AK facing two raises, major online MTT

DailyHandQuiz

Game type: WCOOP Main Event, $5200 buyin, PokerStars
Stage of tourney: Mid stages
Your image: Aggressive
Your hand: A♣K♦

The setup: You’re in the middle stages of the main event of the WCOOP on PokerStars. The bubble is on the horizon, but still a good distance away. You’ve built a nice stack with aggressive play and have shown down quality most of the times you’ve gone to the river. This hand you get dealt AKo in the BB.

UTG+1 opens for a little under 3x. He’s been opening fairly frequently from EP. Three players fold and then a shorter stack makes it a bit under 15k to go. The shorter stack got to the table a few orbits ago and has been relatively quiet.

It folds to you in the BB. What’s your play?

Loading ...

15 COMMENTS (Jump to comment form)

Folding is ok but I think this is often a shove.
It’s very likely player B will fold and we’ll be heads up against the shortie.

[Reply]

b1aze

I don’t see how we can be too far ahead of either of them here. Only thing I could ever see anyone who is putting up 5200 for an online tournament open in UTG+1 with that we may be ahead of is AQo/AQs. Everything else is a flip at best and i wouldn’t care to flip with 2/3 of my stack with the bubble even in view. Without reads on either of these players aside from player B opening EP occasionally, I don’t see how we can really do much else but lay it down? I don’t think Player F’s 3betting range would be overly light so, again, we aren’t crushing anyone but a flatcall here wouldn’t be the worst option. It’s <10% of our stack and we have a nice hand for a multiway pot. This, however would basically commit us if we hit either pair vs F, but if we hit our pair, I would think we would be good with under cards. It just sucks because we are going to be OOP.

I’m pretty torn on this one.

[Reply]

Pirate21 Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 8:07 am

I think you have to consider that if he’s opening frequently from EP, he’s not always doing it with premium hands. It’s just not that likely that he’s consistently getting JJ+, AQ+ in those spots. More than likely we’re ahead of his EP opening range – but… if he still wants to play this pot after the reraise, I’d give him credit for being closer to the top of that range.

[Reply]

Nelson

I’d probably raise enough to put the shortie all in – but if the EP player goes over the top of our raise I’m folding pretty quick, even if the shortie folds too.

[Reply]

b1aze Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 7:46 am

So you would 4bet fold nearly 1/3 of your stack? I’m not sure I agree with it but I guess it’s a fair possibility. I still don’t think we can be ahead by any fair margin to player F.

[Reply]

b1aze Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 7:57 am

Not to mention the 3.5:1 odds you would be getting on the call if B did happen to shove over, which with anything B holds besides AA, you are getting the right odds to call. I really dont think 4betting to ~55k would be the best option. If you are going to 4bet, 4bet shove.

[Reply]

Pirate21 Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 7:57 am

I don’t know about that… if we put the short stack all-in, we’ve got 52k invested and 133k left behind. If player B shoves over the top, it’s another 54K to call a pot of 175K. Getting aruond 3.25 to 1 with no betting left and 5 cards to come might be tough to pass on even though we’re certainly behind.
I think if I was planning to lay down to a player B shove, I just flat here and try to see a flop. If he shoves, it’s still pretty easy to get away from.
Good info to have right now would be what player B has done when reraised after opening in EP…

[Reply]

b1aze Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 7:59 am

Just kinda said the same after rolling it around in my head some more. I kinda like the flat and then if B shoves over our flat, we can let it go.

[Reply]

Nelson Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 8:37 am

Blaze/Pirate – yeah I think you guys may have kinda convinced me that flatting would be better. Then if player B comes over the top it would be pretty easy to let go, and we save more chips that way. Only problem with that is if player B flats too. Then we really have no idea where we’re at going to the flop. Say thats what happens and we whiff the flop. Now we’re out of position. What do we do?

Pirate21 Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 8:46 am

If B flats, he doesn’t have AA or KK because he would certainly reraise to isolate, so we’re in pretty good shape if either A or K comes – but also be a little wary of middle set. Being OOP is definitely the biggest drawback here. If we hit, we have to bet to get information. If not, we can check-fold or check-call depending on the variety of options.

BTW… I don’t dislike the 4-bet shove idea because I don’t expect B to call it. My point was just that if we’re going to 4-bet, we should realize that we’re pretty much committed to the pot, so raise-fold should be off the table.

samo

I’d raise the 3-bettor AI. Hero has the chips to withstand a 38K loss and AK too good to fold given this scenario.

EP has some history as a frequent opener from early and the 3-bettor could simply be playing back with perhaps a mid-pr in position, or even AQ. They need to make a move soon. Unlikely Hero is up against AA or KK, instead a flip with the right odds assuming that the EP folds (which I think they will). The 4-bet will also take away the position advantage from the V.

Calling will likely allow the EP to come-in, and Hero will be oop vs. 2 players.

[Reply]

b1aze Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 8:40 am

“Farily Frequently” in EP doesn’t mean anything unless we have seen what he was opening with. He may have been getting good hands in EP compared to LP so i don’t think that it is a valid reason to think hes opening light. I still can’t discount the fact that this is a MAJOR tournament. This isn’t a $5 huge field tournament, that has to, atleast IMO, factor into the situation. I agree that we would like to not be multiway in this situation without showing strength, but it wouldn’t be a 38k loss, it would end up being a 53k loss, as we would be 4betting cold.

[Reply]

samo Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 9:19 am

My mistake on the $53k. I’d still 4-bet.

If B has been getting hands good enough to open in EP, odds are that will not continue. I like AK against their range.

[Reply]

Pirate21 Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 11:10 am

I’ve noticed a definite increase lately in:
a) people playing more aggressively from EP and
b) people not respecting EP raises
Seems pretty safe to assume the two of those are related.

Granted I don’t play too many $5200 buy in tourneys so I can’t comment on whether that trend holds up in the expensive tables, but I’m certainly much more aware of guys who are consistently raising from EP – a lot of times you can pick them off pretty easily.

[Reply]

samo Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 11:41 am

From my limited experience as well as from what I have read, this seems to be a popular trend over the last 9-12 months. Additionally, the EP raise is not always done with big cards as one might expect, but with suited mid-connectors or 1-gappers.

Add your comment

Supporters

Visit the sites that help to sponsor DHQ!

PKR poker bonus

Bet365 bonus referrer code

Resources for people who want to play poker online - articles, strategy and bonus information.

Looking for a new room after Black Friday? Bwin poker does not accept US players, but has great promos for everyone else!

Looking for the latest in poker news? For tournament updates, the latest in industry gossip and daily updates on poker sites accepting US players check out PokerNewsReport.com.

Online poker