How many opponents do I want?

[Bad Lobster]

This happened to me in a spread-limit hold'em game a few days ago, but for all intents and purposes we can treat it as no-limit.


Hero UTG+1 $300
Player B button $300
Player C SB $110

Hero has A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

$5 blinds
Hero raises to $20
fold, fold, etc
Player B calls
Player C raises to $50

At this point, hero re-reraised, Player B folded and Player C called all-in. Was hero right to isolate Player C?

In retrospect, I'm not sure it was the right move. Given most of the likely hands of opponents (Player C was aggressive and AA or KK was not likely), AKo is almost as likely to win against two opponents as against one, and of course gets better pot odds.

Whaddya think? Is AKo an isolating hand? Seems like the answer should be obvious, but I'm not sure...

[Piers]

Dont see what isolating has to do with anything. Seems more a case of making the pot bigger when you belive you have the best of it.

[PhantomGoose]

Considering no one is especially deep, I can't imagine not pushing AK here. That should get Player B to fold small pairs, maybe even pairs as high as JJ, which obviously is a good thing.

Given the action, I'd say you want 0 opponents here. You're probably flipping with Player C, if you're fortunate, but you don't want B hanging around with 77.

[Bad Lobster]

[ QUOTE ]
Considering no one is especially deep, I can't imagine not pushing AK here. That should get Player B to fold small pairs, maybe even pairs as high as JJ, which obviously is a good thing.


[/ QUOTE ]

It's not so obvious to me--if Player C has a pair, then I need to hit the board to win anyway. In that case, player B has little impact on my odds of winning, and he increases the odds I'm getting on the hand from 1:1 to 2:1.

[PhantomGoose]

Well you're playing Player C for all of your chips unless you can say with a high degree of certainty he has AA - you're not even that far off with KK. You're certainly getting the correct odds for every other possible hand including QQ.

If you reraise all in, you have a decent chance forcing B to fold the best hand - which would be a huge mistake, which is what you're trying to get opponents to do in the first place.

Say you force B out. Against something like 88 from C, you have 45% equity in the pot which you're easily being compensated for.

What if B has a hand like 99 or TT? It's very possible they well lay it down which is a the best possible result for you. Here you're getting a superior hand to fold.

[ QUOTE ]
In that case, player B has little impact on my odds of winning, and he increases the odds I'm getting on the hand from 1:1 to 2:1

[/ QUOTE ]

If B stays in you're not getting anything near 2:1, note the stack sizes you gave. C has $110, while you and B each have $300. If B stays it's a little over 1.3 to 1.

At this point in the hand, having B fold is the best result unless you have them dominated.

[eurythmech]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Considering no one is especially deep, I can't imagine not pushing AK here. That should get Player B to fold small pairs, maybe even pairs as high as JJ, which obviously is a good thing.


[/ QUOTE ]

It's not so obvious to me--if Player C has a pair, then I need to hit the board to win anyway. In that case, player B has little impact on my odds of winning, and he increases the odds I'm getting on the hand from 1:1 to 2:1.

[/ QUOTE ]

You just put me on life tilt [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[ratel]

I can see going either way...it depends on whether you're playing to minimize loss or maximize gain.

[sputnik3000]

quit poker and get laid instead!!

[Andruin]

You get a reraise OOP which means 'I have 99+' or even 'I have QQ+' Now you reraise a favorite because you are at best slight coinflip underdog here with an unknown behind you.

I miss the option of folding your hand here [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] but it is hardly a raise unless you got a monster read here.