$50R: Bax overpush with AK from the bb...from pokerxfactor

[guaranteedBluff]

The situation is this:

Blinds are 100/200/a25

Middle position (t8000)
JohnnyBax (t12k)

Bax is dealt AKo in the bb. MP raises to t800, all folds to bax, who pushes for (effectively) 40bb, and states, "I don't wanna play this hand out of position so I just shove all of my chips".

Now, I question a few things about this play:

1) Does MP call with a worse hand? I doubt it; such a large reraise really smells like AK, and I only see QQ+/AK calling, maybe throw JJ in there, but definitely not AQ.

2) Is there a better play than this? A smaller reraise to say t2400-3000 makes the hand awkward to play given stack sizes, so it seems cold call is the other option. Cold call obviously gets more value from AJ, AQ, KQ when an A or K flops, but maybe gets pushed off the best hand when low cards come and MP fires a continuation bet.

Clearly, it is more difficult to play the hand by just cold calling. However, this fact does not necessarily mean that it is less profitable... any thoughts?

[yellowdoyle]

1) I definitely think MP will call with worse hands. Lots of players will see overbets as small PP's like 5's or 6's. People also spite call with [censored] like KJ, ATs, blah blah. If he gave no reads on MP, it honestly doesn't seem too terrible.

2) I don't really know. Smooth calling is an option, but then you only guarantee yourself 3 cards, which is not in favor of AK. Depending on villain, you are probably in a situation with reverse implied odds (I believe that is the term for this situation....)

Perhaps a small raise to like 2200 could work as well, but that opens a whole new can of worms. Like StevePA had said, playing unexploitably or perfect is not always the best move against imperfect opponents.

I look forward to hearing more responses.

[Bakes]

in my experience, large overbets are AK far more often than smll pockets. occassionally you see TT or JJ but the chief hand that large overbets are s AK.

[guaranteedBluff]

[ QUOTE ]
1) I definitely think MP will call with worse hands. Lots of players will see overbets as small PP's like 5's or 6's. People also spite call with [censored] like KJ, ATs, blah blah. If he gave no reads on MP, it honestly doesn't seem too terrible.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perhaps this may be true in lower buy-in tourneys, but in a $50r I really don't think many players are spite calling with weak hands, and honestly I think dropping AQ is pretty easy here as well.

[JoseGonzlez]

the beauty of playing AK this way is you get full value for it. fold equity + seeing all 5 cards to me makes it an ok play no matter what. i suppose he probably plays it differently in other spots but i doubt its ever mathematically wrong to do this.