b4 flop allins..

[Deadmeat]

I was just wondering if someone could give some advice on calling someones Allin b4 flop... Ie. i hold AK suited someone raises me Allin which is enough to make me go broke should i call? what kind of hands justify me calling?

[Arjonius]

It's not a simple question to answer since it's pretty situational. To give some simple examples, it's not hard to call with AKs if you only have to risk a small portion of your stack, and even easier if no one still to act has a large enough stack to threaten you. On the other hand, AKs is not nearly as good to call with if multiple other players are already all in or pot committed. Another factor that can easily come into play is how the opponent has been playing. You're more likely to be ahead or even dominant against someone who is loos than versus a rock.

[phydaux]

It's very situational, although a useful rule of thumb could be:

Going all in pre-flop is sometimes good.

Calling all-in pre-flop is usually bad.

[PantsOnFire]

I see you are new here. You are not going to get the answer you want because you have not asked a specific enough question.

For example, out of 100 different situations, I would say that calling allin with AKs pf would be right about 25-50% of the time.

You can see how that doesn't help you much.

The only general advice I can give is that AK is a much better hand to push allin than call an allin.

[Eucrid]

One thing you should be aware of in these situations if you're playing tournaments and STTs is how many chips you have left and how many your opponent has left. If you are both running low and the blinds are catching up on you its probably a good call. If its early in the tournament and you still have alot of chips and the blinds are low theres no need to risk everything.

If you are playing low stakes SNGs though its probably safe enough to call, an awful lot of players at those levels will push with weak hands like AJ,A10, KQ, etc

[ev_slave]

As Eucrid says, this depends if it's cash or tourney. It's a better call in a tourney since all your chips have to get risked so often the range for risking them opens up.

If it's cash, this is a odds/equity calculation.

[pzhon]

You need to look at the pot odds and the amount of strength shown. It's hard for someone to show enough strength and to give you bad enough odds to make it right to fold AKs with stacks under 50 BBs, although it is possible.

Don't treat a push from someone with 10 BB the same way as a push from someone with 100 BBs, even if it is the same proportion of your stack at risk. A push with 10 BBs (say in a tournament) represents a very wide range of hands, and AKs is a strong favorite, on average. You should be happy to call with much worse. A push with 100 BBs, say after an early position raise and reraise, represents a much stronger hand, and AKs is a clear underdog. Whether to call or not depends on the pot odds, but it is usually a fold with deep stacks against a solid opponent.

[TJL0]

Full Tilt Poker Game #3035365240: Table Pimento (heads up) - $200/$400 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:11:20 ET - 2007/07/23
Seat 1: whitelime ($96,198)
Seat 2: LarsLuzak ($51,893.50)
LarsLuzak has 5 seconds left to act
LarsLuzak posts the small blind of $200
whitelime posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
LarsLuzak raises to $1,400
whitelime raises to $4,600
LarsLuzak calls $3,200
*** FLOP *** [Jh 3c 2s]
whitelime bets $6,400
LarsLuzak calls $6,400
*** TURN *** [Jh 3c 2s] [3s]
whitelime has 15 seconds left to act
LarsLuzak has been disconnected
whitelime checks
LarsLuzak has reconnected
LarsLuzak has 15 seconds left to act
LarsLuzak checks
*** RIVER *** [Jh 3c 2s 3s] [8s]
whitelime checks
LarsLuzak has 15 seconds left to act
LarsLuzak bets $40,893.50, and is all in
whitelime has 15 seconds left to act
whitelime has requested TIME
whitelime calls $40,893.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LarsLuzak shows [7c 4c] a pair of Threes
whitelime shows [Ad Kc] a pair of Threes
whitelime wins the pot ($103,786.50) with a pair of Threes
LarsLuzak is sitting out
LarsLuzak adds $40,000
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $103,787 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Jh 3c 2s 3s 8s]
Seat 1: whitelime (big blind) showed [Ad Kc] and won ($103,786.50) with a pair of Threes
Seat 2: LarsLuzak (small blind) showed [7c 4c] and lost with a pair of Threes

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Your calling range depends on a lot of factors.

For example. If you're in the top 5 in chips a long way from the money and the person who shoves has you covered, you should probably fold everything except AA and KK.

If you have a better than average stack and someone with fewer than 10 big blinds shoves for 25-33% of your stack you might call with AA-JJ, AK, AQs.

If you have a giant stack in the later stages and the person who shoves has a stack less than 10% the size of yours and there's nobody else in the pot, you should call with any 2 cards.

[pzhon]

[ QUOTE ]
If you're in the top 5 in chips a long way from the money and the person who shoves has you covered, you should probably fold everything except AA and KK.


[/ QUOTE ]
It sounds like you are greatly overemphasizing survival, a common mistake.

When you are a long way from the money, particularly in a multitable tournament, chip value is close to linear. If you think your hand is significantly ahead of your opponent's range (which usually doesn't take KK), you have an easy call. You don't get so many good opportunities that you can afford to waste them.

[ QUOTE ]
If you have a giant stack in the later stages and the person who shoves has a stack less than 10% the size of yours and there's nobody else in the pot, you should call with any 2 cards.

[/ QUOTE ]
No, that's horrible. It's not your responsibility to try to knock people out. While making loose calls with a big stack is popular, so is losing. It is a big mistake to call with a weak hand just to see if you can knock a player out. It might not be obvious that 10% of your chips have a lot of value, but they are worth a lot, much more than your share of the benefits of knocking a player out, which is usually tiny when you have a large stack even in the late stages of a tournament.

A good tool for analyzing the value of survival is the Independent Chip Model. The value of survival is greatest in structures like a SNG, where most of the prize money is paid out for reaching the money (50-30-20 means 60% is paid out when you are down to 3, 20% is paid out when you are down to 2, and the last 20% goes to the winner). Even in SNGs, it doesn't take a huge advantage to put your tournament on the line when you are far from the money. You usually only need a few percent premium over what you need in a cash game.

Actually, according to the ICM, it is never right to make a bad call to try to knock someone out. I proved that in the Poker Theory forum a while back.