playing ace-king after two all ins

I played a small tournament the other week and it was early on in,
I was dealt ace-king in LP there was one limper in MP the blinds were 75-100. My chip stack was around 2500, I raised 400 and a guy who had just sat down from another table raised all in on the BB for his 1800, the guy who limped put his 2500 all in, I thought about it and decided that I was only really scared of pocket aces and kings (to a lesser degree). It is a strong move flat call and then go all in from the limpers perspective, but I called. The guy who had just sat down showed K-3s (he did'nt know what he was doing and I had tagged him for this) but the guy who limped had slow-played pocket aces and I was killed. What do you lot think? Its those ace-king combinations that are a problem at the moment. Thankyou once again for all your great comments on this site, I can't really reply individually as I'm at work but take it that I appreciate everyones input..Cheers, the sniper

Who wrote recently that Ace King off is like Anna Kournakova? Looks pretty, never wins!
Bad news but should never have called 2 all in's there. You were likely up against at least one good hand (high pair minimum) so were- at best- a 50/50.
If you overplay these hands at this level, you'll get into bad habits for the higher levels where traps are harder to spot and hands like AK v's K 3 are VERY few and far between.

You surely have to know that the call was a horendous one. Even if you did have the best hand which u didnt u had no read on the guy who just sat down and once the limpers goes in to its a instafold only for the reason your risking your tourney life on just ace high. When you fold your gonna see the cards either way

thanks pokerchild, good advice that's why I've joined this site. I'm going to be really careful playing ace-king in future with big raises in front. The sniper

In that situation the limper would have really concerned me to and I would have folded my hand here. The reason is even if you read the first guy as weak, the second player is a whole different story.

When he pushed all after limping I would have thought AA or KK and even to way thinking he has at least a PP in which case its at best a coin flip. In the worst case I am dominated by the AAs or KKs.

To AK is great against 1 opponent but 2 or more it becomes a problembecause you are more than likely behind at least 1 of them. To me AK is an easy laydown at that point. Having said that I have made bad plays with AK before and I am sure I will again.

The Muppetteer

Thanks muppetteer I'll be really careful next time I'm sure I'll make bad calls with this hand again but I'm only just learning the game so every bit of advice is appreciated. Obviously I should have just laid the hand down but it was a cheap buy in ten pounds sterling but that still doesn't excuse the bad play. On another matter at what point would you consider walking from a final table? I was chip leader on a FT the other week left for half an hour and when I came back there was only 3 players left the'yd knocked each other out without me having to do anything, I went on to win the tournie.

The only way I would ever walk away from a final table for any length of time is:
a: no choice - there's a medical problem or the like
b: tilt - need to cool off - this may only take me a minute to 5 minutes though - not a half hour
c: lost internet connection - then I'm calling people I know and begging them to jump on for me and giving them instructions on how to play via phone

Sniper

As others have said about AK - looks good, doesn't always win.
You really should have tossed them just as pokerchild said, you had NO read on the new guy and the limper went all in.

Beware the limpers!

As soon as you see a raise and a re-raise like that you should really suspect that someone was trapping.

The hardest part of poker to learn (for me anyway) was to throw away those AK, AQ, small pairs etc. when the action is telling me I'm beat.

To me, the limper going all in was a sure sign that he had at least KK.

You just learned a valuable lesson.

Thats how you get better.

AK won't look so pretty next time you look down at it!!!

(p.s. don't mean Anna Kournikova here, I'd only love to look down at her!!)

I might call the new guy's shove with your stack but I'm not calling 2 shoves here. Guaranteed to be crushed by the 2nd guy. He's not calling with anything less that KK here imo.

Its good to remember AS A GENERAL RULE, online play is looser than live tournament play, esp in the early stages.

Because players play more loosely online, they also call more liberally,just like you did. A fold in this position would of been the correct play but I would of called with QQ or higher and probably gone out myself.

Any time there is a second and third raise, especially large ones, it is almost certain that one of them has AA or KK. Also before the flop there is less bluffing being done than most people think. The majority of bluffs are from the cut-off seat, the button, and the small blind, and none of your opponents were in these positions. It sometimes can take a long time before one can fold top hands without having second thoughts.

Cracksniper,

There are not many reasons to leave a table in the middle of a tournament but if you have to here are some:

1. You have an emergency.
2. You need food or drinks.
3. You need to go to the toilet.
4. You go on tilt.
5. You have been knocked out of the tournament.

In each of these cases I would only spend the minimum time away from the table that I had to because I may miss not only some big hands but also important information while I am away from the table.

Thats my opinion but I may be wrong.

The Muppetteer

The guy who had just sat down showed K-3s (he did'nt know what he was doing and I had tagged him for this)

How do you peg a new player and then make this call?

2 all ins, AK is debatable 6 handed, but I'd fold most of the time.

because he was pis....

AK is in awful shape against any range against two players. At least if it was you doing the shoving you can add a little fold equity (although not much by the sounds of it)

Just fold and let one of them bust out. You need at least KK here to call.

Many times a-k can lead to trouble just for the fact that its easily beat preflop by a reraise. And it sounds like for the blind levels you were at it was a easy lay down to foresee. Sometimes though your just in a bad spot when your dominated by a limper with a big hand. Being that there were more than just 2 people in the hand that should have set some concern off in your head.

I might have called depending on the other raiser who pushed all-in. Was he a tight player, loose player? AK is a good hand, but.......against 2 other players, AK is only AK high, if one has J10 and the other has 76......well, you only have AK high. AK, 3 handed is not a strong hand.

I think it should have been a fairly easy fold. too many players think big slick is a great all in hand. I like to put in a fair raise and see a flop myself.