Ace King in BB facing all in, steps tournament

DailyHandQuiz

Game type: PokerStars WSOP Steps, Step 3
Stage of tourney: In the money
Your image: n/a
Opponent’s image: Fairly aggressive
Your hand: A♦K♣

The setup: You’re in the money of this step three tournament. 3rd and 4th get to try Step 3 again, while 1st and 2nd get a ticket to Step 4.

This hand, the chipleader ships UTG. Both smaller stacks fold, and now the action is on you. What’s your play?

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DHQ Staff says: This one seems like a no-brainer, right? Welcome to the weird world of satellite play. If you plug this into SNGWiz you’ll find that AKo here is, according to ICM equity calculations, a snap fold. In fact, it wouldn’t matter if you knew that your opponent was pushing 5% of hands or 100% of hands – it would still be a fold. It’s mostly due to the fact that AK just doesn’t do all that great against a random range and the flat payout for the top two. Since 3rd and 4th place are pretty far behind you and very short, you have a real incentive to play tight until that dynamic changes. Feeding a few more chips to the CL is fine, as it’s ammo they’ll likely use to keep pummeling the short stacks.

Quiz courtesy of Part Time Poker

11 COMMENTS (Jump to comment form)

Richard P

Well that’s that quiz solved.

[Reply]

Bert

what would you do if u had QQ here ?

[Reply]

Richard P

I’d ask SNG Wiz.

[Reply]

labaronade2

Quiet boring these step tournament and sit n go quiz, which i never play.
Give us some cash game ones.

[Reply]

John Kugelman

Actually, SnG Wiz says that if the villain is shoving 35% or more of the time then this is a call, otherwise it’s a fold. However the general idea is right: even if the villain is shoving 100% here and you know it, you can still only call with around 5% of hands (77+, AKo, AJs+).

QQ+ is a snap call no matter the villain’s opening range.

[Reply]

_CityBorn_

Yeah, with the 3rd and 4th place players so far behind, all we need to do is outlast them. We can use our larger stack to steal blinds and take shots at a ko when we get a pair or we are opening, otherwise, let the chip leader do the work for us. Putting our tourney on the line here with anything less than qq seems foolish, and even that is questionable. Opening is a different story….but calling an all in from the chip leader, putting our tourney is on the line with the top prize a few orbits away and within reach….not the right move.

I’d call with kk or aa, so I can be pretty sure to get top 2 if it holds up. With the current arrangement, if one of the shorties doubles up, and I dwindle, it could end up badly. But until I have a monster, or the dynamic changes, Im not taking any unnecessary risks.

[Reply]

Richard P

I don’t understand how there can be a discussion here as ICM effectively proves what the right decision is. Like labaronade I’d be more interested in quizzes that cannot be solved, such as cash games where players can be exploited by non-optimal plays.

[Reply]

DHQ Staff

make sure you’re using the right payout format for SNG wiz (stars step 3). when i put that format in, AK is uncallable at any range.

[Reply]

samo2

I voted call with accessing SNG, but that is irrelevant. I join the others who suggested more cash game quizzes. Thx staff.

[Reply]

John Kugelman

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/6190/akoj.gif

(Note the “Push 6239″ and “Call 3572″ include the blinds and antes already paid.)

[Reply]

McCowish

This is a survival/tournament structure fold. Finishing second is fine and if player A develops a monster stack that’s okay; he can’t be threatened and he’ll be more comfortable pimping B and C if they go all-in. There is such a difference in the amount of pressure the 2 short stackers are under and the amount of pressure you are under now.

If you call, you’ll be around 63%, 37% lose. If you fold, and 1 short eats the other, you’ll be 42% lose.
But what if the monster eats him? Then it will be around 8000, 2900, 1700. 1700 will be forced to make 3 moves and you’ll have the option of having a good hand 3 times and if not, A having a good hand 3 times. The 8k monster will probably be pimping him, and you’ll have the option each time vs random trash.

Or what if you eat 1 of the shorts, then you are versus strong versus the other one and choose a spot.

[Reply]

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