[Isura]

[ QUOTE ]
Villain is a typical regular TAG. Please make corrections to my line of thinking.

Seat 1: RiddarSvinet ( $101.62 )
Seat 3: egonoskill ( $111.56 )
Seat 5: vfrcbv ( $99.90 )
Seat 6: Firetribe ( $141.60 )
Seat 8: noiq3442912 ( $98.50 )
Seat 10: aprilryan ( $412.81 )
vfrcbv posts Small Blind $0.50
Firetribe posts Big Blind $1

Dealing cards
Your cards A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [Firetribe]
noiq3442912 raises $4
aprilryan folds
RiddarSvinet folds
egonoskill folds
vfrcbv folds
Firetribe calls $3 <font color="blue">Hero only calls because A) he thinks "play big pots in position, small pots OOP" and B) raising would probably fold the Ax hands that I get the most value from</font>

Dealing Flop T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
Firetribe checks
noiq3442912 bets $6
Firetribe raises $26.50 <font color="blue">Villain makes his std cbet, Hero check-raises because that will discuise my hand better and I'll most likel take it down without completing my flush/straight</font>
noiq3442912 calls $20.50

Dealing Turn 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
Firetribe bets $70.50 <font color="blue">Ok he called my raise so I decide to push since his line looks weak and he might fold a better hand and I have good amount of outs.</font>

[/ QUOTE ]

Preflop: I like this play some of the time. I will rarely just flat call OOP with AK, but if choose to I will do it more often with AKs. But note that you should do this against over aggressive players who will overplay their top pair, or just bluff too much in general. This play also works well if you have kind of a crazy (or really weak) image, so that you can either induce a rebluff/get paid off light or just calldown (weak image line).

Flop: I think your play is not very good. Ok, so preflop you call to disguise your hand, keep worst hands in and only look to play a big pot when you are a solid favorite (or villain does the betting for us and he likes to bluff as mentioned above). Think about our hand in terms of equity. Against many hands like 55/AJ/T9 for example we are a big favorite. Many of those hands will just fold the flop, so we win a decent pot BUT they don't make a mistake and we don't want fold equity against those hands. Fold equity can be a tricky concept, and this is a spot that illustrates it well. You only want fold equity against hands that have enough equity to continue (Qx, Tx, KK/AA, 6x of hearts). Against much worse hands than ours (than will usually fold), a raise is simply to protect our hand (or more correctly our pot equity). But OTOH we are not a big favorite by any means against hands that will be happy to be all-in on this flop such as 66/TT/QQ/AQ/KK/AA. Also we don't have fold equity against the types of hands that we want it against. Even hands like JJ/AT will often peel the flop at these stakes. So we either get it all-in as a slight favorite, or have him call and leave ourselves a pretty bad turn spot. Generally this is a bad result for our hand given the other options.

So what should we do? I think check/call and leading out for a pot sized bet are both fine plays. By check/calling, we protect our equity in the pot (obviously we don't fold the flop), but don't put in too much money in and leave ourselves a spot with a lot of money in the pot and much worse equity on a blank turn. Even a K or A are not great cards for us against the range of hands that he is going to felt on a blank turn if there is only a PSB left. This way we keep the pot size small until we hit our 12 big outs, and then can jam the pot and usually get paid off. Also, if a K or A peels off we usually pick up more outs, but probably would still check/call since putting a lot of money in on the turn (when he raises) would be pretty bad, and we still don't have much FE against his range of strong hands. If a heart or J comes on the turn, I would usually just lead out, and lead the river. This spot is opponent dependent though obviously, sometimes you c/r turn or just keep calling and let them bluff of chips.

Other option is to just lead the flop. Drawback of betting is that you lose his c-bet for when he has air. But a benefit is that many players will peel the flop with hands like 99/Tx or a complete bluff (to float) and then fold the turn, which is free money for us. Betting out also disguises our hand well, and we can decide on the turn what pot size we want to play. Finally, against a passive (or very cagey) opponent, we'd rather have the flop bet since they could check behind AT/JJ/KJ or even a weak Q for pot control.

So overall we usually aren't going to be folding this hand before the river (exception might be turn is blank and he prices us out), but its important to think about how we want money going in. NLHE is about putting in money with an equity advantage (or getting people to fold when they have enough pot equity to continue).