What to do with AK?

jugglegeek

I'm learning poker slowly and was just wondering about something.

I played a MTT tournement and early on on the button I got AK, so after three people limped I raised to 4.5x The big blind called and UTG then 3-bet me a little over three times what I had bet.

What should I do in these situations? I can't call because it is for well over half my stack (I'm not going to fold if I don't like the flop am I?) so should I push and be happy with a coin flip, given the extra implied odds by the fact that there is another person in the hand? (after all if I hit my ace or king then I'm likely to be beating them both and trippling up)

Or should I fold and wait for a better spot?

I'm only asking because twice in the last couple of weeks I've been in this situation, once against jacks and once against sevens. Is it donk play to get it all in on a coin-flip early in a tournement or is it a necessary thing to progress through a tournement?

yb

from your description of the hand it sounds like you're playing < 30 bbs deep, in which case you should be happily shoving over his 3bet.

when stacks are shallow AK is huge because we have blockers against AA/KK and are often dominating the kind of hands people are willing to get stacks in with at that stage.

Dudeskin8

AK late in tourneys is like solid gold, DO NOT FOLD.

jugglegeek

In Response to Re: What to do with AK?:

AK late in tourneys is like solid gold, DO NOT FOLD.
Posted by Dudeskin8

Thing is, this was only 30 minutes in, the very first hand of the 2nd level. We had started with 3,200 chips blinds 25/50 and they had just gone up to 50/100. I hadn't played many hands an was down to about 3,000 when this happened.

I just don't know how to avoid going out early in MTTs. I'm so used to playing cash game sat 100 BB deep the whole time that I don't know how to manage my stack when I'm in that limbo area of 15-35 BBs. Shortstack play is straighforward enough (fold or jam) but are there any good articles of tutorials about how to play this spot.

It seems that this area is a leak in my tournement play at the moment. Once I have made a 3.5x raise and a c-bet on the flop I have bet almost a quarter of my stack.

DOHHHHHHH

Thank the poker Gods it's not KK

bolly580

im relatively happy getting my chips all in early on in a tourney with AK, if you win your coin flip your a big stack and can dominate from there on in.

By folding in the situation you said your leaving yourself short and a few hands later when ur blinds go up and youve lost one or 2 hands ur short stacked and will be forced to jam with a much weaker hand.

My advice is get it in, 7/10 times ur going to be in a raise with a pocket pair but the other 3/10 times ur guna be against the odd Donk who doesnt mind getting it in with AQ, and thats if they even call your shove.

Good luck in future hope to see you at the tourneys

Glenelg

In Response to What to do with AK?:

I'm learning poker slowly and was just wondering about something. I played a MTT tournement and early on on the button I got AK, so after three people limped I raised to 4.5x The big blind called and UTG then 3-bet me a little over three times what I had bet. What should I do in these situations? I can't call because it is for well over half my stack (I'm not going to fold if I don't like the flop am I?) so should I push and be happy with a coin flip, given the extra implied odds by the fact that there is another person in the hand? (after all if I hit my ace or king then I'm likely to be beating them both and trippling up)Posted by jugglegeek

I'm NOT an expert by any means and like yourself still learning.  One piece of advice i'd give is from the very FIRST hand in a tourney watch closely what others are doing even (in fact especially!) if you are not involved. It sometimes helps get a read how the villain has played previously. e.g. always limping and then shoves in 10 x bb's I'm wary.  Always aggressive/stealing, SHOVE!   You'll get it wrong sometimes but hey ho!
Apologies if this is something you do anyway but when I started it was something I neglected.
pad

p.s. I've found the clinic to be invaluable with regards to hand analysis by the regs on the site.