Letting Ak Go Pre-flop

I was wondering how often people here fold Ak Pre-flop. For me Ak is a strong shoving hand but not a great hand to call off with you whole stack for! Obviously if I didn't have to risk my whole stack and im only risking 25% of my stack then a AK call off would be ok in this situation and I wouldn't think twice about it! Now im ok with flatting a 3x raise if you got position but what do you do when there is a lot of action infront of you when your holding AK, say your the CO and look down at Ak and UTG1 min raises which middle positions follow with a 3bet and 4bet shove and it comes to you! You can think about shoving also if you want to get heads up with the 4bet shover but with that kind of action the best thing you can hope for is a flip and in a lot of cases your lucky if you get that!

Was just wondering everyone's opinions on this, Ty and best of luck on the felts!

I just got stacked calling a shove with AKoff..

TBH, its a horrible hand to call with imo because:

Youre usually up against something better. I mean lets be honest, when you call you are hoping for AQ or AJ or even maybe pocket 10's which is a coinflip at best, and noone shoves with AQ AJ unless theyre short stacked which you would call anyways. Id rather risk my tourney on better than a 50% call. I wont make this mistake again.

I think the better move is to call, and wait till you hit on the board. Atleast then you have better odds, i would think. Ill fold it from now on if someone ships in front of me. Unless stack size etc dictates otherwise

Well, it's got to be better than KK for you lately, bro

I don't often fold AK preflop and to do well in tournaments you shouldn't be folding AK too often preflop either.

There are times though, for sure.

1st criteria: stacks must be deep
2nd criteria: 2 other players must be showing extreme interest in pot

or possibly a 3rd criteria: a nitty/straightforward player 4bets or 5bets your reraise...then you can let it go even in a heads up pot

goodhandluke said:

TBH, its a horrible hand to call with imo because:

Youre usually up against something better.

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I disagree with this. USUALLY up against something better implies that you are USUALLY up against KK or AA. Do you really put your opponent on only the top 2 hands? then you are giving them way too much credit most of the time... not to mention unless stacks are really shallow players will often times make a standard raise with AA or even KK meaning they DIDN'T jam into you in the first place. And if stacks WERE so shallow that they open jammed their AA into you then their range should be much wider than the top 2 hands and so you're never folding AK anyways.

So yes, there is a time and a place for folding AK preflop, but it should be the exception and not the rule.

AKo has been, by far, the most profitable hand for me in tournaments so far.

There's a time, place, and way for it to be used. When it's appropriately played, it can be an absolute monster.

I think there is a time to play, and usually I tend to feel the AK call. Usually i rather not call, and raise or re raise . but if shortstack is shoving and it goes to me to call, id call it . it just depends on the situation

goodhandluke said:

I just got stacked calling a shove with AKoff..

TBH, its a horrible hand to call with imo because:

Youre usually up against something better. I mean lets be honest, when you call you are hoping for AQ or AJ or even maybe pocket 10's which is a coinflip at best, and noone shoves with AQ AJ unless theyre short stacked which you would call anyways. Id rather risk my tourney on better than a 50% call. I wont make this mistake again.

I think the better move is to call, and wait till you hit on the board. Atleast then you have better odds, i would think. Ill fold it from now on if someone ships in front of me. Unless stack size etc dictates otherwise

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That sounds very naive, you'll be putting your tourney life at risk a lot when shortatacked and a 50/50 is the best equity you'll be getting. If you're 30-60BB deep and a player manages to put his whole stack behind without you investing any chips, you might fold that, but even then, if you're playing micro tourneys which I do, I call them. Those jokers will show up with AQ, KQ, QJ or some random pocket pair, so I'm a favorite over his range, why would I not call? I would much rather have AK than QQ

I would lay down AK pre-flop when

1. There's an EP open and a 3-bet from solid regs.

2. Playing deepstacked and opponent with a similar stack 4-bet/5-bet shoves.

There are much more situations which I didn't list, but you probably get the idea.

Depending where I am at the table, utg will raise 3-4bb, later position willing to call and let it go if I miss the flop.
It's all to easy to get out flopped and chasing the river will most times leave you with less chips that you started with.

I can let go of ak pre flop it there's a few people in a pot, I've called shoves with and been hit by some sweaty hands like Q6s. The later I get in a tourney I find it harder to lay down pre flop unless w rock wakes up

It is darn hard to be all in preflop in anything other than a micro. To me it depends on the game. If you judge yourself to be one of the better players in the tournament then fold. You'll have better odds later and it is best not to waste your knowledge equity. If you are over your head then 50/50 is a definite call. I'd call an over shove, but fold to a 4 bet.

