How to play AK off on the final table?

TonyS0pran0 · #1 03-13-2005, 01:56 PM

Ok, here's the situation. You are the chip leader on a $50 stars tourney with 350 or so entrants. You are on the final table and you are sitting on T130,000. The closest person to you has 70K. Table maniac who has shown down A-5 off all in, K-J all in in recent hands and is in general a luck box raises 3X BB from UTG +1. Your sitting on the BB and it is folded to you with AK off. He is sitting on 70K. What's your move?

Here's mine.... I re-raise from 9K to 30K trying to take it right there as I assume he is trying to steal or raising with a weak A. He comes back all in immediately making it 31K to call into a pot of 110K or so give or take. Naturally I call and get a K high flop and he spikes an 8 on the river. My question is do you wait for a better spot or do you look for races like this as the big stack? I have made quite a few final tables in the past few months and have been studying hard and practicing a lot. My theory was even if I lost I was in a comfortable 3rd and if I won I would have a mountain of chips and guaranteed atleast 2nd overall. To make a long story short I ended in 5th for 1K and 1st was 4K. Any help would be appreciated...

Roman · #2 03-13-2005, 02:20 PM

just push pf. No need to give him room to try to stop n go you.

assron · #3 03-13-2005, 02:58 PM

yeah I'd push this

adanthar · #4 03-13-2005, 04:03 PM

Pushing PF is *terrible*. He may have a hand or he may not, but he'll only call an all in with something (granted that's a maniac's version of 'something') and with the chip lead that you have and the final table position you're in your 70K are worth far more to you than his 70K. It is quite another story if his stack is 30K, but remaining the chip leader and bullying the shorties is a much bigger deal.

What I want to do here is to call and let him move in on a flop that hits me. A third of the time, I take his stack for 9K with very little risk at all.

Simplistic · #5 03-13-2005, 04:12 PM

i dont' necessarily agree with the steal but I think a re-raise is in order.

number5858 · #6 03-13-2005, 04:41 PM

I don't think you want to be calling an all in with AK. I think you either want to be all in first, or folding. You have to think about a couple of things.

1. Are you going to be in position afterwards? In your case, no, so a push takes his position advantage away, and guarantees you will see all five cards.

2. Do you want to increase your volatility or decrease it? Playing AK is certainly going to increase it because the potential for a race is so strong.

First of all, I think you need to vary your play. You shouldn't always push, call, or fold. If I was going to have position, then I think I would just call and see the flop, but in your case, I think I like a push better. I don't like your call in this case. Push or fold seems better to me.

adanthar · #7 03-13-2005, 05:14 PM

[ QUOTE ]
i dont' necessarily agree with the steal but I think a re-raise is in order.

[/ QUOTE ]

The maniac calls (the pot is now at least 50K, about the same as his stack). You miss two thirds of the time. He pushes when you check/calls a big bet when he hits a pair, a draw, or possibly two cards when he thinks you missed. Now what?

The maniac reraises all in: Fine, you call and are a 5:3 favorite over two cards (slightly less, really, since he's *probably* not raising 72o.)

The maniac folds: You've won 9K.

You call and check blind: At the very least, he bets the pot on the flop, giving you 22:6 odds to flop a pair. At best, he pushes or calls your CR, giving you 70:6 odds to flop a pair.

It depends on what kind of maniac he is, but your problem is that a)your chips are far more valuable than his and b)playing a hand like AK out of position against a LAG is one of the toughest things to do in poker.

So, I'd kill his positional advantage and call and check dark. I use that move an awful lot these days. It works.

TonyS0pran0 · #8 03-13-2005, 05:49 PM

So you think after that meaty re-raise I should fold? Aren't the pot odds to good to come back from at that point?

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think you want to be calling an all in with AK. I think you either want to be all in first, or folding. You have to think about a couple of things.

1. Are you going to be in position afterwards? In your case, no, so a push takes his position advantage away, and guarantees you will see all five cards.

2. Do you want to increase your volatility or decrease it? Playing AK is certainly going to increase it because the potential for a race is so strong.

First of all, I think you need to vary your play. You shouldn't always push, call, or fold. If I was going to have position, then I think I would just call and see the flop, but in your case, I think I like a push better. I don't like your call in this case. Push or fold seems better to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

number5858 · #9 03-13-2005, 06:51 PM

No, what I am saying is you shouldn't have raised from 9K to 30K. You should have raised from 9K all in. This cancels his position advantage and probably cuts down on your volatility for the hand because now he is the one with the pressure on him to make a choice. Yes, you will probably win a smaller pot this way, but you have done it in a safer way. With your stack, you aren't under any pressure to play this particular hand so winning a smaller pot is a good outcome.

There is another benefit to raising all in here. Since you are the big stack, your all in raise may also keep others from re-raising you in the future because they don't want to face your all in.

assron · #10 03-13-2005, 07:08 PM

[ QUOTE ]
No, what I am saying is you shouldn't have raised from 9K to 30K. You should have raised from 9K all in. This cancels his position advantage and probably cuts down on your volatility for the hand because now he is the one with the pressure on him to make a choice. Yes, you will probably win a smaller pot this way, but you have done it in a safer way. With your stack, you aren't under any pressure to play this particular hand so winning a smaller pot is a good outcome.

There is another benefit to raising all in here. Since you are the big stack, your all in raise may also keep others from re-raising you in the future because they don't want to face your all in.

[/ QUOTE ]

that's what I'm saying too. no need to be a wuss while holding one of the best hands in holdem