I push TPTK

[jessyj07]

Villain is absolutely unknown, he's in the BB and I haven't played a hand with him before. In the hand I used my whole time bank before calling. I'm really only worried about 2 hands here 44/55 and sometimes 45 but given the drawiness of the board I decided to push, whatcha think?

I raise UTG to $2 w/AKo, one fold, one call, button and small blind fold, bb calls.

Flop is 4 /images/graemlins/spade.gif K /images/graemlins/spade.gif 5 /images/graemlins/heart.gif
bb checks, I bet $5, c/o folds, bb check/raises to $15, I tank and push.

[cb4mvp]

seems fine

[Ikaika]

if this flop is rainbow does that change our play?

[Emperor Norton]

Seems a little thin. You're not making much against a good draw and you're crushed by the sets, but sometimes this is a bluff, and sometimes this is top pair. You're about 50/50 against a range of sets, good draws, and KQ. The trouble is that without knowing anything about villain, I think that you generally see the set than top pair or a draw. I'm gradually coming to the conclusion that there's no shame in letting unknowns run you over a little when first you meet, because reads are so essential when it comes to hands like this, playing for all of your chips with top pair.

[jessyj07]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm gradually coming to the conclusion that there's no shame in letting unknowns run you over a little when first you meet, because reads are so essential when it comes to hands like this, playing for all of your chips with top pair.

[/ QUOTE ]I've thought this for a while..at least since NLHETAP came out. In the book with the example of getting raised while holding AK on an A82r board by an unknown and to just let it go. I thought of that hand during my time bank but the board texture just made me push.

[Emperor Norton]

How did the board texture make you change your mind? The possible draws water down villain's set holdings a bit, but the trouble is that you're still not making money against a hand like the As5s.

[matrix]

Stack sizes??

stakes??

Stack size is one of the most important things to consider in any given NL hand.

(assuming 100BB stacks and $50NL)

I don't like it. You are turning AK into a bluff. Worse than that your range here is sooooo tight that if villain hapens to be a thinking player (yes I know they are almost extinct at $50NL) then your hand is face up. So they get to play perfectly against you folding everything we beat and only calling with better.

So if he has nada - we win.

If he has the goods - we get stacked.

If he has nothing then we make a bunch more money the times we call down, he will still have nothing just as often, we will get stacked by a better hand just as often, but in the long run the extra bet or two we pickup where he catches a smaller pair and mistakenly value bets the river while he's behind, or when he puts us on nothing and tries to bluff teh river is a ton of value which we miss out on by pushing.

[jessyj07]

[ QUOTE ]
How did the board texture make you change your mind? The possible draws water down villain's set holdings a bit,

[/ QUOTE ]The board texture changed my mind because there are alot of possible draws from straight draws to flush draws so I thought the chances he held a draw were > than him holding AA/K4/K5/45/55/44.

[ QUOTE ]
but the trouble is that you're still not making money against a hand like the As5s.

[/ QUOTE ] how do you figure?

pokenum -h as 5s - ah kc -- 4s 5h ks
Holdem Hi: 990 enumerated boards containing Ks 4s 5h
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
As 5s 425 42.93 556 56.16 9 0.91 0.434
Kc Ah 556 56.16 425 42.93 9 0.91 0.566

Matrix, yes this was at the $50, he bought in for $50, and I had him covered. Sorry for not including this in the OP. Thank you for your comments as well.