(Microstakes) Flat calling a raise with AK/AQ/AJ

Is this a good idea? (assuming I'm playing heads-up and I don't have info about the villain. I may or may not be in position.)

My reasoning is that if he has a non-dominated hand (a pocket pair or 2 cards which don't match mine), I only have ~55% equity, so it's not hugely profitable to raise. However, if he has a dominated hand, and he hits the flop, he will most likely raise, then I can call his bets (and he may think I have a draw/weak ace/etc. and keep betting). Had I raised, I think he'd mostly have played passive and likely throw away the hand.

Thanks.

I'd say it depends on the situation. If you have position a 3bet is probably is best, since you get initiative and get the chance to take it down pre/by leading out on flop without even hitting the board.

OOP I would pick a strategy depending on what type of player, if he's loose agressive I wouldn't mind getting it in pre since we're most likely ahead of his range. Against a nit I'd probably flat pre oop, since at best we're flipping if he decides to 4bet jam.

Im nowhere near a great poker player, but this is my own thoughts based on the hands i've played.

Im not a pro either but Ive found I can make a ton just calling. If I hit the flop .. check because anyone that raises preflop most of the time continuation bets atleast half pot. Call that and same on turn. River is when u go for the kill.

There really is no pat answer for this. It will always depend on the situation. Simply calling to try to make money if you hit and giving up if you miss is a terrible way to play these hands.

There are tons of things that must be considered before playing any hand. Say you are BTN and an UTG raises. What does he raise here? If you have lots of hands on him and he raises a lot here, and folds a lot to 3 bets, why on earth would you even consider calling? If you are in the blinds and BTN raises, why would you want to call with AK-J? That is actually the main point. WHY... Why is he raising? Why are you calling? If you call cause you have a big A and dont want to fold it cause it is too good to fold (yes, people think like this) then you need to get help on your game. A reason to call would be if you are IP and you have a real agro 3 bettor in the blinds. You could call and then 4 bet, but you have to be pretty sure this hand will go that way. Dont play anything unless you have a reason to do it. With a hand that is most likely to give you A high OTF, I see little reason to play it passively unless you have specific reads and a post flop plan.

And if you are first in, I hope you are not thinking of simply limping this.. Unless, like above, you have an agro 3 bettor and your plan is to 4 bet or call his 3 bet and donk any flop.... but I hope your reads are solid and you can play these situations post, cause they can cost you a lot... Not to mention that in MS games this is pretty much a losing strategy....

AK, AQ, AJ are not nearly the same hand, and should not be played the same way.

Depending on how villain reacts to 3bets would change how I play a hand like AJ+ in position, if he folds a lot then your just going to get called, or 4bet, by stuff that beats us and we'll fold out the stuff we beat, if he calls 3bets a lot however then i'm way more inclined to be 3betting them as he'll be calling with a lot of dominated broadway cards, KQ/KJ/QJ etc

When you have AK:

Let's say you have AdKc. When you have this hand there are only 3 combos of AA and 3 combos of KK:
AcAh,AcAs,AhAs,KdKh,KdKs,KhKs

There are 6 combos of QQ as well as 6 combos of JJ (and every other pocket pair).
There are 9 combos of AQ (suited or unsuited) and 9 combos of AK.

Putting it all together, you are dominated by 6 possible combos and slightly behind any pocket pair. There will be twice as many combos of QQ/JJ as there are KK/AA. You're chopping with AK slightly behind AKs and ahead of AQ. And you obviously dominate any Ax/Kx hand and are well ahead of all unpaired hands.


equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 50.106% 38.23% 11.88% 25529440 7931059.00 { AdKc }
Hand 1: 49.894% 38.02% 11.88% 25388298 7931059.00 { JJ+, AQs+, AQo+ }

Do the same calculation for AQ:

If you have AdQc:
There are 3 combos of AA
But now there are 6 combos of KK
and 3 combos of QQ

So you are crushed by 3 pairs that comprise 12 combos instead of 2 pairs that comprise 6 combos. You are also crushed by 9 combos of AK. Whereas before you were 50% vs. this strong range of JJ+/AQ+, now you are crushed.

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 33.065% 21.17% 11.89% 14139145 7941942.50 { AdQc }
Hand 1: 66.935% 55.04% 11.89% 36756826 7941942.50 { JJ+, AQs+, AQo+ }

lenstra said:

Is this a good idea? (assuming I'm playing heads-up and I don't have info about the villain. I may or may not be in position.)

My reasoning is that if he has a non-dominated hand (a pocket pair or 2 cards which don't match mine), I only have ~55% equity, so it's not hugely profitable to raise. However, if he has a dominated hand, and he hits the flop, he will most likely raise, then I can call his bets (and he may think I have a draw/weak ace/etc. and keep betting). Had I raised, I think he'd mostly have played passive and likely throw away the hand.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

If you mean HU as in two people at the table flatting AK the vast majority of the time is going to be a huge leak, flatting AQ and AJ is also going to be pretty bad a lot of the time.