AK's Value in latter stages of MTT |
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Posted Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:25 pm GMT by Jauron
I'm not real fond of AK for my stack unless I can move in first and they may fold or against a loose or wild player. I don't enjoy getting my money in with A high if my stack can avoid it but latter in the MTT stages I'm faced with decisions I do not enjoy making with it.
Near the bubble twice I held AK in the SB/BB facing all in bets from MP from a player who is not extremely short yet but is getting there. I don't give them an extremely strong hand since I feel they would probably just raise with it since they need the action but I'm probably flipping a coin or I may have them dominated. You seem to move around so much later in these tourneys you don't get a good chance to feel out players.
These last two times I folded since it was around 40-60% of my stack and there was a original raise on one of them I felt would call anyways. In one case I was facing a weaker Ace, in the other I was facing pocket 9's which AJ called very quickly. In fact I see people willing to gamble with as little as A10 so often I am starting to rethink AK or AQ to moderate stacks if it is less than say 70% of my stack.
The one big reason I am starting with lower buy-in MTT with 800+ is I am still a little weak during the middle and late stages and I think I may be laying down hands to aggression I may not want to be. How willing do you need to be to gamble and when do you start to feel AK is too good a hand to lay down? 20BB left, less?
Thoughts?
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Posted Sat Sep 16, 2006 12:11 am GMT by suitedaces84
| Jauron wrote: | | I don't enjoy getting my money in with A high... |
Would getting your money in with a pair of twos be better? A pair beats A high, right?
Posted Sat Sep 16, 2006 12:22 am GMT by Jauron
I thought I spelled it out a little better than that half a sentence you fixated on...
I didn't know my two choices were Ak or 22. 
Posted Sat Sep 16, 2006 1:13 am GMT by suitedaces84
My point was it's really silly to think of it as getting your money in with A high.
Posted Sat Sep 16, 2006 1:28 am GMT by TheSalche
Easy to gamble with AKo or AKs with 10BB or less
15BB depends on read
20BB rather be the aggressor here, but calling an all-in when you're last to act isnt bad
as always ... it depends
Posted Sat Sep 16, 2006 2:49 am GMT by xDiamond_CutteRx
If you're under 20 BB's in the later stages of the tournament (which most people are if this is a non-Deepstack event), I would say that going all-in or calling all-in with AK is correct the majority of the time. Many hands that people push with are underdogs to your hand (especially AQ and the unbelievable overvalued AJ), and you are only a slight dog to any pair except AA or KK, which are less likely to be out (and if you run into these hands when stacks are small, sorry, but that's just part of the game).
In any case, your equity is usually so high that it would be incorrect to fold in an environment when most of the big decisions are made pre-flop rather than post-flop.
When in doubt, let stack sizes decide. If your M (stack / (SB + BB + antes) is 10 or less, I'd just shove in all my chips with AK before the flop almost regardless of what happens in front of me. Also remember that guys with even shorter stacks have gotten somewhat desperate and their raising criteria have probably loosed somewhat, if not significantly.
Posted Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:01 am GMT by tame_deuces
I think of getting all my chips in with AK as sort of 'ripping off the bandaid', now or never...either I bust or I move on.
This is how shortstacked NL hold'em works anyway.
Posted Sat Sep 16, 2006 9:13 pm GMT by Ciso_B
I advise you call peoples all ins in when people just push from mp like in your examples. At worst your 50-50 and I read right you are playing 800 man mtts? You going to HAVE to win showdowns late on and A-K- is a hand I really would never fold unless theres more then 1 allin in front of me. Remember how many chips are in play. How else you going to get them?
Hope this helps. Ciso
Posted Sat Sep 16, 2006 10:16 pm GMT by Jauron
| Ciso_B wrote: | I advise you call peoples all ins in when people just push from mp like in your examples. At worst your 50-50 and I read right you are playing 800 man mtts? You going to HAVE to win showdowns late on and A-K- is a hand I really would never fold unless theres more then 1 allin in front of me. Remember how many chips are in play. How else you going to get them?
Hope this helps. Ciso |
That makes a lot of sense, thanks for the advice.
These two examples were near the bubble and my stack was healthy, I'm just going to have to get used to the idea that unlike a SNG I have to be more willing to gamble in these bigger tourneys.
Posted Sun Sep 17, 2006 11:31 am GMT by Pokerdealz
To be honest, my opinion of AK in general is its a good betting hand but a poor calling hand.
I find it a lot easier to raise all-in with AK, than to call an all-in with them.
If someone has gone all-in pre-flop, and I have not had time to figure there style out, I generally assume they have AA or KK. In either case, my AK doesnt stand much chance.
But if I am the one raising all-in, people may assume that I have AA or AK. Please note, I play a tight game, so if players have studied my play, they will assume I have a monster.
Posted Sun Sep 17, 2006 12:58 pm GMT by MrDarling
To win a MTT or even a S&G you need to win few coin flip. It helps if your stack is big enough that you don't get busted while going on a race...
Especially close to the bubble, when many stacks are getting close to be blinded out - good players will attempt many steals in these stages (though most good players wont go allin when attempting a steal) SS SHOULD go allin with almost any two face cards, any Ax and pp - so calling them with AK is a good bet!
The only time I might fold AK preflop in this situation is if the Big stack is making a move (and he is a tight player , and doesn't use his stack to push people around) or if there was a lot of action preflop before my turn - which could mean that at least one of my A's is dead....
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