How to play AK preflop facing a 3bet?

[nielrp]

nielrp

What's the best game? Aggressive or moderate

 

[Tricky123bet]

In order to win we got to beat all other two cards combos under KKings and all other AKings as well. Here is how is done.

AK suited or unsuited is the strongest no-pair hand in No Limit Hold’em. It holds very good equity against all hands if we can see all five cards. If we hold 22 to QQ is 46%, up against KK is 30%, up against AA we have 8% and against anything else we have a huge advantage. Therefore, AK can be played really strong as it performs well against every hand except AA/KK and we hold a blocker to even that and cut all AA or KK combos in half.

A great majority of live No Limit Hold'em players (California and Las Vegas) even winning players play AK far too weakly. Most of them think the AK is a drawing hand, therefore they only call raises to hit the flop or fold after the flop if they missed. Playing AK this way guaranty the lowest earn possible for the hand. The lack of reciprocal edge by playing AK softly alone demonstrates why we should no play AK softly. If we play AK in a defensive manner rather than offensive then our hand playing is basically really weak which breads an entirely weak overall game plan.

Let’s do a few examples to show you what I mean by that:
Regular 2-5 game, 100bb effective, hero is a unknown to the villain but the hero does know that the villain is tourist pleasure player basically playing his own two cards. Non aggressive demeanor at the table and maybe I can call him just a soccer dad, if you will.
Hero opens 3bb to $15 UTG and the villain two seats to our left 3-bets us all-in 40bb to $200. What we do here? ..., Well, what’s his range? - I would say that his rage in the normal run-of-the-mill 2-5 game would be probably QQ+, mostly with just maybe few AK sprinkle in. We’re pounded by this range, we are out of position and this hand reeks of reverse implied odds. Therefore, I fold. This is probably considered sacrilegious by many to fold an AK preflop there is, but I can assure you that if you are not folding an AK some preflop you are leaking quite a bit.

Now, let’s take a look at another one:
2-5 game, 100bb effective. Hero is basically unknown at the table and however has seen a younger seemingly aggressive villain over play 99, TT, JJ. KQ, KJ, AJ, AT preflop by 3-bet them often. The hero opens to $20 in late middle position and the villain quick 3-bets to $75.
What is the hero do? .., Well, what is his rage? - I would say, here on average his range would be 99+, AK for sure and possible AQs, AJs maybe even AQo. Having said that I will 4bet to an amount that the villain is unable to flat and reevaluate after the flop. I’m gonna put him to a push fold decision. This amount I would imagine would be around $200. Placing this amount of pressure on the TT, JJ and QQ will many times produce folds as is plainly obvious to the villain that he has zero fold equity if he shoves. Many times this type of villain elects not to stack-up for TT, JJ and even QQ which is a huge plus for us.

We must always think about what the villain most likely has or he most likely would do with it. This is how we decide on our bet size with which we attempt to get any specific job.

Thank you for the really thorough post, giving good explanations for each point you make

So against an aggressive 3bettor we just 4bet big, and call a 5bet because we are committed? Do we check-fold flop if he just calls the 4bet and we completely miss? I feel like 4betting almost 3x can get us into real trouble sometimes if we are only getting folds from hands we dominate/flip against, and getting it in pretty often against AA and KK.
Then on the other hand 4betting between 2.2x and 2.5x, which is a recommended 4bet size, just get so many calls at the micros. Then playing out of position will not be fun unless you hit the flop.
AK is really a double-edged sword if you ask me

 

[Alexandr Svinarshyk]

In me was the situation yesterday, the enemy is allin in me AK I call. In the opponent j 10, on the flop j and I lost. This is the situation.

