$5.50$ NLHE MTT: Should i had raised AK preflop here , 20 people left in the tourney

[Carlo35]

20 people left of a 340 playersfield,and then this happens. My Mistake?https://mygame.mypartypokerlive.com/liveview/replayer?id=609ac11286fbbd7e00e2334b

 

[300HPGOD]

I think the blinds are 75k/150k as when I watch the replayer it looks like they were 75k/135k which makes no sense but in the end either way you have 16 ish BBs to start the hand. Calling here opens the door for you to get bluffed off the hand later if you dont flop anything and folding would be ridiculous. That leaves raising small or raising large/jamming left as our options. Raising small will keep worse hands in but you face the same problem as just calling when you dont flop anything. At this stack size I believe by far the best play is jamming. Even if the villain has a pair that is not AA or KK we are not in that bad of shape. Our stack is not deep enough to make a lot of post flop moves and we have the luxury of a hand here that will play decently if not very well when we jam so I dont think there should be a lot of debate with this one, jam it. Not sure on the ICM here since I dont know all the other stacks but with 20 to go I would still be looking to chip up and especially on this stack size. This hand gets more interesting if you are at the 22-25 BB stack size where you would be on the fence about jamming. Deeper we get the more it would be raise or call but here just rip it.

Unfortunately its a massive suckout so sorry that it happened to you. These are the hands that make me want to throw my computer against the wall as we win as we should have we are going really deep but its just bad luck.

 

[Carlo35]

Indeed a massive Suckout. And strange play of villan . I reraised his bet and he jammed with only 7 high. I could easily have a low ace here.. I didnt even consider puttin it all in preflop with AK offsuit. Tons of players just call a 2bet with AK offsuit . Happened all over the tourney..maybe i should had have raised like 4 bet here preflop... And considering icm, i was 9/20 place so didnt want to risk all my chips...thanxs for the comment advice!

 

[dallam]

I don't think that's ever a choice to just make a call here. Min. 3-4bet but jamming is also a nice idea. Don't be afraid of making big pot early on with this hand, cause in this position you had your chance to make a control on that party.
Villain's all-in was another story but as you can see, at this stage of an MTT Q7o could make a 2bet, so its just important to kick out the hands like these with showing some power.

Good luck you at the tables.

 

[Carlo35]

I don't think that's ever a choice to just make a call here. Min. 3-4bet but jamming is also a nice idea. Don't be afraid of making big pot early on with this hand, cause in this position you had your chance to make a control on that party.
Villain's all-in was another story but as you can see, at this stage of an MTT Q7o could make a 2bet, so its just important to kick out the hands like these with showing some power.

Good luck you at the tables.

True kick the hands out with some power!! I keep that in mind! Thanxs for the advice!! Same to you!!

 

[venycyos]

The villain should have given up, you had nothing to do. As it was played it credits everything to the chance to give a GG and next. Perhaps the only adjustment there would have been to have you all in. The problem with all-in is throwing out hands that you are winning and keeping hands that you are losing.

 

[Carlo35]

The villain should have given up, you had nothing to do. As it was played it credits everything to the chance to give a GG and next. Perhaps the only adjustment there would have been to have you all in. The problem with all-in is throwing out hands that you are winning and keeping hands that you are losing.

True villain should have given up. But on the board there was already a flushdraw maybe he was scared that i would hit my flush on the turn. Maybe that was his mindprocess. Thanxs for the comment!

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
The standard play is certainly to jam AK with 16BB, when someone min-raises into you from SB. I dont hate mixing in a trap now and then, but personally I would lean towards using a hand like AA or KK rather than AK, because you can much more comfortably stack off those hands postflop.

If you are going to fold AK postflop, every time you miss, then just calling is definitely to passive and allowing him to basically run you over. And just for the record you should be jamming a lot of hands over this min-raise out of position, when stack are this short. I would also be jamming here with any pair, any decent ace, and any decent broadway.

Flop
You flopped TPTK, and he fired a small C-bet. I lean towards just calling this to keep his bluffing range alive and allow him to continue betting worse hands for value as well. You have position, so if he check the turn, you can just take over betting, and this will look weaker than raising the flop. You did raise though, and thats certainly a +EV play, I just dont think, its optimal as played preflop. He jammed it in, and I would be very happy about this result and beating him into the pot.

