AK in the blinds.

[EsandWhizz]

Im in the blinds with AK, cut-off or button raises 4xbb, i assume its a positional raise (i play 50nl 6max) , i reraise 4or5x his bet, he flat calls. Im now oop and if it misses the flop im in trouble. This seems to be a problem i keep encountering. If i bet 3/4 pot when i miss on a non-threatening board i often get flat called again or reraised and then im in a big pot, oop and holding A high. If i check the flop a decent player will bet out and im lost. I see it as weak not to reraise with AK in the blinds but the money im losing with it in the blinds is ridiculous. Any help please.

[Hitsurume]

I would also like to know who some people would play this hand as I would be lost too.

Some ideas I have depending on the villian (LAGish or Tagish) I would make a cbet and double barrel to low flops, and also need to be aware if they like to float in position a lot. Theres also your own image, do you 3bet often or not because 3beting defines your hand often to your opponents (usually some high PP / AK/AQ if you don't 3bet often) or something more wide.

[Nightlight87]

What kind of image do you usually have at the table.

AK in the blinds I'd probably 3bet to about 3-3.5 the original bet. If I miss the flop Im cbetting about 1/2 - 2/3 the pot. Folding to a reraise, check folding the turn if I dont hit anything.

But I'm not the best player in the world. And a lot of it depends on your image, and who is on button/cutoff.

[Gonso]

Yeah the reraise is a little too much. I'm okay with a little extra since you're out of position, but I don't like ballooning the pot too much when OOP in general.

If I miss the flop with AK out of position, I'm typically going to c-bet like normal, and occasionally go for a check-raise. If that doesn't end it, it's mostly read based from there. If villian comes over top (esp after a CR) you'll just be giving it up more often than not, unless you think he's really out of line - you have to 4-bet in spots like this now and then against some players. There's the flop texture and all of that to think about as well.

AK is still a great hand and you need to play it aggressively preflop almost always, maybe try playing smaller pots with it by just a standard 3-bet preflop and see how that works.

[theoldman999]

When the ice melts to water AK is still not a made hand, I like to call the button raise for pot control. If I think he is FOS and I hit the flop or not I either bet out half and RR his raise when it comes or I check raise to test his hand strength, if he calls and I still think he is FOS I shove on the turn. You have to be somewhat solid on your read of him...if the board is favorable to many options your shove will def be something to consider folding to and you will pick up a nice pot with his pf raise and his rr from the flop more often than not. That's what I do...others might say different. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[McGrain]

I'm probably going to catch a beating for this but I call.

It keeps the pot small and you still send the same message -- "I have a hand" or "i don't beleive you" or, both - as has been said this depends on your table image.

Post flop this gives you lovely wiggle room. If you hit, you can check raise. If you miss, but to a nice board texture (this depends partly upon which cards you shown and how you are generally percieved of course)you bet out and hope for a fold. If you get a re-raise, time to say goodbye to your hand and you've saved on one bet. If you get a fold, grand, you've won less than you would have done had your re-raise pre flop but in my opinion, AK, is the most overplayed, over estimated hand there is. If you don't hit there isn't much that will call you that you can beat at the sort of level you're at. And you will miss more than hit.

Remember to the opponent a flat call followed by a post flop raise can be more frightening to your opponente than a straight re-rase because it looks like you've hit. A re-raise, bet always looks like a continuation bet to the opptomist.

[RapidEvolution]

Re-raising with AK is more profitable than flat-calling, and REALLY important if you're in the blinds. These are my thoughts on why.

1) Unless villain has a very tight preflop raise range, you're AHEAD.

2) Many times, your reraise will take the pot down (a decent-sized pot, at that).

3) Even if you get called, a flop bet will take many pots down.

4) MOST IMPORTANT: Reraising preflop helps you define villain's range. Let's say a tight player raises from MP. It folds to you and you have AK. You call, flop comes A,K,Q. Awesome!! You hit top two pair, bet out and get RR'd all in. You call and villain shows down KK. You had to think you had the best hand there because you didn't narrow down the villain's range.

Same scenario. Folds to tight aggressive MP, he raises to 3BB, it folds to you, you reraise for 9BB, he calls. Flop comes down A-K-Q. You bet out your 2 pair (let's say for 12BB) and he re-raises all in. Now we have this info.

a) Villain raised pre flop.
b) villain saw you reraise and called.
c) Villain saw you reraise, and then lead out despite the fact that he called your preflop reraise.
d) Villain shoved.

Given all that info, it's pretty easy to see that his most likely holdings are AA, KK, and QQ and MAYBE AK. His range crushes you and you can happily fold, leaving yourself with about 80% of your stack instead of nothing.

Any time I have had AK in a pot where I didn't reraise it, I kicked myself later in the hand for not defining what my opponent's range might be. Trust me in that for every pot where the flop misses you and your cbet gets called or raised and you shut down there will be 3 times where you either take down the pot preflop or take it down with a cbet....I'm not counting the times you hit the flop and make money with an actual hand. I hope this helped..I got kinda ranty. lol

In general, you're gonna lose money in the blinds. Raising with AK from the blinds gives you some ways to win and helps you put your opponents on a hand range...2 very important things if you're gonna be playing out of position.

[Gonso]

Flat calling with AK reduces it's value, especially from the blinds. You're virtually always ahead or about even vs another player, and the two hands that dominate you are fairly infrequent.

More often than not, you will NOT catch an A or K on the flop, will be out of position to boot. Had you reraised preflop, you might have avoided this spot and gained a little info to narrow the ranges of what you might be against. Moreover, you can also represent a good hand on the flop with a little more ease.

But calling... it's kind of like "TPTK mining", and AK is just to good a hand for that. Taking down the pot preflop is a fine result, and you just destroy any hope of that by calling.

ONCE IN A WHILE you can do it to mix things up, and there are always exceptions. But for the most part, I hate flat calling a raise with AK from the blinds.

[Lego05]

If he raises to 4BB's generally you reraise to 14 BB's. You generally bet 2/3 pot on any flop and shutdown if called or raised unless you hit a K or A.


I like what RapidEvolution said about it in #1-3. I don't care for #4 as much. I am very rarely folding AK when I flop an A or a K in a pre-flop 3bet pot.

[RapidEvolution]

[ QUOTE ]
If he raises to 4BB's generally you reraise to 14 BB's. You generally bet 2/3 pot on any flop and shutdown if called or raised unless you hit a K or A.


I like what RapidEvolution said about it in #1-3. I don't care for #4 as much. I am very rarely folding AK when I flop an A or a K in a pre-flop 3bet pot.

[/ QUOTE ]

Same here! I rarely fold AK when I hit in a 3bet flop, but with that particular flop against a tight player, I'd definitely fold. If the flop were safer, say.. Ad, 9c, 2s, I'm value betting for sure. Same if I'm up against a player who would reraise all in with QQ, KK, and AA. 3-betting 3flop makes postflop play much eaiser. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I've recently plugged a leak in my game (coldcalling too much preflop) and I'll tell you, I'm faced with fewer really tough decisions. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]