Damn stack sizes

[soah]

Party 2/4 6-max

Guy that plays every hand (badly) limps in, I raise to $18 in the CO with AKo. Button who starts with $81 calls. All others fold. I have been usually overlimping or folding behind the guy who plays every hand but not raising him much (their postflop play in limped pots was so poor that I saw no need to isolate without strong hands). The button's call caught me by surprise. He may be shortstacked but he wasn't spashing around a lot.

So it's HU to the flop with $44 (after the rake) in the pot and he has $63 left. I miss the flop. What am I supposed to do here? Is check/folding here wrong? Betting and folding to a raise.... is wrong? Getting all my money in the pot here.... seems wrong? It's been a long time since I've been so confused over such a simple hand.

[emil3000]

I find myself just sticking it in here, but I'm not sure I like it.

Depends on the flop IMHO. is there a limpers two pair? A straight or flush draw, do you have any back door or straight draws?

i would call your all in with second pair knowing i was beating you and you had max of 6 outs. Then hoping other preflop caller had Ax and one king was folded, leaving you 4 outs.

So many people overplay AK i am slipping into a bad habit of calling junk just to get paid off when they miss and overplay.

Im 73% ahead with my pair to your overcards if you have no draws.

AKo is an above avergae drawing hand ..


but im new here .....

[ajmargarine]

Bet $4. It's the rage at all the sites. If he calls, spike an ace on the turn. If he pushes, fold. If he minraises you, which is also the rage these days, go into the tank and probably fold to his overpair.

Seriously, an actual flop would help a little bit, maybe, sorta. But, I don't think c/f'ing is wrong here. Betting $18 and folding to a raise might be borderline OK also. I'd rather not push though. More FE from a PSB then a push usually.

[JaBlue]

texture plays a big role here

[scdavis0]

I push here 100%.

[Leptyne]

I reaize you're OOP but your open raise represented a Big Hand. Obviously villain has to put you on a wide range so he has no way of knowing if you hit. With a flop of something like 3 rags, rainbow, or Q, rags, rainbow, a CB may take the pot down. I'm generally going to lead here with the minimum (maybe 2/3) and if he calls I'm thru with the hand. The beauty of AK is it's easy to muck when you miss. Nothing wrong with a check. If he checks behind I'd be leary of hitting something on the turn, fearing a trap and would check again. From your description it seems like there will be better opportunities to put your money in.

[EMcWilliams]

As you said, any bet will commit you, but also it puts the villian at a decision for all his chips, which he will only do with a monster. At 44, a 35ish bet will give you near 4-1 odds to call if he pushes, but well weed out all the marginal holdings that you are beating, and give you decent odds to call.

But the $18 screams AK from a TAG... if u push and he has nothing you will take it down.

But if im in the pot with you i know you have AK and have missed .. your gonna get re-raised and have to fold/put your stack in .... and im gonna do that with anyhing from a pair, nothing to a draw .. personally i think the question is .. what does my opponant think i have?

and then make your decision from there ... along with the texture of the flop.

if he's gonna put you on AA then all in , if he "knows" you missed your AK your in trouble ....

[gol4pro]

If he literally plays any 2, then your hand will be the best on the flop 40%+ of the time.

Thus, sticking the money in right now is clearly best... even if he won't fold a pair of 2's or 3's.