I fold with AK preflop in cases when there is a lot of action in front of me (4bet, 5bet) or big reraise by extreme rock with 3bet % of 0-3. In other cases I just call or reraise. I dont want shoving in the early phase of the tourney with AK bcoz I can be defeated easily by any pocket pair.

this is a tourney equity question, in dons you can fold ak a ton, and shouldnt really be calling any raises with it, but in a turbo mtt think you prob got to get it in

With 4bet coming from villains ,i would seriously consider to fold AK.

Well, I like to shove a lot pre-flop with AK. Dont like calling. Especially calling someone else shove, because the best you can get is flip against pocket pair usually.

All depends on situation. Its good card to get some fold equity + nice pot equity if your shove is called. You should hit AA+KK a bit less, thanks to your blockers.

But dont be afraid to fold, if you see no fold equity, if the action screams "I have AA", or if ICM calls for fold.
Just 5 minutes ago I have folded AK with 3BB left (almost bubble in qualification tournament).

I'll let AK go if the pot is being 4 or 5 bet and I am deep or if there are several people already in the pot re-raising and the action won't be capped with my call sometimes. Like bnasp2 said I would rather make the first move with AK rather than call an all in with it. The exceptions to that are if I have the other player very covered or if the player who pushed has a low M.

There are too many variables just to make any kind of blanket statement. If it's deep in a tourney and you are short-stacked, it's an automatic shove and/or call and hope for the quick double up. If a short stack shoves to you, I think again it's close to an automatic call because you have to feel this person is a little desperate and is looking to shove at the first opportunity. He could be playing an Ace with a lower kicker, a KQ or even something like a 10-9 suited.

But if you have a deep stack, it's late in a tourney, and somebody shoves in front of you, I think you are perfectly justified in folding it, especially if there are 2 players in the pot already. Let those 2 go at it and hope that one of them gets knocked out or at least seriously wounded.

I usually shove AK if im a short stack even with a 3-bet 4-bet in front.
However, I would probably fold it if big stacks are 4 betting in front of me.
I would def try to see a flop if you are getting implied odds to call

guess your play is fine here (Y)

There's just a ton of different situations with AK to make a blanket statement regarding the hand. There are times I will just flat pre. There are times I will repop pre. Depending on pot size/how many bbs I have, there are times I will jam. It really just depends on reads of my opponents as well as pot sizes as well as stack sizes as well as positions that I'm in as well as my opponents. etc

I am fairly new to poker & always thought that AK was a monster hand but after doing a bit of reading it seems that even 22 has a slight advantage odds wise (I may of read this wrong)

But we should not forget that the AK can also lose! It POKER!

For me there are many different times where folding AK is acceptable:

1. Against a very tight player who has shown lots of strength

2. On the bubble against a bigger on similar sized stack who has made the aggressive move and gone AI first.

3. Any time during the tournament against a similar size stack or bigger provided they are not a maniac with a huge range when they have been the aggressor and gone AI first.

4. I must still have a significant portion of my stack/playable stack if I fold.

5. If it is a large multiway pot and there's a good chance someone has my outs (which is often the case) and I can get away cheaply.

6. If it will cost me a significant portion of my stack to just call (then I'll either fold or jam)

I don't mind getting it in with AK but I would much rather be the aggressor and give them the chance to fold. To me that fold equity make the hand a much higher EV play. I'm not saying I won't call in any of the situations I've listed but in general terms those are the types of situations where I can lay it down.

I was just watching the wsop ME last night and one guy calls off AK against QQ at around 70 players. He was shorter stacked and I know QQ is never folding there but he was so happy to get it in and then busto. Remember that before you're just jamming it in there.

Hi BadB420.

I agree that there are various situations where AKo may be folded. In your example where there has been a min raise and a call then a re-raise I would be folding my AKo. Others have also given good examples of when to fold. I would also like to say that AK can be used to develop what I call, (don't know if it something I've picked up somewhere), dead chips. Imagine being the largest stack at the table where one player has been a maniac and he has lost 1/2 his stack - he is UTG and naturally raises he gets one call from a decent mid range player who realises like you how this maniac plays - him being in the button or in late position. A call from you in the BB may play into his hands there I would shove all-in which may make him fold as he doesnt want a flip or even risk his stack? Therefore his original call are "dead chips".

I am sorry as I have not explained this very well - but I expect you get my drift. The bottom line is that there are so many different positions and situations you can be in that it is impossible to say how you play AKo. Good luck whatever you do.