 

[Che]

Thank you for the really thorough post, giving good explanations for each point you make

So against an aggressive 3bettor we just 4bet big, and call a 5bet because we are committed? Do we check-fold flop if he just calls the 4bet and we completely miss? I feel like 4betting almost 3x can get us into real trouble sometimes if we are only getting folds from hands we dominate/flip against, and getting it in pretty often against AA and KK.
Then on the other hand 4betting between 2.2x and 2.5x, which is a recommended 4bet size, just get so many calls at the micros. Then playing out of position will not be fun unless you hit the flop.
AK is really a double-edged sword if you ask me

If you make the 4bet to about 1/2 of the effective stack or even a little bigger you have the best chance to have him fold all his hands including his AK, QQ down to 22 and you are only worry is 1/2 of AA/KK combos. When we hold AK there are only 3 combos of AA and 3 combos of KK instead of 6 combos each like in a normal deck of cards. So the point: Is he willing to play for stacks with his AK, QQ, JJ or not. He has no incentive to call 1/2+ stacks and reevaluate on the flop and he doesn't have FE against us because he sees we are committed. He's go weapon against us but the only thing he's got is fear to play for stacks without AA and even that now is cut in half. Opponents are forced to make a very hard and difficult decision preflop of either fold or play for stacks without any ammunition left. Most likely they read us for AA or KK.

This is a HUGE advantage for us to be able to beat all AK, QQ, JJ, TT. The main ingredient of playing AK this way is that we play in a manner totally different then the 99% other players that consider AK a drawing hand. Another words they want to flop or else they fold. We cannot play AK the way we play KQ because when KQ sees a Ace high flop it slows down and folds. Even KK or QQ fold on a Ace high flop. We don't have to worry about any overcard on the flop because there cannot be any.

The 4bet or 5bet is always AA. So give them Aces. Give them what they are afraid of. Make sure that the effective stacks are substantial in comparison with his 3bet bet. Your 4bet gas got to look like is attacking his entire stack by forcing him to make a decision for fold or shove. He will fold!

 

[vic88888]

Freeroll? Cash Tourney? High Stakes? Those are the initial factors. Initial game stage, mid stage, late stage? Secondary factors. UTG, middle, late, SB, BB position? Tertiary factors. Other considerations: Chip size, characteristics of players in the hand and number of players can be factored in. Sometimes it is down to luck itself. If anyone knows how to win, give us the strategy please...

 

[cheapseats76]

I would agree with che as he makes some valid points however you are referring to micro stakes and his strategy of play is less effective at these levels. Micro stakes are tough because of the rare holdings that many players have when playing these levels. A 4 bet will only scare away the tight players but most all others will call you and like you said what do you do after the flop if you miss. I think mixing checks and bets evenly will help you in a profit sense but mostly has to do with the opponent your up against. Most of these calling stations are hoping to catch a piece of the flop and if they don't they will fold to any size bet. I would make the same bet after the flop whether it be 1/2 pot or 2/3 the pot to disguise your hand even further but when they do call take them at there word. Remember the deeper you go in the hand the more likely they have what they are representing. Good luck on the felts!

 

[cheapseats76]

I forgot to add "SMALL HAND SMALL POT, BIG HAND BIG POT" This tip will help you control the pot and how big or small it gets.

 

[LPT9]

When we have AK it is important 3bet 4 bet

 

[SlimHeperpokerstars]

Facing a 3bet when OOP can be a tough spot, even when holding AK. Either you just call and miss the flop 2/3 of the time, or you 4bet, get called, and still miss the flop 2/3 of the time. After 4betting the AK you might try to fire a cbet when you miss, only to get called, and be out of position on the turn, in a miserable spot (unless you improved).

So when you get 3bet and you have AK; how often should you call, and how often should you 4bet? Does it depend on the opponent? It's how to play it at the microstakes I'm interested in.

And what prevents you from installing software for poker and doing a grammatical assessment in each case? I think this is a way out, but if there is no way to install authorized programs, then for example I weigh all the information available to me about my opponents and make a decision, in my experience I call 3bets in 60-65% of cases ..

 

[Che]

When we have AK it is important 3bet 4 bet

I totally agree with you. No matter what the AK has got to play by sledgehammer and brute force if we want to play for money. If people wait to flop a pair first with AK before betting we lose 66% of the time plus we lose to other AKings that missed but blow us out of the pot.

We need to raise in such a way as to force opponent to make a decision to either shove or fold and if he shoves we still have a flip of 50/50 against all pairs. We blow away the other two cards combos including all AKings and as I said before we cut in half all the AA/KK combos.

 

[Tricky123bet]

I totally agree with you. No matter what the AK has got to play by sledgehammer and brute force if we want to play for money. If people wait to flop a pair first with AK before betting we lose 66% of the time plus we lose to other AKings that missed but blow us out of the pot.

