Hand from the Fitz Cash Game

Samba

UTG I look down to see AKs, I consider raising but I am way out of position with it, so I flat call it, next player to act makes a very uncomfortable pot raise, 4 callers and back to me, I decide at this point If I am going into this pot I have to get this heads up, my only real concern is the player to act after me could he have the rockets?


I bet the pot again, he calls and the button also flat calls.


The flop comes 234 Rainbow, I instantly bet out 50 to represent slow played rockets.

The player to my left, clumsily grabs all his chips and stuffs them in the middle while stuttering all in for 160 essentially putting me all in I had a 190 stack.

Now up to the button, he is looking at me thinking is he going to fold, so I start reaching for chips thinking if he calls I certainly can't, thankfully he makes his mind up that I am going to call, while he was staring down the player next to me I noticed him squirming in his seat, being very fidgity and generally did not look comfortable.

So I glanced at him and reached for chips, he certainly did not like what I was doing.

I call and he sighs very very deeply and flips over Q10s of diamonds.

even more so when I show him my hand.

Turn is the 9d....gulp...


River.....Qc.


So, did I play this wrong at all? The Re-Raise with the AKs os very questionable as the player left to me could of had the rockets.

I could easily have mucked when he raised but I was confident of the read i had on him.

The pot at the end was over 400 Eur and it would have been a nice take down.

The button it turns out had 45s.

Samba

Waylander

I think pre flop I would have put in a raise and he would probably not have played the pot with his hand then. After that you read him right, and got your money in when you were ahead so I think you played the rest of the hand well, he just got lucky.

Samba

This is the problem with PL and UTG with big hands hard to push anyone off any hand.

Waylander

Sorry yeah I forgot about the pot limit. Did the player in question manage to hold on to his stack after that hand?

Samba

at that stage it was 5.am. so I decided to call it a night

RoundTower

I was playing this hand and I thought the player on your left had KK preflop. Incidentally he raised to e5 which was a lot less than a pot raise. I don't believe you can be sure you're ahead on the flop, he can have A4s or 77 and not be comfortable with his hand in that situation. However there is 300 in the pot and you have to call 110, so you should (just about) be calling even against KK. Therefore you are pot committed on the flop, but don't want a call or an all in, so you should probably have bet the pot.

Also I don't know why you want to play the hand headsup preflop, AK will play very well against 2 callers because one of them will typically be drawing to 2 or 3 outs when you have something like AK v TT v AJ or AK v TT v 99.

The button (Oben) was playing very well that night, I suspect he put both of you on big hands and was intending to flop 2 pair or better, or fold. I was surprised at the way all 3 of you played this hand.

Samba

he was second to act so the most he could have made it was 8. Oben was playing some great poker, if he called at that point I could not find a reason to do the same as I could only presume he us both tied down.

Yes AK can play well against two people but Oben was a big worry, i did not want him in any pot that I had raised(unless I had the rockets) and I was uncomfortable with his call.


I bet half the pot to make it look like I wanted action on that flop, if I do bet the pot I think the player to my left is going to fold and Oben is going to call, who had me in a bad way.

But you are right, it would have played out very differently

Ultimately I wanted to get heads up with the player to my left as I was confident he had nothing all his body language indicated this.

which seat were you in?

Thinking back, I really should have been holding QQ/KK/AA to play it the way i did

Hectorjelly

RoundTower wrote:

Also I don't know why you want to play the hand headsup preflop, AK will play very well against 2 callers because one of them will typically be drawing to 2 or 3 outs when you have something like AK v TT v AJ or AK v TT v 99.

AK plays terribly multiway, the less opponents the better.

Hectorjelly

I cant follow the action at all, how much were the bets? What were the stacks?
But a limp reraise with AK is only good if you can pot commit yourself preflop against a looseish raiser, otherwise you should try and keep the pot small.

Samba

O.k Player to my left has approx. 180, oben has built up a stack of around 270 I had roughly 190.


I limped in, lets call player to my left Harry.

Harry raises 5 making it 7 to go there were a good 3-5 callers, I then re-raise to 40 (just about pot).

Harry and Oben call.

So the pot at this stage was around 130.

I led out betting 50 Harry then pushes all in and the rest is history.

I my limp re-raise I was hoping to achieve two things, 1. pick up the pot there and then without seeing a flop. 2. Get it heads up with Harry.

With AK any more than two callers and you are in serious trouble.

NickyOD

Hectorjelly wrote:

AK plays terribly multiway, the less opponents the better.

Absolutely. You should never miss a raise, reraise with AK. Only time I might flat call is if several players are still in after a raise and I'm in the blinds. You should keep jamming against loose players with it and try and get them all in prefllop. you want to see 5 cards with AK. only 32.4 chance of hitting A/K on the flop. but you're close to 50/50 to make a decent hand by the river.

NickyOD

Samba wrote:

Harry raises 5 making it 7 to go there were a good 3-5 callers,(just about pot).

That's one ****ed up cash game if no one respects players coming in UTG. I'm not sure how I'd play in it.

Hectorjelly

NickyOD wrote:

Absolutely. You should never miss a raise, reraise with AK. Only time I might flat call is if several players are still in after a raise and I'm in the blinds. You should keep jamming against loose players with it and try and get them all in prefllop. you want to see 5 cards with AK. only 32.4 chance of hitting A/K on the flop. but you're close to 50/50 to make a decent hand by the river.

In most cash games I play or have played if you get all in with AK and full stacks you are drawing close to dead, 3 outs if you are lucky.

Hectorjelly

Samba wrote:

With AK any more than two callers and you are in serious trouble.

The problem with limp reraising AK is that you create a huge pot out of position with the most likely flop of A hi. If you just raise preflop and are called you can just check fold the flop, similarly if you just call the original raise you can check fold the flop.

This is a cash game so there isnt the same urgency to play and win hands. AKo isnt a great hand in a game with stacks of more than 30bbs.

Samba

This is a cash game so there isnt the same urgency to play and win hands. AKo isnt a great hand in a game with stacks of more than 30bbs.

Spot on, I could do a search and even quote myself saying this.

I could easily have gotten away from the hand and probably should have as it cost me my stack.

I was sure Harry had no PP and at the worst was on AQ/AJ.

I almost chickened out of my read on him but decided to go through with it.


The cards were dry last night, didn't get the rockets once and AK was the best the dealer had to offer me.

I was surprised that I even managed to get my stack up to 190 from 80.

bohsman

This is the Fitz game we're talking about, probably the loosest game of its size in europe. Theres no point reraising preflop because anyone in for a fiver will be in for their whole tanks so it will play badly. I would try to keep it small preflop and attack if I hit the flop. This applies to Fitz cash games only. Apply Nicky or HJs advice elsewhere

Lafortezza

Fitz mentality: "If I call this preflop raise of €40 and my Q9 hits then I'll win a monster pot...."

Marq

that is my permanent mentality.

Lafortezza

Marq wrote:

that is my permanent mentality with 85o

fixed.

RoundTower

I was in seat 9 that night. Three points:
Firstly the initial raise was definitely only to e5, not to e7, so it was a very small raise.

Secondly AKo is a great hand in that game since the other players are happy to be playing Ax and Kx and if you hit you are likely to get paid off. I find playing three-way in a raised pot is ideal here.

Thirdly I agree you should be holding KK/AA to play like this because it is basically a way of building as large a pot as possible, and committing as much of your stack as possible, with little regard for the other players' hands.