Should I have played this AK any different?

[tvdad]

Multi-table pot limit holdem tourney. We're down to the last table with 9 players left, top 5 get paid. I am in third chip position with about T16000, but the blinds are so high now (2000/4000) that we're all running out of time. There are two short stacks (<T5000), but everyone else is pretty close.

I'm in middle position and get AKo. It's folded to me and I raise the pot limit, making it T7000. SB makes the T6000 call and BB folds. SB has been playing tight aggressive. I figure he's got a suited A or K, two face cards, or maybe a middle pair. He would have reraised with a monster like AA/KK/QQ/AK, and I don't think he would have called with a small pair but it's possible.

Flop comes down 4H KS 8H.

I figure my worst case scenario is that he's got a set of 8s. Second worst would be a set of 4s. He could have the heart draw, but I have the AH, so if he's on a draw he would have had to call prefop with a suited K or maybe a Q.

I push all-in for T9000. He calls and shows K4 of diamonds. Turn and river are rags, and his 2-pair wins.

What would you have done differently? I like my preflop raise. I could have made a smaller bet on the flop and see what happens. If he raises to put me all-in, I'd have to consider that he's got the set and lay down my hand. But I think he would have just smooth called me to the river, milking me of all my chips very nicely.

T

[Yeknom58]

Sometimes, you just get stuck.

[SoCalPat]

To answer your question: No.

If you don't get action with AK, you're still reaping a nice pot from the blinds.

You had a good read on your opponent when you thought he might have a suited K, but K4??? I'm presuming the SB is no worse than 2nd (he's obviously ahead of you, since he busted you out), so why he would choose to risk that position with two others so close to the felt is beyond me.

In fact, I don't even know how you could be considering laying this one down. You have TPTK, and you raised preflop. If you can confidently put him on 88, bully for you, but if you're wrong, it's disastrous. I don't think I could do it. I'd put him on AA before I would 88.

[tvdad]

Yeah, I was pretty flabbergasted when he showed K4, suited or otherwise. Maybe he read me as trying to steal the blinds with nothing, but I hadn't been doing a lot of that against the chip leaders and he was one of the two guys with a bigger stack than me.

I would not have put him on AA based on his previous play, but the set of 8s was possible. But either way I was down to T9000 after the flop and I was surely going to bet my TPTK. So I think I was just stuck on this one.

T

[Tyler Durden]

I don't think I'd have done anything differently. I don't play PL, I do NL, but AK is a monster in these things, particularly late in a tourney when players play any ace and they really push it.

I think this guy just got lucky. Nice hand sir.

[tvdad]

I don't play a lot of PL either. In NL I would have made a larger preflop raise, maybe going all-in. I probably would have just picked up the blinds, but better a small win than a big loss.

T