Interesting hand with AK

[GrekeHaus]

Here, I'm sitting in the big blind. normally I'd raise here, but with all those people already in and me out of position, I decided just to call. I was wondering what other people would do in this situation.

Party Poker 5/10 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
<font color="CC3333">UTG raises</font>, <font color="666666">3 folds</font>, MP3 calls, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, SB calls, Hero calls.

Flop: (8 SB) 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
SB checks, <font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, <font color="CC3333">UTG raises</font>, <font color="CC3333">MP3 3-bets</font>, SB folds, Hero ???

[GrekeHaus]

btw...no reads on any of the players.

[Haupt_234]

3-bet preflop, cap the flop.

Haupt_234

[GrekeHaus]

Alright, first I'm not not really concerned about my preflop actions here. Usually I'll three bet, but when you're in the blinds with a few people already in, it's often acceptable just to call. I'm not really concerned about that part.

Second, when you say cap the flop, without any justification, it offers no insight whatsoever.

[Haupt_234]

[ QUOTE ]
Alright, first I'm not not really concerned about my preflop actions here. Usually I'll three bet, but when you're in the blinds with a few people already in, it's often acceptable just to call. I'm not really concerned about that part.


[/ QUOTE ]

You will be losing a great deal of equity in the long run when you don't raise in this position. And it doesn't seem like this is the only situation where you check through, but I won't put too much emphasis on it since you have no concern.

[ QUOTE ]
Second, when you say cap the flop, without any justification, it offers no insight whatsoever.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would cap the flop here since UTG could be raising AJ, AQ, AK, JJ, QQ or KK. Maybe even TT. The raise from MP3 doesn't neccessarily mean a set or two-pair, but a decent ace such as AT or AJ. This hand would help out a great deal with some reads, and the decision between raising and, I guess calling, is marginal. But my aggressive tendency would be to reraise.

Haupt_234

[DesertCat]

I'm concerned about your pre-flop. If you had three bet, whether the raiser four bets or not can help you narrow down his hand. Secondly, you've got a premium hand, and every bet you make the fishies toss in pre-flop increases your profitability.

And if you had been four bet preflop, you might not have wasted a bet on the flop (unless he's just a maniac). You tried to stop and start preflop/flop and no-one gave you any credit for a hand. You can't just turn aggression off and on and expect it to be respected. If you had three bet, and the raiser just called, they might just call your flop raise.

But to answer your questipn, your flop read is player dependent. If they are reasonably okay players you are looking at two pair. If they are maniacs, anything.

[GrekeHaus]

It is a bit weak to call preflop, I admit.

When I led out with a bet from the BB, I was expecting a raise from the preflop raiser. At this point, I had to figure I had him beat (or possibly tied if he also had AK). His raise here would also indicate he had a big ace. Then, I figured his raise would gain respect from the rest of the table. I wasn't expecting anybody to respect me, but I was expecting people to respect his raise so that then I could get heads up.

The big question for me was what the late position caller could have in this situation that he could possibly three bet on the flop.

[Michael Davis]

It's okay to call preflop but you should bet every flop then.

-Michael

[GrekeHaus]

Here's how it ended up.

Party Poker 5/10 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
<font color="CC3333">UTG raises</font>, <font color="666666">3 folds</font>, MP3 calls, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, SB calls, Hero calls.

Flop: (8 SB) 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
SB checks, <font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, <font color="CC3333">UTG raises</font>, <font color="CC3333">MP3 3-bets</font>, SB folds, Hero folds, UTG calls.

Turn: (7.50 BB) 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
UTG checks, MP3 checks.

River: (7.50 BB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">UTG bets</font>, MP3 calls.

Final Pot: 9.50 BB

<font color="red">
UTG has Qc As (one pair, aces).
MP3 has Ah Js (one pair, aces).
Outcome: UTG wins 9.50 BB. </font>

A couple things:

1. I folded for a couple reasons. My bet was intended to get the preflop raiser to raise me. When he did that, I assumed he had a large pair or a big ace (probably a big ace). Because of my bet, I assumed that MP3 would guess that one of us had at least a big ace and not reraise unless he though he could beat that. Therefore, his possiblities were either Ax, 77, or 88. I figured Ax to be the least likely since I was also putting UTG on a big ace, leaving only one left in the deck. Plus, it makes (slightly) more sense to cold call a raise preflop with a medium pair than Ax. There fore, I assumed he had a set and I would be drawing almost dead. Furthermore, there was a chance UTG also had AK, so I could be drawing to a split pot.

2. I was kicking myself when the turn got checked through.

3. My biggest mistake was probably giving MP3 too much credit for being a good player. My arguement for folding entailed that he think his hand through before reraising with top pair medium kicker.

4. Reraising preflop here would have just ended up costing me more money. Even if UTG caps, MP3 would likely call since he called the first raise cold. He might have been more likely to fold the turn, but he clearly wasn't thinking about what we had so he would have reraise, and I would have been forced to fold on the flop for the same reasons as above. Calling down would have cost me 3 BB and my hand isn't strong enough to bet aggressively from this position.

[BigBaitsim (milo)]

[ QUOTE ]
Alright, first I'm not not really concerned about my preflop actions here. Usually I'll three bet, but when you're in the blinds with a few people already in, it's often acceptable just to call. I'm not really concerned about that part.

Second, when you say cap the flop, without any justification, it offers no insight whatsoever.

[/ QUOTE ]

Alright, you are wrong here. You are losing money by not three-betting this pre-flop.

You should raise on the flop because there is a good chance you have the best hand.