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Time to re-think AK in amber zone?
MTT, have 12 big blinds UTG. 20 of 30, all in the money. Holding AKo.
Tourney 1 - I shove with big slick. Get called by big stack with 77, miss and get busted out.
Tourney 2 - I call with big slick (but am willing to shove to a re-raise). Miss the flop and check/fold to big stack who shows 77. I continue fighting with 11 big blinds.
For a long time I've been playing AK as in Tourney 1 but am starting to think that the Tourney 2 play is possibly the better play. Any thoughts please?
{Assuming that in the red zone (6BB or less) it's a shove and in the green zone (20BB or more) a standard raise}
Comments
That is why I never bothered playing them.
With the more slower structure, I think you can get away with playing your second choice a bit more.
The only thing I would say is that I think a lot of people have become pre conditioned to going all in with between 10 -15 BB due to the structure of the previous Sky tournies , that I think a lot of people still make this move, so not sure how many opportunities you would get to make this play, but I am a great believer that I have at least one standard play in me with 10BB's
As i said in another thread I was disapointed with an opponents heads up play where their only move other than folding was to push all in despite having 40 BB's at that stage, which I put down to them being pre conditioned from previous Sky tournies where when they had been heads up previously that was the only move they could make
Going totally off topic am I right in thinking that you were the home player from the Chester region that was one of the guest home players the other week, and if so do you post of the Devachat forum, as your style of posting together with your fletcher icon reminds me of someone ?
Late stages a big pot someone will usually bet out with nothing, thats what you want with AK if you hit
Possible out comes are-
Called by a lower PP and its a race, ~ 50% equity
Called by a worse Ace, ~70% equity
Called by 2 live cards, ~65% equity
Called by AA/KK and you're in bad shape, but this is rare.
Uncalled - if this happens even just half or 1/3rd of the time here, then you've just picked up the blinds with Ace High, happy days.
Sure you will lose half the time when you're called by a PP but in the long run its definately profitable to shove with AK. I'm also fistpumping when i get AK UTG.
Limping with AK-
Someones comes over the top of you anyway and you are never folding AK here, so shoving may have made them fold some of the time, increasing your overall equity in the hand.
Someone limps in or checks in the blinds, and sucks out on you even though you've hit your ace, when you would have won the hand if you had just shoved.
In Response to Re: Time to re-think AK in amber zone?:
aha thought it was, we've had some in depth discussions on DC
you will know me from off there as nobodys-inn then
Because 22 wins more against AK that means it's better?
Well 22 />AK, and JTs>22, and AK>JTs so which of these is the best hand?
wrong.
what are the 13 hands that are better than it?
1) A smooth call UTG oozes strength. the fact you will re-raise any raise will put a hard decision on the raiser. In the example, if 77 put 3-4BB in, might be hard to call when you shove for 11 total. They have to think they are dominated or racing at best. Plus if you do get busted out, you can console yourself that the call to your 3-bet was very loose.
2) If the flop comes good, its probably to your advantage to be acting first. Depending on any info on the opponent, you can either c-bet or c/r, whichever you deem more profitable.
3) Laddering - not a dirty word, but you still have 11BB if the flop is bad. Once you're through the blinds, you're on the button with 9.5BB, not a terrible position!
Of course, some tournaments you feel on the back foot, so the push is equally valid.
So its really impossible to say that AK is the 14th best hand preflop, just ebcause there are 13 hands that are better than it.
So effectively racing (22 is better 6 times in 1000)
22 vs any 2 non-paired overcards = racing
22 vs any over pair = crushed.
22 vs underpair = N/A
22 vs any 2 non-paired undercards = N/A
So really 22 heads up is either racing or crushed - nice options!
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