Results
Turns out he flopped second pair, so you were way ahead on the flop, but unfortunately for you he improved on one of his 5 outs. Essentially this hand is a bad beat story. It would almost certainly never have ended up in a forum, if the board had run out favourable for you. And yes I get it. It sucks to go out near the final table on a bad beat. But this is tournament poker in a nutshell. So its something, you just need to get used to, if you want to play this game

 

[Carlo35]

True mixing a

Preflop
The standard play is certainly to jam AK with 16BB, when someone min-raises into you from SB. I dont hate mixing in a trap now and then, but personally I would lean towards using a hand like AA or KK rather than AK, because you can much more comfortably stack off those hands postflop.

If you are going to fold AK postflop, every time you miss, then just calling is definitely to passive and allowing him to basically run you over. And just for the record you should be jamming a lot of hands over this min-raise out of position, when stack are this short. I would also be jamming here with any pair, any decent ace, and any decent broadway.

Flop
You flopped TPTK, and he fired a small C-bet. I lean towards just calling this to keep his bluffing range alive and allow him to continue betting worse hands for value as well. You have position, so if he check the turn, you can just take over betting, and this will look weaker than raising the flop. You did raise though, and thats certainly a +EV play, I just dont think, its optimal as played preflop. He jammed it in, and I would be very happy about this result and beating him into the pot.

Results
Turns out he flopped second pair, so you were way ahead on the flop, but unfortunately for you he improved on one of his 5 outs. Essentially this hand is a bad beat story. It would almost certainly never have ended up in a forum, if the board had run out favourable for you. And yes I get it. It sucks to go out near the final table on a bad beat. But this is tournament poker in a nutshell. So its something, you just need to get used to, if you want to play this game

True mixing a trap i was thinking in that direction too, i was placed 9/20 not so shalllow Stacked att all...wasnt even considering jamming with AK off ...enough time to wait for a big pocket pair..i could easily have a small ace here , he just didnt believe me i guess..thanxs for the comment advice and just moving on the next one i guess

 

[fundiver199]

i was placed 9/20 not so shallow Stacked att all

The important is not your position in the tournament but the effective stack size, which here seemed to be around 16BB. There is a bit confusion about the exact number, because the big blind was less than twice the small blind, but you were definitely less than 20BB deep.

...wasnt even considering jamming with AK off ...enough time to wait for a big pocket pair..

This is something, you definitely need to reconsider. When effective stacks are in the 10-25 BB neighbourhood a lot of the profit in MTTs comes from rejamming. Not only blind vs. blind but in general. This is why, its sometimes called a "rejamming stack".

i could easily have a small ace here , he just didnt believe me i guess..

With these short stacks and blind vs. blind it was a bit of a difficult spot for him flopping second pair. He might have thought, you would have jammed most of your AX hands preflop, and that you would also be more likely to have just called him on the flop, if you had a really strong hand like top pair or better. So he might have misread your line as a draw wanting him to fold.

 

[Carlo35]

The important is not your position in the tournament but the effective stack size, which here seemed to be around 16BB. There is a bit confusion about the exact number, because the big blind was less than twice the small blind, but you were definitely less than 20BB deep.



This is something, you definitely need to reconsider. When effective stacks are in the 10-25 BB neighbourhood a lot of the profit in MTTs comes from rejamming. Not only blind vs. blind but in general. This is why, its sometimes called a "rejamming stack".



With these short stacks and blind vs. blind it was a bit of a difficult spot for him flopping second pair. He might have thought, you would have jammed most of your AX hands preflop, and that you would also be more likely to have just called him on the flop, if you had a really strong hand like top pair or better. So he might have misread your line as a draw wanting him to fold.

Yes i was less then 20 BB ,i had 2.1 million or something...oke rejamming stack i keep that in mind, Yes on a big pokerteachingsite i saw the advice raise your A with high kicker. With all this info on the web sometimes you go overload

 

[fundiver199]

Yes i was less then 20 BB ,i had 2.1 million or something...oke rejamming stack i keep that in mind, Yes on a big pokerteachingsite i saw the advice raise your A with high kicker. With all this info on the web sometimes you go overload

Dont worry poker is a game, which it takes some time to learn to play well. Also even though I think, you could have played this hand better, its important to remember, that you actually achieved a very good result. You got all the chips in with almost 80% equity, and this is the whole goal in poker. It was just the runout, which was bad, and this is something, we dont control, so we really need to try our best to not focus on it