What would you do?

theskillzdatklls

theskillzdatklls

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I am a tournament/sng player, strictly. I am moving into HU sit n' gos some, but i get bored and do cash games here and there. I ALWAYS lose money on them, every time, and i get pissed for going to them but I seem to do it anyway.

My question, what would you do here? I see a sh!tload of high stakes players that I watch online go all in w/ AKo. I figured in any 9-table the odds of anyone w/ AA is ~1.8% right? Other pocket pairs = coinflip, but Ax = dominated hand, giving AK good equity on an all in?

pokerstars Game #17557305734: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2008/05/20 - 00:40:09 (ET)
Table 'Massalia V' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: chrizz419 ($42.65 in chips)
Seat 2: skllzdatklls ($32.20 in chips)
Seat 3: digitpl ($24.65 in chips)
Seat 4: Jaxx81 ($26.05 in chips)
Seat 5: bagnus ($25.60 in chips)
Seat 6: yipyapsap ($21.70 in chips)
Seat 8: kcblueblood ($16.15 in chips)
Seat 9: Ineed2ski ($22.15 in chips)
chrizz419: posts small blind $0.10
skllzdatklls: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to skllzdatklls [Kd Ac]
digitpl: folds
Jaxx81: folds
bagnus: raises $0.75 to $1
yipyapsap: folds
kcblueblood: folds
Ineed2ski: folds
chrizz419: folds
skllzdatklls: raises $1.60 to $2.60
bagnus: raises $23 to $25.60 and is all-in
????
 
Vintage82

Vintage82

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Its one thing to push all-in with AK, but another one to be calling. Do you have any stats/reads on bagnus?
 
Pothole

Pothole

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As stated previously, it's hard to comment without a little more information. As to your main concern ie. you always lose at ring, try moving to 6 seat tables and maybe limit, at least it will reduce your losses, as for your 1.8%, you'd be surprised how many times my KK runs into AA.
 
SavagePenguin

SavagePenguin

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First, I'd have raised to $3.

I'd fold. I'm not stacking to an aggressor with less than KK in that situation.

People play differently in rings as opposed to tournaments. At $25NL, even at $10NL, a fully stacked guy isn't normally going to shove pre-flop without Q/Q, K/K, or A/A. Yes, Q/Q is most likely, but the other two hands have you absolutely crushed.

Now, if this guy had $12 or less, I'd call in a heartbeat.

But then again, someone with K/K or A/A is much more likely to raise to $7 or so, to get more money into the pot. So JJ'ish pairs become more likely, as he appears to be trying to chase you off your Ace/face type hand.

Again, I'd still fold. You're a slight dog against any pocket pair, and folding now will teach an observant table (which isn't necessarily the case) that you can be bullied off your re-raises. That could be worth the $2.60 in itself, as people may try to chase you off your three-bet and you punish them for it.

Assuming he has J/J, you're 43% to win. The rake will eat an additional 5% of the pot, so your equity isn't great. Abandon the $2.60 you have in there (which is what the rake would be if you called) and punish whoever tries to chase you off a better hand.


As for Pothole's comment about K/K's running into A/A's, that happens about 1/24 times I think.
 
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D

Dr_Dick

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The "high stakes" players you see going all-in with AK are 9 times out of 10 initiating the all-in. AK is a powerful all-in hand because of the fold equity. Knowing you are a coin flip against anything except AA/KK allows players to get aggressive preflop.

In the hand you posted you are not initiating the all-in, therefore you have no fold equity. If you include Ax or a LAG play (76 suited) in the range of your opponent then a call is not necessarily bad here, but it is not a clear cut +EV move. I say not clear cut, because you really would need to attribute a weighted factor to the ranges.

So in a poker forum I can come up with all sorts of reasons that you might be +EV, but in reality when you are sitting at the table this is a fold. With no read on your opponent and with the pot being so small I fold and wait for a better spot.

I guess my main input is when you are dealt AK in a cash game, don't forget the value of fold equity.
 
rwilson

rwilson

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easy fold... calling all-in raises heads up in cash games with AK is a recipe for disaster IMO. You're behind to pocket pairs heads up.. it's a big drawing hand that needs help.. that's it.

Hard to know in this case without more info on the other guy.. but generally it's not a good idea. As previous people have said, initiating the move is better than calling someone else heads up with this hand.
 
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