how far are do you go with AK preflop?

[TheChipPrince]

To be honest, I was happy to cash.  I know I should have been going for the win, but I wanted to cash more.

If the situation rises again, I'll give it a push if it feels the same and go for the win

Good honesty Graham, I think we've all played to 'creep' into the cash at 1 time or another, so absolutely no shame here, anyone who says other wise is a liar... But in the circumstances given personnaly I move all-in...

[MANTIS01]

Interesting question...

...are we going to push here with a pair of 3's?....a better hand that's ahead of a wider range.

[AgentChip109]

Interesting question...

...are we going to push here with a pair of 3's?....a better hand that's ahead of a wider range.

interesting, but we are not going to be pushing wiv 33 here, cos like u have mentioned, the reraiser is most likely gonna be calling, and wiv 33 we are going to be 50/50 at best with the strong possibility of being a 20/80 dog

pushing wiv AK, we are most likely to be 50/50 at worst, but a chance of being 75/25 if he has AQ AJ etc

[johnbhoy76]

To be honest you could write a book on how to play AK.

"Harrington on Ace-King"  or "The theory of Ace-King" would be big sellers I reckon.

I can see the thinking behind the all in and the fold and there are good arguments for both which have already been put forward.

I'm probbaly on the side of moving all in as I just can't help myself sometimes!

[AdamG]

larger raise from urself preflop imo....

but im folding to his 13k reraise ( resteal ) because i know that if he does this alot of time he will run into my better hand later on where i can repop him myself over the top with  or even  .... would be in much better position then and would rather not risk all my stack on  at this stage when im in good chip position

[MANTIS01]

interesting, but we are not going to be pushing wiv 33 here, cos like u have mentioned, the reraiser is most likely gonna be calling, and wiv 33 we are going to be 50/50 at best with the strong possibility of being a 20/80 dog

pushing wiv AK, we are most likely to be 50/50 at worst, but a chance of being 75/25 if he has AQ AJ etc

Yep good point AgentChip...just saying coinflips at this stage not really all that sensible....ok ok I probabaly push here as well...Jesus!

If superdick wants to come over the top of one of my raises he better be ready to play for his stack...right here right now...bubble or no bubble. There said it.

Please ignore my previous advice Silo. It's just A-K is a truly woeful hand....and yet looks kinda good on it's back against A-Q....until a Q arrives to spoil your day. This is a volatile gamble and could swing either way and not at the most appropriate time either...however around 50% of the time you will be pointing at the screen shouting "That's what I'm talkin about!" to your now miserably short-stacked opponent....and that is a good thing.

I agree with AdamG and a few of the others here in saying your smallish pre-flop raise hasn't helped considering the situation. Usually I will make it 3,600 to go but because of the position in the tournament I think 4,800 shows the commitment you have to this hand and is a more appropriate amount.

[JungleCat03]

Interesting question...

...are we going to push here with a pair of 3's?....a worse hand against his reraising/calling range that's far more likely to be dominated if we push and are called

FYP..


Give him AJ+, 66+ as a  loose calling range.

  33 equity against range ..... 34%
  AK equity against range.....52%

Shoving 33 is definitely far worse than shoving AK.

To be honest the range of AJ+, 66+ is probably a bit loose though and I think you can expec  88+ AQ+ to be more accurate as his calling range. AK flips vs this range too...

Given the weak raise preflop it's quite possible this is a resteal from a chipped up player on the bubble, especially if he has a modicum of aggression.

I think you have some folding equity here, and when you are called you will be in a coinflip situation most likely against his calling range. I watch flushy get away with blue murder around the bubble reraising raises like this with trashy hands and people ANNOUNCING they are folding hands like AK. That's just awful. If you are going to fold, fair enough fold but don't put a target on your head too!

That's the other aspect of shoving here, the cliched old "meta-game considerations". If you are called and win the hand, people won't be reraising your raises without the goods, so you can expect the % of successful steals to rise accordingly. You're also less likely to get action on your blinds.

If I had reason to beleive the reraiser is very tight, then I would consider a fold here. Normally though there's more compelling arguments to play this aggressively imo

[Jim-D]

Another fantastic PHA thread,

 We all come across this exact situation so many times in and around the bubble in our MTT's and its just good to go over other peoples thinking of the best way to play this particular situation.

[Graham C]

I was just thinking that for me, this has turned in to a very interesting post.    Thank you for your input (everyone) there's some good information there to take on board.

Basically though, the weak ass raise didn't help, then I wimped out and I should be more positive entering pots.  If I'd have had him covered, I would have called, but like I said, I wanted to make the money for sure and going all in on a coinflip wasn't what I wanted to do at the time.

Perhaps it was handy that two hands or so later I was moved to a different table

[pswnio]

Although I agree with the notion of going for the win and not to make the money, when you're on the bubble *and* all your chips are at risk I don't think there's much wrong with playing conservatively. I also think you'll find better spots. I really don't think chip leader is going to lay down given the pot odds if you stick it all in, so you've got little in the way of fold equity. Why race here for all your chips? I'm prepared to let AK go in this situation.

[M3boy]

I have bubbled in so many tourneys at the mo (2 out of 3 fessie events at Luton GUKPT).

BUT - I would still shove here. It shows great strength and you will be less likely to be re raised with trash hands after this.

You are chipped up yes, but even taking this pot uncontested and you are in a better position.

Also, I believe the re raiser will call you with ANY two cards due to pot odds and stack sizes.

But then again, this is online, and my online record atm is PANTS!! lol