We need to raise in such a way as to force opponent to make a decision to either shove or fold and if he shoves we still have a flip of 50/50 against all pairs. We blow away the other two cards combos including all AKings and as I said before we cut in half all the AA/KK combos.

But most of the time when I 4bet AK I do not see them folding or shoving, but CALLING. It's fairly common at the micros. So then we need strategies for postflop play as well: How often and on which types of boards should I cbet in a 4bet pot? Against what types of opponents?

 

[caio cesar]

AK is by far the most overrated hand. It's a big hand against other big hands like A8+ but most of the times it's just a coin flip against a mid pair or a 60/40 against live cards.

 

[leonardovilela]

You should probably 4-bet big here. Most of the time the vilain won't have KK or AA and you might be able to narrow the range to some dominated A/dominated K. Even if the opponent has like JJ/QQ, you are still almost flipping. But it all deppends on what kind of game you're playing and on the vilain's historic.

 

[SeregaBear]

Not falling into the flop have to drop. Very often I lose pocket pairs. Maybe it's such a karma ...

 

[GuiWah]

Play slowly if you have edge.
AK is a hard hand to play pos flop with good players.
I prefer to call raises, and analyze pos flop.

 

[Che]

But most of the time when I 4bet AK I do not see them folding or shoving, but CALLING. It's fairly common at the micros. So then we need strategies for postflop play as well: How often and on which types of boards should I cbet in a 4bet pot? Against what types of opponents?

Your 4bet should be big enough that opponent got to either fold or shove and in such case you call and see the river where you have 50/50 to beat all his holdings except for the very very rare instance when he's got AA or KK. You bet force your opponent bet all his chips before you get committed but he doesn't know that. He doesn't know he cannot make you fold and he cannot just call and reevaluate on the flop. Don't let him reevaluate what to do on the flop. Force him to either fold or shove. Most of the time he'll fold if you play him right. That's a setup you should learn how is done.

 

[Dokins]

20% of my stack

 

[Rodrigonog]

Depending on how many stacks you have can 4bet or allin. I often go to allin, it is a bigger aggression to the 3bet player. But if you are many chips it is good only 4-5bet so do not scare it and lose a good hand.

 

[Bagdalac4ever]

In the table with small stakes, I would go all in. But on bigger stakes, 3bet is enough for the beginning.

 

[Masi2197]

This kind of hand Ak is difficult to fold, to go all in against two or three players would be a preflop or a crazy idea, it is better to increase bets, or to go depending on your stad, pocision or tokens

 

[Senneville]

Best hand to call a 3 bet. If someone raise and reraise just muck. If somebody call after you he has maybe a pair. I dont think too much people will call with worst hand like A-8 K-6 all off.

 

[Tricky123bet]

While analyzing a couple of my played hands at 5nl full ring, the following AK hand came up:

pokerstars - $0.05 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

MP: 155.8 BB (VPIP: 31.19, PFR: 18.35, 3Bet Preflop: 2.17, Hands: 109)
MP+1: 117.8 BB (VPIP: 15.00, PFR: 3.36, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 123)
CO: 100 BB (VPIP: 12.43, PFR: 9.19, 3Bet Preflop: 2.47, Hands: 186)
BTN: 128.8 BB (VPIP: 17.50, PFR: 11.67, 3Bet Preflop: 5.36, Hands: 121)
SB: 129.2 BB (VPIP: 19.05, PFR: 11.90, 3Bet Preflop: 4.76, Hands: 42)
BB: 100 BB
Hero (UTG): 194 BB
UTG+1: 104 BB (VPIP: 17.40, PFR: 12.11, 3Bet Preflop: 2.87, Hands: 457)

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has Ah Kc
Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, MP calls 3 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, BB raises to 5 BB, Hero raises to 13 BB, fold, BB raises to 21 BB, Hero calls 8 BB

Flop : (45.4 BB, 2 players) 4d 7s 6h
BB bets 21.8 BB, fold

BB wins 43.6 BB

After seeing this I was kinda shocked that I made such a bad play. So as you can see I get min 3bet, which is a little different from a normal 3bet. I 4bet, but it's too small to really put any pressure on, and it's a miserable spot when I get min 5bet. What range would you assign to him? I'm just scared of AA and KK everytime someone min clicks it back, but could there be any other hands in his range?
I know 4bet should have been bigger. But could I have flat the 3bet instead? Or folded to the 5bet? Or just gotten it in and pray for A or K?

