AK in EP

[DonT77]

I've having my lunch eaten by this scenario - please advise the best way to play AK (and AQ) in EP.


Scenario-

I'm in EP with AK. I raise and get 2 callers. The flop comes Q82r, and I lead out (?). I get one caller. The turn brings a T. I lead out again (?) and get raised this time. Now I have outs with A, K, or J - so I call. The river is a brick. I check, he bets - I fold?

What is your 'rule of thumb' in this situation - only bet into one opponent, or will you bet into 2 or more if you miss the flop?

If you bet the flop, will you lead the turn as well or not?

Thanks in advance.

[Tapin]

Fold preflop. AK is a drawing hand.

(Seriously though, I just wanted to bump this thread because I'd like to hear peoples' opinions on their standard lines here too.)

Me? I seem to do whatever I can to maximize my spewage. If the guy's loose, I check-raise the turn to "force him off his hand". If he's weak-tight, I lead out and then check/call the river because I just know he doesn't have anything.

And this has nothing to do with my losing 50BB yesterday or 125 BB since the beginning of the month, either [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[BadRich]

There is no single rule of thumb for this situation. This question is asked every day in micro, it is disucssed once a week here. Ed Miller's book "Small Stakes Hold 'Em" has an interesting discussion of it. Repeat: there is no one way to play big aces in EP on a ragged flop.

[flair1239]

[ QUOTE ]
I've having my lunch eaten by this scenario - please advise the best way to play AK (and AQ) in EP.


Scenario-

I'm in EP with AK. I raise and get 2 callers. The flop comes Q82r, and I lead out (?). I get one caller. The turn brings a T. I lead out again (?) and get raised this time. Now I have outs with A, K, or J - so I call. The river is a brick. I check, he bets - I fold?

What is your 'rule of thumb' in this situation - only bet into one opponent, or will you bet into 2 or more if you miss the flop?

If you bet the flop, will you lead the turn as well or not?

Thanks in advance.

[/ QUOTE ]

In this particular situation, I don't think I am betting the turn. As on that board I can't see to many hands that an average donk would CC with that have not either hit or developed into a draw.

I would check-call and see the river card.

[PokerBob]

As others have (and more will) stated, this is one of the toughest situations in Hold'em. You have A-high, and you don't have position. There is no hard and fast rule.

In this particular case, I think I check/call, as I have 10 outs to make my hand. That said, I don't think betting is bad either, as you may get him to dump.

[DonT77]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Like all scenarios you can answer 'it depends' and then list 5 or more variables that could affect your situation. (how your opponents play, your table image, have you recently bet-folded, is your opponent on tilt, do you have backdoor flush outs, etc.)

It sounds to me from reading these replies and from reading other threads using 'search' that there really isn't a consensus 'best line' for this scenario and that you really do have to think hard about all of the minute details - which of course is hard to do when you multi-table.

A friend of mine suggested that I generally bet a missed flop with AK into one opponent (betting 1 sb to win 5.5 or more sbs - thinking that I should get him to fold 20+% of the time), check into three or more opponents (at least one of them is likely to have flopped something or suddenly like their mid PP), and give it my 'best guess' / 'mix it up' against 2 opponents. That sounds like a decent 'rule of thumb' to me. Any comments?

[ckessel]

Against one opponent I typically bet the turn. So many people peel one regardless that a followup bet on the turn against one person seems +EV.

If you've got a typical 4BB pot at the turn, if there's a 21% chance of him folding to a bet, it's +EV to bluff at the turn.