When do you fold AK preflop?

Guys,

I was in a $1 tourney w/ 1245 players. I was 'trucking along' at 9th place with 36 more players when this hand came along. I did not have much information about this player as he was new to the table. I just know that he has not played a heck of a lot of hands. But he was not at the table for long either.

full tilt poker $1 + $0.10 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t2000/t4000 Blinds + t500 - 9 players - View hand 549170
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter
remusica 129 (SB): t24952 M = 2.38
Gravity1000 (BB): t61266 M = 5.83
crudy (UTG): t75738 M = 7.21
Hero (UTG+1): t70704 M = 6.73
MROCHA30 (UTG+2): t74662 M = 7.11
maxwork21 (MP1): t69593 M = 6.63
cookiejar444 (MP2): t95237 M = 9.07
Saluka1 (CO): t123103 M = 11.72
BetonPoker78 (BTN): t40500 M = 3.86
Pre Flop: (t10500) Hero is UTG+1 with K A
crudy calls t4000, Hero raises to t28000, 4 folds, BetonPoker78 requests TIME, 2 folds, Gravity1000 raises to t60766 all in, 1 fold, Hero calls t32766
Flop: (t132032) 3 8 8
Turn: (t132032) 5
River: (t132032) 5

Was my raise too much? Could I have bet/folded? I just feel as thought I could have still been in the tourney. I do realize that I was a dog to only 6 hands (3 ways to make AA's and KK's), but I just wanted some other opinions.

Thanks!

Fold AK preflop only when you put another player on KK or AA, but I have no problem flatting instead of trying to get it in. Basically fold AK whenever you see raise/reraise ahead of you unless its a pretty obvious button/cutoff three bet steal

When you have no fold equity, and you don't have sufficient pot odds to call/shove against their range.

With under 20 BBs, just about never.

Didn't realize that I left out the ending.

He had aces. I lost.

Sounds like next time I should just flat IP w/ AKo. The only reason I raised was because the UTG guy limped. I'll just flat next time.

If you want to raise, was the raise too big?

Just curious.

Pokerstudent said:

If you want to raise, was the raise too big?

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It was actually too small.

One of my first posts here was similar with AK utg+1 and I shoved preflop. I lost and wondered if I should have played it slower but the answer here was that I was right to be aggressive with it.
I think you played this hand correct unless you would have been happy to just steal the blinds in which case a shove might have been right.
Late in a tourney and down to under 10bb you need to find cards to take a stand. I think AK are included among those cards.

I fold AK preflop when there is a raise and reraise before me and my stack/bb ratio is still large enough to wait. I want to do the raising not the calling.

3x the bb is what i bet when im going to get in a hand and it is just called to me. if someone re-raises me i would prob. fold its not always right but you wont get in to truble as often

Standard move. Nothhing wrong

It's hard to fold AK to a table where it has been unpredictable as to what people are starting with. I was at a table (not on-line) last night like that and I got killed twice with AK both in strong position. I lost to bb with 88 who hit a set on the flop and then to QQ who hits the river flush and I didn't have the suited card. Wow I am thinking a little more on that hand now!

I forgot to mention against the 88s I hit the A on the flop and against the QQ I hit 2 pair As and Ks, lost ot both...........

c9h13no3 said:

It was actually too small.

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this, your M is 6.73, you can't just raise half your stack, its either all of it or none of it. AKo is a tricky and deceptive hand, in a lot of hands that you shove against preflop you're at most a 60/40 to win, pocket pairs are slightly ahead, and you're behind KK/AA.

From early position and one limper I would have just shoved it in... I dont think I would have folded AK UTG+1 with such high blinds and antes even though its a high risk hand.

If there is crazy action in front of you, and a tight player 4-bets, then you can safely fold AK. but in tournament play you rarely run into spots where folding AK after you already raise is a good idea. You will run into pairs below KK, other AKs and even worse Aces so often that you should usually play it like the nuts.

I'm not folding in that situation, but I fold anytime
1. My stack is still at a level where I have multiple options and feel coin-flipping would run counter-productive to my goals for that game/session.
2. I do not believe my opponents could reasonably have aq or aj and the pot is large pre-flop.
3. There are multiple people already in the hand with an all in or two and losing the hand would cripple my stack
4. I am out of position against an opponent I believe would bet over 90% of the times I check to him/her, but can not fold a hand, even bottom pair.

Hmmm...
Let me tell u dat AK offsuit and AK suited have very much difference in their values...
If we are talking about AK offsuit, then i will fold it when der has been more than 2 raised bets....
If we are talking about AK suited, then i will fold it only for 4 or more allins...

In this situation I should shove.

Only fold if other player payed the allin

There is no question that with this M you would be all in with AK. I am not quite sure what possessed the guy UTG with a 7 M to just limp but from your position with that hand and M you are shoving everytime.

A passive play would be to limp along and see if others fold behind leaving you heads up.This also leaves possibly facing a re raise that you would almost have to call.

This is why we don't play passive poker.

In this case vs AA you naturally lose, but what about all the times you get everyone to fold and or go up against AJ or AQ

baudib1 said:

With under 20 BBs, just about never.

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Ditto only change the 20 to 100. Exception is obviously mega-nit 3-bets or TAG player cold 4-bets or something but you'll get enough folds plus get it in against AQ/AJ and stuff sometimes to make it profitable.

But in this situation yeah just shove pre.

I thought AK was a good hole hand, but recently I end up losing 80% of them to trips, straights, etc. I'll usually call at the start and watch and see how the others call. Usually if most fold, I'll gamble a little but try not to gamble much so as to not have them fold. If they call a little especially with a raise, I'm usually gone. Good luck in the future. I have same problems with A 10, AQ, AJ, also.