 

[Che]

While analyzing a couple of my played hands at 5nl full ring, the following AK hand came up:


Flop : (45.4 BB, 2 players) 4d 7s 6h
BB bets 21.8 BB, fold

BB wins 43.6 BB

After seeing this I was kinda shocked that I made such a bad play. So as you can see I get min 3bet, which is a little different from a normal 3bet. I 4bet, but it's too small to really put any pressure on, and it's a miserable spot when I get min 5bet. What range would you assign to him? I'm just scared of AA and KK everytime someone min clicks it back, but could there be any other hands in his range?
I know 4bet should have been bigger. But could I have flat the 3bet instead? Or folded to the 5bet? Or just gotten it in and pray for A or K?

This is the most convoluted and the biggest nonsense approach to poker I have ever seen.

All the poker-tracker data and all your understanding of how AK should be played is upside down and inside out allover the place nowhere lost in space. Definitely a losing approach with a weak overall game plan.

I'm telling you this:
You got to be the one that puts the 3bet not the villain. Your 3bet has got to reach about opponent's 2bet PLUS 66% of his remaining stack so that he cannot call and reevaluate on the flop. He's got to decide to either fold or shove and play for stacks. Most of the time villains will fold everything except AA/KK. This is called in poker parlance "leverage betting" - How do you like this!

AK suited or unsuited is the strongest no-pair hand in No Limit Hold’em. It holds very good equity against a variety of hands if we can see all five cards. If we hold 22 to QQ is 46%, up against KK is 30% and up against AA we have 8%. Therefore, AK can be played really strong as it performs well against almost every hand except AA and we hold a blocker to even that and cut the Aces combos in half.

A great majority of live No Limit Hold'em players even winning players play AK far too weakly. Most of them think the AK is a drawing hand, therefore they only call raises to hit the flop or fold after the flop if they missed. Playing AK this way guaranty the lowest earn possible for the hand. The lack of reciprocal edge by playing AK softly alone demonstrates why we should no play AK softly.

Bottom line is this: If we play AK in a defensive manner rather than offensive then our hand playing is basically really weak which breads an entirely weak overall game plan.

Why it is so important to play it strong? - Because is a only non pair hand that we can take a stand with. Meaning 3-betting, 4-betting and then be able to call a shove if in fact the villain is strong enough to shove on us. We can make life miserable for TT, JJ, QQ with AK if they decide to 3bett our raises. We can 4bet heavy and be able to call a shove for 100 to 150 big blinds it makes us extremely tough to play against.

We have to understand thou, playing AK strongly requires very good post flop play as well. We’ll miss the flop quite often and will have to play the post flop with no pair very often, in fact a majority of the time. This is exactly why the weaker players tend to settle down and play the hand like a drawing hand. Fear of playing the post flop without a made hand is rampant among players who do not poses the post flop skills necessary to extract optimum profit from AK. Therefore, we have to decide if we want to play along side the sheep, so to speak, or to move ahead like a wolf. I prefer to be the wolf.

& (all the other Ace King combos) vs. (any two cards combos) ==> If you call this it's allover, Baby!

 

[braveslice]

But could I have flat the 3bet instead?

I agree what Che says. My record is break even against 3bets in nl5 and nl10 so definitely I'm not good with it. My problem is to push stacks in too lightly, if there is no fold equity it's bad to pretend to have AA.

Imo, your 4bet sizing was too much of to analyse this had any further. But yes against small 3bets you want to 4bet big and CB almost always because in general these are actually anything else than premium hands like K6s, 89s (and they hardly ever fold pre) by any suited players. And generally when someone 5 bets your options shold still include AI, call, fold. More often than not if you don't know what to do you missplayed previous action.

I don't fully agree that AK can't be played as a draw hand in micros. Against certain villains most profitable play is to play it like a draw at least in nl2-nl10, even though in general it's more like a bluff hand with both blocking effect and good ev. One example where it's best palyed as draws are players who fold against 3bet massively (and rightly so given how tight 3bet ranges are) and their calling range is something like AK, QQ, JJ.

 

[braveslice]

Quite often those players flat KK and AA too because they know that player with any brains will fold to their 4bet.