK]

I agree with everyone else, any big raise is pot committing, just shove your stack in. Most of the time you only have to worry about the original raiser. If everyone else's hand was so good (i.e. hands that kill you), they wouldn't have called in the first place, they would have reraised.

[Voltron87]

[ QUOTE ]
I agree with everyone else, any big raise is pot committing

[/ QUOTE ]

That's why raising out of the BB with AK is a bad play. If it gets called you have no ammo, 250 more into a 600$ pot? I would do this in the CO or button with more $$ behind against tight straightforward players but not in the BB in a multiway.

[ QUOTE ]
If everyone else's hand was so good (i.e. hands that kill you), they wouldn't have called in the first place, they would have reraised.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not necessarily.

[Loci]

Couple of things...

[ QUOTE ]
That's why raising out of the BB with AK is a bad play. If it gets called you have no ammo, 250 more into a 600$ pot? I would do this in the CO or button with more $$ behind against tight straightforward players but not in the BB in a multiway.


[/ QUOTE ]
1. Raising 500 into a 290 pot will probably take it down against opposing hands while betting 250 will likely bring in at least one-two callers. He's pot committing himself, why not just win it right there if he can?

[ QUOTE ]


Quote:
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If everyone else's hand was so good (i.e. hands that kill you), they wouldn't have called in the first place, they would have reraised.


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Not necessarily

[/ QUOTE ]

2. Not necessarily, but probably. Aside from the original raiser and the guy right behind him, why would anyone else intentionally not raise with the bullets? "to trap?" That's how the big ones get broken. Again, not necessarily, but probably.

[turnipmonster]

better to smooth call or stack preflop. putting half your stack in preflop is usually a bad play.

[Voltron87]

1. It should either be an all in or a flat call PF.


2. I don't even know what we're discussing on #2 anymore. I was just saying I would not rule out AA or KK somewhere else.

[FishyWhale]

Why not go allin preflop with your 500? Some may think you desperate to steal a big pot, so they might call with hands they should fold. Would have saved you the trouble of considering how to play the flop. If bj is passive you might check and bet the turn if he checks behind.