Stars $3+.40 - Going all in on the 3rd hand

[onnel]

3rd hand of a lowly $3. I've been destroying these happily, which has been a nice way to learn NL tournaments. As soon as I have my STT bankroll (My main bankroll is dedicated to limit grinding) up I'll move to the $5+.50s.

Here's the hand:

PokerStars Tournament, Big Blind is t20 (10 handed)

UTG (t1560)
UTG+1 (t1500)
MP1 (t1500)
MP2 (t1560)
MP3 (t1500)
CO+1 (t1500)
CO (t1500)
Button (t1460)
SB (t1420)
Hero (t1500)

Preflop: Hero is in BB with K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
<font color="red">UTG raises to t40</font>, <font color="gray">UTG+1 folds</font>, <font color="gray">MP1 folds</font>, <font color="gray">MP2 folds</font>, <font color="red">MP3 raises to t140</font>, <font color="gray">CO+1 folds</font>, <font color="gray">CO folds</font>, <font color="gray">Button folds</font>, <font color="gray">SB folds</font>, <font color="red">Hero raises to t1500 (All-in)</font>, <font color="gray">UTG folds</font>, MP3 calls t1360 (All-in)

Should I have gone for a raise to say 400 or so? That might give me more action, but if anyone raises all in, I'm coming with them, right?

My general question is:

Getting a premium hand in the first couple of rounds (AA-QQ, AK), do you play them even without reads? Yes to AA-QQ, but not AK? what's the concensus?

I'm asking partially because in the hand as played, I got called by MP3 with QQ and lost. Is that fine and just part of the variance of playing as a (more or less) pushbot? Was there any way to play this to avoid that result?

Onnel

P.S. Sorry, sort of a newbie question, but that's what I am to NL STTs!

[Pilket]

Ah, the trouble with AK. Your play here was fine. The problem with AK is that 2 out of 3 times it doesn't improve on the flop. It's always best to get your chips in preflop with this hand if the caller has a largish range. At this level, a person could call with AJ+, JJ+ in which case you are ahead. The likelyhood that somebody is calling you with KK or AA is lower because you already have one of each. So I think you're in fine shape here.

Yes this is part of variance. In this particular case you're only a 46-54 dog. You took a chance, got into a race and lost. No biggie, fire another one up and get to it.

Pilket

[Mariogs379]

hey man,
typically you want to play QQ-AA aggressively preflop and get it all in but with AKs you want to raise 3x bb with no limpers , raise 3xbb+1xbb per limper and call a raise or reraise preflop and only continue if you it, make sense...
obviously there are variations, such as if you have one caller you can continuation bet etc..
make sense?

[onnel]

Thanks Pilket, that was pretty much my analysis of the situation. I wanted to make sure there wasn't some STT "rule" which I was violating by getting involved in a pot in the first few rounds (i.e., without a significant % of the equity to win).

Now that I think about it, it had to be OK. After all, if you start with 1500 chips you have to double up sometime, and whether you do that sooner or later is not so important. Obviously, this doesn't mean you take -ev risks, but you have to get your chips in there sometime and if not on AK against a likely comparatively loose range, then when?

Thanks again!

Onnel

[tigerite]

A push isn't terrible especially at a $3. Normally though I would probably just call here.

[tigerite]

[ QUOTE ]

Now that I think about it, it had to be OK. After all, if you start with 1500 chips you have to double up sometime, and whether you do that sooner or later is not so important.

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This however is absolute rubbish.

[onnel]

It seems that Pilket and Mario are voicing conflicting ideas. What is the feeling on AK? Better to get it in preflop (and make the most of fold equity) or raise it up and take your chances on the flop?

I really appreciate the feedback.

Thanks!

Onnel

[tigerite]

A re-raise less than all-in here is crap. Either call or push.

[onnel]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Now that I think about it, it had to be OK. After all, if you start with 1500 chips you have to double up sometime, and whether you do that sooner or later is not so important.

[/ QUOTE ]

This however is absolute rubbish.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry, maybe I expressed the idea poorly. Are you saying that there is a fundamental advantage to waiting until later in the game to get my chips in (assuming the ev of the hand is the same)? Or do you mean that the ev on this sitaution was simply too low and I should have waited for a more optimal hand?

Onnel

[Quercus]

[ QUOTE ]
A re-raise less than all-in here is crap. Either call or push.

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