$0.5 NLHE STT: Is this an obvious fold? AK vs 2 shoves

[Bouta]

Hi, as for the start - I'm a beginner but I'm exploring the poker theory and wisdom thoroughly, though some spots still are really problematic for me. For this one here, I should have totally followed my gut, this is early STT and as I'm blocking A and K a bit I didn't expect anything else than some pairs here. How do you guys behave? Is this an obvious fold?

https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/224Lx6d7U

 

[Sbrzz]

You are still in the early stages of STT and you had almost 50 blinds.
If you don't want to flip your AK all in right at the beginning, just call in this situation, as there are still four players to your left.
The small blind going all in after a raise and a 3bet, indicates that he has a very strong AK and QQ + hand.

 

[vsawake01]

Look like this is MTT with strange structure.

You have less then 30BB. You 3-bet and villain call or all in. You should be ready for that. So for me this is call or all in.

 

[SecksyGambler]

It looks like you played the situation well. You might even want to increase your three-bet sizing to 3.5-4.5x of what middle position bet for the extra value in fold equity and to ensure the fact that you're getting it in against hands like pocket tens and jacks.
I'd recommend that you always follow +Ev situations like this one throughout the vast majority of your tournaments (with few exceptions when you're on the bubble or at the final table).
At the end of the day you're getting a 36% chance to triple your stack, it's a good spot to be in, it's just unfortunate you didn't get lucky this time.

 

[fundiver199]

When the original raiser has called the 4-bet jam, its a somewhat close spot, but I think, its completely fine to overcall AKo for 30-ish big blinds early in the tournament. You say, you only expect to see pocket pairs here, and I think, thats definitely not true. This is a 50c tournament, which is the price of absolutely nothing, so you are going to see some random hands here at a pretty high frequenzy. And as soon as you can add anything other than big pocket pairs or another AK to their ranges, then overcalling AK is a profitable play.

If they really can only have TT+ or AK, it is a fold though, since you are then not getting the right odds to call. But its still close, and as I said already, I think, that is absolutely not true for the general population playing such penny-games. You are going to see people not being able to fold AQ or a small pair, and you are going to see small blind being 12 beers in and jamming J9 offsuit just for fun.

 

[300HPGOD]

Your stack dictates what you should do here. If you are deeper than you are I think 3 betting is fine (should be a larger sizing than 400) but if you are shorter as you are here with 28 BB then I think this is a call or jam play. I dont think either are bad plays but I dont like 3 betting to a small amount to where I know I am being called a lot and also dont like 3 betting to an amount that is close to 1/3rd of my stack. I dont see anything wrong with just putting in 28 BBs here. You could get called by worse either players still to act or the original raiser. You might also get into a spot where you did here where you are going against two pocket pair hands and you have more than enough equity to try to triple up. I usually call in these spots with 20-30BBs but if you want to raise I would just jam it in and imo that would not be a bad play.

 

[fundiver199]

Your stack dictates what you should do here. If you are deeper than you are I think 3 betting is fine (should be a larger sizing than 400) but if you are shorter as you are here with 28 BB then I think this is a call or jam play. I dont think either are bad plays but I dont like 3 betting to a small amount to where I know I am being called a lot and also dont like 3 betting to an amount that is close to 1/3rd of my stack. I dont see anything wrong with just putting in 28 BBs here. You could get called by worse either players still to act or the original raiser. You might also get into a spot where you did here where you are going against two pocket pair hands and you have more than enough equity to try to triple up. I usually call in these spots with 20-30BBs but if you want to raise I would just jam it in and imo that would not be a bad play.

I agree with all of this. Normally it would be fine to 3-bet with this stack size, but because MP had made a 3BB raise, which is oversized for short stacks, then I would just 3-bet jam AK and be done. This is for sure a profitable play, and then there is no more headache and no more decisions to be made.

On the Sunday Million final table you will see people use this 3-bet size and generate folds, because their opponents are competent players and understand ICM. But in a 50c SnG, MP is going to call you 100% of the time with whatever, he has, when you give him this price. And you might even see, that someone behind is going to cold call your 3-bet as well.

Which is sort of fine, if you have aces or kings, but not with a hand like AK, which will miss the flop 2 out of 3 times and put you in a very awkward position postflop. So if I was ever going to use the small 3-bet sizing, it would be as an exploit with aces or kings only, and everything else would either get called or jammed.

 

[jaworek1405]

Hello, IMO we should play 3bet allin pre flop on this stack. When hero 3bets pre flop he is committed with a pot and what we should do if we see the flop without ace or king? We can have some problems. So I prefer allin pre flop, because our stack is a little too small to play this hand on the flop. As played - If we have some reads on our opponents and one of them seems to be weaker players I think we can call these two allins, because it is micro limit tournament and there are many not too good player. So I think that sometimes one of them will have weaker hand. So I think that in this situation it is worth to risk with AKo and we should call those allins. GL

 

[VovanBaron]

Hi, as for the start - I'm a beginner but I'm exploring the poker theory and wisdom thoroughly, though some spots still are really problematic for me. For this one here, I should have totally followed my gut, this is early STT and as I'm blocking A and K a bit I didn't expect anything else than some pairs here. How do you guys behave? Is this an obvious fold?

https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/224Lx6d7U

I think you played good and it is a cooler for such blind deep but personnaly I would push preflop when I have 30bb and it s normal play and juxt a cooler.GL mate

 

[1player2]

Hello,


I don't recommend folding this hand. Don't question your decisions because of a single result. I believe this was the correct play.

 

[rock0001]

with only 28 bb left you should have shove all in preflop instead of making a 3 bet because you are risking almost 1/3 of your stack and if villains just flat call your bet and no ace, king or straight comes on the flop then you will be in a very tough spot.

 

[Bouta]

Thanks guys, I totally get all the points. I should probably jam it as 3-bet with 30bb left. Also the point with 12 beers in is totally true I'm kinda playing for fun now (as I don't have a big bankroll committed for poker) but I guess I need to leave these stacks soon and go up, risk some more money but at least I'll stop seeing all those stupid situations with 5 people shoving it in the first round.