Early stage of tourny, blinds $25-$25, Im BB. 2nd to act makes it $150, folded to me. I have A,K spades. I make min raise. He raises another $600 . I folded, any thoughts. Total chip stack 2500.
Later in a tournament I would probably re-raise. Early like this I would probably just call. If I hit an ace or king I lead out with a potsized bet and see what happens. If no hit I probably check (later in the tournament I might be willing to play more aggresive even out of position).
I'm quite convinced that it's ev+ to play your AK-hands very aggresive, at least on lower levels. You will double up your stack more often against someone incapable of letting QQ or JJ go or some donk with Ace-rag than you will be busted by a set or two-pair.
There was no point to the min raise. You would have been better off just calling his bet OOP and check/folding if you miss. No reads and early on in the tourney it makes no sense to spew chips, unless you are comfortable opening a new tourney after you shove preflop and basically race in the early stage.
I guess next time I won't raise the min. When he re-raised I put him on big pair, mabye even Ks, As. That's biggest reason I folded. Plus even smaller pair is still tight race. I appreciate the input. The blinds 20 min.
You would have been better off just calling his bet OOP and check/folding if you miss.
This is my play at this point as well. The min raise after a raise to 150 from 25 is going to do nothing to put someone off their hand. If they call you have no idea where you stand after the flop and you don't show strength with the min raise (early with no real table image set) so the big reraise may have been a flat out bluff.
(disclaimer.....I'm a total donk still learning the game. put less weight on my opinions
Early stage of tourny, blinds $25-$25, Im BB. 2nd to act makes it $150, folded to me. I have A,K spades. I make min raise. He raises another $600 . I folded, any thoughts. Total chip stack 2500.
I think so early in a tourneys you really want to see flops cheaply unless you have a premium hand( which AK isn't) especially if it's already raised once. Simply calling in that situation would be your best move. But you priced yourself right out of a pot. So unless you want to risk whole tourney this early then a fold was a correct play also. But as I said your major mistake was reraising.
I prefer a call also. But to even consider a fold seems ridiculously weaktight to me. At least against a single player. This is a hand that's among the few in group #1 in Sklansky's ranking of starting hands. Remember that it's very well possible to play a tournament for two hours or more without even seeing such a hand. You have to take your chances.
To consider a fold here (on the levels I play) I would require a scenario like UTG bets 75, gets a caller and then a third player raises to 200. In this situation I would be in a squeeze not knowing if player 1 or 2 was going to shove (if some of them hold kings or aces they probably will).
A: What are the stakes
B: What type of tourney
C: There's no way you can put a guy on a big pair that early if you've never played with him before Min-raising causes cancer - that's science!
He went 150? 6xBB? He's either bad or scared, I re-raise him to at least $500, and then likely push the flop if I hit. If he re-raises me all in pre-flop? I call
NOTE: I'm assuming this is a game I normally am in, so since I'm a low-limit donkey, I give little credit to anyone in the $5.50 --> $10.50 games.
To the people who say they'll fold because the chips are too deep... when do you ever play a hand? It sounds to me like if you don't want to flip with AKs then your tournament strategy is to slowly blind away until you get yourself into the 'red zone'. You then justify pushing with anything, bust out, and lament about how you were card dead that tournament.
The game in question was at Brantford, Thurs $100 buy in. This was my first trip. Mabye I made bad read, but first level and buddy puts in 25% of stack seems he's willing to gamble. A,K is a good hand no doubt, but I didnt want to commit that much that early. I'm thinking if similar situation happens again, I call.
The game in question was at Brantford, Thurs $100 buy in. This was my first trip. Mabye I made bad read, but first level and buddy puts in 25% of stack seems he's willing to gamble.
Comments
Later in a tournament I would probably re-raise. Early like this I would probably just call. If I hit an ace or king I lead out with a potsized bet and see what happens. If no hit I probably check (later in the tournament I might be willing to play more aggresive even out of position).
I'm quite convinced that it's ev+ to play your AK-hands very aggresive, at least on lower levels. You will double up your stack more often against someone incapable of letting QQ or JJ go or some donk with Ace-rag than you will be busted by a set or two-pair.
+1 Absolutely confused by this play, can you give your thought process on min raising here?
cheers
This is my play at this point as well. The min raise after a raise to 150 from 25 is going to do nothing to put someone off their hand. If they call you have no idea where you stand after the flop and you don't show strength with the min raise (early with no real table image set) so the big reraise may have been a flat out bluff.
(disclaimer.....I'm a total donk still learning the game. put less weight on my opinions
I think so early in a tourneys you really want to see flops cheaply unless you have a premium hand( which AK isn't) especially if it's already raised once. Simply calling in that situation would be your best move. But you priced yourself right out of a pot. So unless you want to risk whole tourney this early then a fold was a correct play also. But as I said your major mistake was reraising.
To consider a fold here (on the levels I play) I would require a scenario like UTG bets 75, gets a caller and then a third player raises to 200. In this situation I would be in a squeeze not knowing if player 1 or 2 was going to shove (if some of them hold kings or aces they probably will).
A: What are the stakes
B: What type of tourney
C: There's no way you can put a guy on a big pair that early if you've never played with him before
He went 150? 6xBB? He's either bad or scared, I re-raise him to at least $500, and then likely push the flop if I hit. If he re-raises me all in pre-flop? I call
NOTE: I'm assuming this is a game I normally am in, so since I'm a low-limit donkey, I give little credit to anyone in the $5.50 --> $10.50 games.
Mark
To the people who say they'll fold because the chips are too deep... when do you ever play a hand? It sounds to me like if you don't want to flip with AKs then your tournament strategy is to slowly blind away until you get yourself into the 'red zone'. You then justify pushing with anything, bust out, and lament about how you were card dead that tournament.
Hell, I may just push on his initial raise, and watch him call with KJo
Mark