Quiet in here... AK oop query

shakinaces

Must be due a post.

Simple stuff, it's summer.

Never really know how best to proceed in these sort of spots.  Have heard a few regs at these levels talk about just flatting AKo pre when oop (unless going 4-6-way to the flop or everyone has limped) and looking to hit or be able to float with nut nothing/overs.

Seems weak though.

UTG open here is from one of the best regs at the NL8/10 games. 
Never seen BU before but is l/c or c/c almost everything here. Must be playing about 75-80% of flops over 20-30mins.

So I opted to raise for value and to isolate them. Hating life if UTG 4b and would sigh fold, even though they are capable of seeing my bet for a squeeze, with the BU likely to come along for the ride I'm not sure they'd pick this spot to 4b super light.

All good.  But then stuck with the usual problem of how to carry on from here.  Yeah he has a weak range, but could easily have Jx Tx or some part of a draw and can assume to be putting in more money with an underpair as well.

Yet giving up feels so weak. Even though, yes, I only have Ace high.

So cbet?  c/c?  c/f?

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
shakinaces	Small blind		£0.04	£0.04	£8.54
WUBBZY1401	Big blind		£0.08	£0.12	£19.57
	Your hole cards	A K
UTG	Raise		£0.24	£0.36	£9.30
shad8604	Fold
chrisx2525	Fold
BU	Call		£0.24	£0.60	£5.83
shakinaces	Raise		£1.00	£1.60	£7.54
WUBBZY1401	Fold
UTG	Fold
BU	Call		£0.80	£2.40	£5.03
Flop
		J 10 3
shakinaces	next?

Hand History #936056799 (22:28 11/08/2015)

F_Ivanovic

Would never 3b AK only 100bb vs someone capable of 4b bluffing (or 4b light for value) if I intended to fold to that 4b. We should be 3b and happy to GII vs their 4b. Otherwise you're basically turning your AK into a bluff when you 3b.

As for flop, probably bet small-ish and go from there.

shakinaces

Thanks Ivan.

I get what you mean, just don't feel that UTG in this spot is somewhere that they will be bluff heavy because they'll be opening quite a tight range (IMO). 

If they'd opened from a later position their range would have more bluff options and I'd go with it (although not exactly fist pump 5b shoving and expect to be behind a lot).

Does that give it any justification to just calling pre or should it still be a 3b the majority of time?

mcglynn07

In Response to Re: Quiet in here... AK oop query:

Thanks Ivan. I get what you mean, just don't feel that UTG in this spot is somewhere that they will be bluff heavy because they'll be opening quite a tight range (IMO).  If they'd opened from a later position their range would have more bluff options and I'd go with it (although not exactly fist pump 5b shoving and expect to be behind a lot). Does that give it any justification to just calling pre or should it still be a 3b the majority of time?
Posted by shakinaces

Shakin,

Just calling pre is sometimes a good idea with AK especially 3x raises and also 3 bets. You disguise the strength of your hand , you keep the pot smaller when oop and it means that you are not explotable. Mixing it up with premium hands in your calling range is a must just to balance your range and make you harder to play against. But the biggest point is not to be exploited.
If you have sat down for two hours and built a stack up and then lose it in one hand with your kings vs their aces or vice versa, it can be very dissapointing.  So you don't always have to play for stacks when super deep. Leave that to the pro's.;
Good luck
Danny

percival09

the stack to pot ratio is quite awkward, so I believe you have to make this a 2 street game.

our hand has a lot of equity against his range, despite the fact it's currently unpaired, so we're of course never x/folding. We can either bet for a little bit of protection, or we can x/c. I think the ev of both options are very close, if not the same, meaning we can do either. I would probably start with a smallish bet. anything 1/2 pot or smaller.

flatting pre would be a mistake simply because the EV of squeezing here is higher. AK is a very strong hand and it gains a lot of EV simply by getting hands to fold pre, which happens quite often because of our A and our K (good blockers) and even when called we have so much equity vs anything, so that's why we should rarely flat this hand pre.