Reraised with AKs

[pho75]

$0.01/$0.02 NL. We had about the same sized stacks and both had plenty. I have no specific reads on villain.

I'm UTG with AKs and raise to $0.10. It's folded to the button who reraises me $0.30 and then folded back to me.

Now, this is very unusual for this game. What usually happens is that either, I get called by one or more players, or I get reraised and at least one other person will call that reraise. If it’s no too big and I can close the betting, I'll call it.

What happened here sort of threw me. It seems like what would happen in a normal game with good players. And because I don't play with good/normal players I was at a loss for what to do.

Usually when someone reraises here it's an all-in, which I never call with AK. Sometimes the reraise won't be all-in. It will be like 5 to 10 times the original raise. That could mean anything from AA to 66 or AK, AQ, AJ, KQ. And again, I never call those with AK.

Here he reraised me only 3 times my raise. That said to me that he had a pair that was not AA or KK (he could have AA or KK but not likely). I was thinking J's or T's. This is still a micro game so he could have anything.

I thought that just calling would be wrong because I was out of position and was only getting 3-1 on my call. I know that seems big, but I don't know what the odds of flopping an A or K are. They seem worse than that to me.

I thought folding might be good for the same reason calling would be bad.

Then I remembered why AK is such a good hand before the flop. There is good fold equity it when you go all-in for a big raise heads up. So if he had AK, QQ, JJ, TT he may fold. He would certainly fold all pairs lower that T's and any other goofy thing he might have wouldn't he?

So I went all-in for my remaining $3. He thought about it for a long time and then called.

He turned over JJ and they held up.

I wasn't upset, I just figured I made the right play and lost a coin flip. But then I started thinking that the fold equity that I thought I was getting was probably a lot less than it would be against good players. I mean, If some wack-job is going to reraise me with 55 (which happens all the time) then he's probably crazy and foolish enough to call my all-in re-reraise more often that I would like.


So, after all my rambling, my questions are:

1. What do you think of my play in a low limit no-foldem hold'em game?

2. What do you think of my play in a higher stakes game with better players or against a player I know to be good/tight?

Wow, I did ramble on. No wonder my posts never get answered.

[BradleyT]

Well you're paying $3 to find out exactly how much fold equity there is on a $.40 pot. If you can get 50% folds (kinda high for lower limit players who will call with 6's) then after 10 deals you'll make $2 from the folds and are usually 50/50 on the calls so this is +EV.

However in this spot where he re-raised you (indicating strength), I think you're going to get called 70-100% of the time thereby making your fold equity only about $.60 and the calls are either a coinflip or you're way behind resulting in a -EV situation.

[amoeba]

Yes it is all about how much folding equity you have.

But don't forget the higher likelyhood of him calling you when you make the same move with AA/KK.

[kurto]

I'm not sure if I'm more passive then others but I've been steadily building my stack at microlimits...

AKs is a drawing hand. A reraise to me generally indicates a good pocketpair. Why risk $2.60 into a .40 pot where you're at best, a coinflip... at worst, you're dominated by Ks or Qs? If this was a tourny and you're a shortstack, by all means go all in.

In this case, see the flop. If you hit your hand or a reasonable draw, you can bet your hand or semi-bluff. If you completely missed, you saved your stack for a better hand.

Though AK is a great hand, it is the most overplayed hand out there.

[TheWorstPlayer]

So I would wait to make that preflop push with AA, KK. At this level, I think that OP's read is very good. The size of the re-raise most likely DOES indicate the strength of the hand and I agree that it is most likely QQ/JJ here. Therefore, just call and see the flop. If you miss, check/fold. You certainly have odds to call since it is quite likely that you can check/raise if you hit so you will be making much more than the 3:1 pot odds that you have at the moment.

[David04]

[ QUOTE ]
at worst, you're dominated by Ks or Qs?

[/ QUOTE ]
Uh how is AKs dominated by QQ?(I'm assuming you meant QQ.... NO hand with a Q has AKs dominated...QQ against AKs would be a slight favorite)

[pho75]

yes, I often have trouble evaluating my implied odds during a hand. I have to admit that most of the time I don't even notice the stack sizes until AFTER I've made my play. I guess that's why I'm still playing at this level.

[TheWorstPlayer]

I think that at every level evaulating your implied odds is incredibly difficult. The problem is that it is always just an expectation. Meaning, you have to think, "If I hit, what are the chances that he will call if I lead out on the flop? What are the chances that he will bet if I check?" etc. So, you need to have a read on your opponent in addition to just knowing the card probabilities. Let me know if you ever figure out how to do it well, I would love to know the trick!

[BobboFitos]

[ QUOTE ]
2. What do you think of my play in a higher stakes game with better players or against a player I know to be good/tight?

[/ QUOTE ]

You need to post stack sizes, but in higher games this is real bad. Reallllll bad.

It's very opponent-dependant and stack-size driven, as well.

[pho75]

Is it the difference in stack size that matters? Or the absolute amounts, or both?