chipping up or playing safe early in a tourney

H

Haemophile

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just wondering what people's views on this are and i'm talking AKs or AKo vs a pair would you shove early in a tourney to try and chip up or would you play safe and just flat the bet
 
MattRyder

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I know it sounds crazy, but for me, it honestly depends on how lucky I'm feeling. If I'm on a losing streak (and by that I mean expecting to lose with AK against A6 or KQ because that's what's happened the last half dozen times), I'm probably going to take the cautious route and see the flop before committing.

............

Odd that the very first hand that I saw after posting this was a perfect example of AK losing to an inferior hand (2.75:1). The AT btw, was the player who pushed pre-flop.

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TryTo

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It's a good chance to double up or close this match - save the time and free space for other table. I often call allins with AKs in cheap tournaments. And AKo if I suspect the villain is loosy or weak. In the very beginning there are many players, shoving just any ace of two suited cards.
 
Edison A

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Early

always make a RAISE to limit or reduce the number of players who train in the hand, because if you only make CALL your hand AK loses value when many players enter the hand, no matter in which instances of a tournament you are
:icon_shak
 
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Ofarah

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always make a RAISE to limit or reduce the number of players who train in the hand, because if you only make CALL your hand AK loses value when many players enter the hand, no matter in which instances of a tournament you are
:icon_shak

I like this advice. Also be ready to barrel on the flop and double barrel on the turn; if of course the board isn’t too wet!!
 
H

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i do always make a raise but what i'm asking is if you are 3 or 4 bet pre would you shove or flat. if the flop comes out you have more information and the decision is easier so this is mainly about before the flop comes out. my view is that i do shove in this position early in the tourney because i'm a believer that early on you chip up or chip out and move on.
 
CriesuaID

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You can't be tight as in a Cash Table, you need to be agressive (or luck to have good cards) if you want a good result.
 
Douglas Gonzaga

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Always having to play with a minimum of players, not risking any surpressa end up happening.
 
MaSSive_1

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AKo/AKs are just part of ranges you should play in certain spots in certain correct strategies. Its hard to address such general question 'how to play AK'. There are too many variables to consider; stacks, positions, action in front etc.
 
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Depends on the tournament type mainly. In re-buys people are very aggressive and loose preflop in early stages. So I won't mind getting it in and always have to option to rebuy if I lose. However, if there are add-ons also available, I would play tighter because the chips you will gain would not be worth much and if you lose your stack rebuy is gonna cost you more money and affect your winrate.

In freezeout deep stack tourneys, it's a whole different story. It would really take me crowbar to get my stack in preflop. I won't mind folding AK pre if I get very heavy action.
 
LevySystem

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just wondering what people's views on this are and i'm talking AKs or AKo vs a pair would you shove early in a tourney to try and chip up or would you play safe and just flat the bet

as mentioned above you want to isolate players, if this means jamming preflop because half the table is limping id go with that. AK is a very strong hand, in fact, preflop there is only 2 hands that beat you (AA, KK) you either dominate all other hands or flip against them (1v1). So it depends on the tabledinamic. If its a normal table, then just open>3bet>4bet>call with it. If you have a very weak table were lots of people feel lucky i dont mind squeezing big in LP or just jamming it UTG.
 
John Penniston

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Play each hand on their merit, doubling up is ok depending on your opponents willingness to commit to the pot.
 
PokerFunKid

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It really depends on the format and the players at my table. I would almost always go for a 4-bet, unless i have information that the player is VERY tight. Once you get 5-bet it is player depending for me, and i would usualy take more risk in re-entry and rebuy tournaments because i think other players will take more risk in those formats. In a 6-max game i'd probably get it in anyway, in low stakes games because i think they simply play to aggresive and overplay hands and its not capped to KK+. Though, in a softer field it would suck to get it in early, for a flip and possible behind. Usualy they won't go to out of line with hands like AQ that you dominate. Getting it in, or calling the raise would all depend about how deep we are, and howmuch i would have behind calling the 5-bet. In games i play recently i would probably go for a call, with a 50K monster stack assuming the 5-bet would be to around 7K unless i have previous information that this player spews chips and is overly aggresive, then i'm willing to take the risk to 6-bet get it in and if he has it then oh well.
 
8bod8

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If the tourney is a freeroll, raise must be (very) large. Even a shove may give you 2 calls, a 3BB raise many more. With bad luck: all fold and you win very few chips.
It depends...
 
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your answers to the question, and you start to think, and with what hand I now turn to the river, so I'm all-in
 
deform fedot

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It depends on luck if you have a good hand, why wait :)
 
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PokerTraveler

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ill prefer play safe and first know how opponent play1 hand in tournament AK best hand to leave against AA KK
 
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