Hi, I would take a different line at the early streets (pre and flop) but I suppose that might be style difference: So i 3B pre to define my hand  and be able to range villains easier. I at least checkraise flop, but I rather prefer betting the flop as K and J on flop will hit villains ranges rather often and I defenitely would like to make draws and weaker hands pay for the privilege to see another card. The turn card is terrible for us, so there I agree with a check (allthough a low-ish kinda blocker bet might work too) but i like the checkcall on the river as the rivercheck looks weak and often induces a bluff or a weak hand to bet, so I never fold to villains betsize for that reason in this particular situation, unless villain is extreme tight.

By 3b pre and c-betting flop we would show that we are prepared to play a bigger pot with an apparent good hand and leave a rather difficult decision to opponent pre and again on the flop as we show strength again…

What I miss here though is information (vpip/pfr etc) about opponents styles as I normally use this to make general assumptions of possible ranges. Can you add some player info about that?

In general I dislike very passive lines as shown in this hand ,as you will have a real hard time to range villains correctly and give them a chance to smash the board hard. That being said you can sometimes scoop bigger pots by underrepping your hand but I myself do this only rarely. Being oop is negated a bit by holding a rather strong hand and to me the disadvantages of playing passively are much bigger.

Another thought:  villains checking behind on turn tells me that he does not seem to be afraid of draws which makes it more probable that he is on a draw or holding a weak hand… In those situations inducing blufs and potcontrol by checkcalling is the best line imo..

You are going to see flop four ways (possibly five ways if BB calls) OOP with AK. To hard to play this hand like that. Just make a squeeze about 1k and you probably take down this pot preflop. If not, you have still great hand and you can easily define range of your opponent. I would squeeze there 100% of the time.

cool, i was gonna ask what you guys do if you get 4 bet, j lude says fold….what about everyone else who says 3 bet pre…..

thanks for the help

JLUDEOBV said:

AK is so meh in the early stages of tournaments. I personally like to flat a lot of the time with AK in certain situations, especially in the early stages. However this is not one of those spots. As stated above when we flat here we more than likely will see the flop 5 ways OOP with AK and that's just never a good situation. I 3b here to around 1200 and hopefully take it down. I make it bigger because we are OOP and we really don't want a call here. If we get 4b I just fold as we are obv so deep and 3b/fold is fine.

We absolutely want ppl to stay in the pot when we 3 bet. We are 3 betting for value correct? So, if they have hands including an ace, then we have them crushed and can get multiple streets of value on an ace high board. We don't want to give them great odds to stay in the hand with something like qjss or a pocket pair, but we definitely don't mind getting called. Utg+1 started the hand with 180bb, and the two callers both have 125bb+. I don't think they will be folding pairs to a 3 bet to 1200. After we make it 1200 the pot will be about 2500 and they will have to call like 870? I'm not folding a pocket pair in that spot because of the pot and implied odds being so deep and in position. Also, if the raiser flats, then the other two callers are likely to as well. So we end up playing a bloated pot oop. If we are going to be 3 betting AKoff in this spot, it should probably be bigger this deep. Maybe like 15-1600. If we make it smaller then we really can't define our opponents range that well because they will be calling with a wider one. 

One other point…I think that if we have AKsuited here we should be much more willing to flat and play a multiway pot. We have the added value of a flush draw where we can dominate lower flush draws and really win a big pot. If we are to squeeze, the hands the villains are the most likely to fold are the suited connectors.

^^ sorry if my questions sound retarded, they are 100% legitimate on this one

I agree on making sure the 3b raise is big enough to not induce a calling party. It should be a good big bet and indeed i think we are not 4b as a bluff too often. Folding to a 4b seems a good line in that case depending on opponents style ofc, but nevertheless I also might flatcall the 4b vs agg players to check-call flop and float oop. If he than checks the turn I will bet the river depending on the situation and boardstructure to take it down often. So in that respect i don't want to waste a premium hand either 🙂

Also I agree that we are deep enough to let pairs setmine or isolate through a 4b, so we don't necessarily have to be up against much better hands perse…