$7.5 NLHE MTT Deep Stacked: Nut flush in 3-bet pot (how to play AK)

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fundiver199

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A lot of poker players find AK a difficult hand to play. It looks so good preflop, but it miss the flop 2 out of 3 times and then what? If you find AK to be a troublesome hand, then please watch this video and study, how UTG played his AK. Take it all in and in the words of Doug Polk, when he did his "Vanessa Selbst real top 5 moments" video: dont do any of this :)

CardsChat Poker Hands Converter

Also feel free to comment on, how AJs was played as well. Do you limp behind or fold to the limp-reraise? And do you go for the full monty with the nut flush on a paired board, or do you slow down, because he might have a boat?
 
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300HPGOD

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I am not a fan of limp jam plays but they can work at times. I really dont like it with AK but it can disguise AK if someone is making this move and you have never seen them do it before. I like the way you played the entire hand and its a hand where I think a lot of players make a big mistake. First your pre action is good with a good sizing but when we are re raised I am already thinking in my head we are going against something that is beating us. However, I would call here in game since we are suited, have the ace blocker, the re raise by villain is giving us a good price, and since we have that ace feel like we are going a big pocket pair so our implied odds could be large here if we hit, especially the flush.

On the flop you do the absolute right thing and just call. I believe we are still behind here a lot and if the villain has what I think they have they are not going anywhere when we raise. On the turn is where you really make a nice play where so many others make a blunder. Even though the board paired and there is some worry there is no need to raise there and you called as you should have. The pot is big enough with our call that we can get it in on the river even if it is a slight overbet of the pot. Raising there makes the KK, JJ hands fold or at least consider folding and if they have QQ then we are SOL anyway so no point in raising. Really good call there by you given the stacks. The river is card if we did not have an ace would worry me a little but since we have it and we and the board block AA I would feel fine about it and do as you did by getting it in. It does make KK and JJ fold now which I guess makes it a bad card since it can kill action but luckily villain had AK which again I would not put them on here but it worked out. Very well played hand in my opinion by you and especially good that you are calling post flop and not raising.
 
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rapione98

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ak is a fascinating hand to play, for having 2 of the biggest cards in the game and for reducing overs for your opponents if you open one of them, and for being a strong hand for bluffing.
 
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DaMooca

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I think the AK was played very badly, the CO raised to a little more than 6x against 2 limper and he goes and reraises and the CO call. He beta flop and the CO call again, I think that after all this action so far he should already realize that the CO has at least one decent hand and will not fold to his raises, and he goes and sends another one on the turn!?? On the river the villain goes all-in and he calls, does he think he's winning over here ?? Continuing to play like this will only donate chips to the other players.
 
oakthyago

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If the table is very agressive the limp can be some kind of trap. But I don't know this guys seens I little bad player.

Shove on river was a excelent play cause hits a lot of his bluff hands that was the case.
 
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Badday94

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That's what happens everytime I decide to 3bet preflop with a hand like that, and I always miss haha. I like his play preflop and the raise on the flop, but after that you just have to take the hit and get out. I think his emotions got the best of him, maybe he waited 20 hands for something he could play and that was what he got, he was furious and decided to rage it all the way.
 
Matt_Burns88

Matt_Burns88

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Ugh! I hate the way UTG played his AK on all streets. Judging by the blinds and stack sizes this looks very early in the tournament so he was probably punting with the first half decent hand he got hoping to double up.

With nearly 100 BB effective stack, villain must be opening 2.8-3.2 BB. I equally hate the 3-bet after you raised to 6.6BB. Much prefer a call, or a larger raise to around 850. Clicking it back is just the worst play against all but the worst players and even then I don't like it.

The flop bet makes no sense to me. He has a marginal hand with a back door straight draw and not a lot else. This is a clear check call or check fold situation depending on how big you bet.

The turn bet is even worse. The obvious draw got there, he has no blockers and you've already shown some reasonable strength by raising pre-flop and calling the flop.

I like his check on the river, but then I hate the call. Your shove is very polarising, narrowing you down to a flush, a boat or a bluff. So what does he think he's beating at this point? Basically only bluffs and there really aren't any bluffs that make any sense by the river. KJ, KT, JT, J9 and 87 fold on the turn, if not the flop. Pocket pairs don't jam because they have some reasonable showdown value. What else makes sense? Basically only flushes and boats. You don't have many 6's in your range, but even then, are you shoving on this board with the way he's played it? I don't think so. If you had bet small, say 1/3 pot, I may have called, knowing that you could then have hands like KQ and QJ, but I'm most likely folding and preserving my stack.

Up until the river, I could have forgiven his line, by thinking he may have been trying to represent AA, but that goes out the window when he calls your shove and I can therefore only put his play down to being a terrible player or on major tilt.

From your point of view, I don't see how you could have played the hand any better. Well played!
 
eetenor

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A lot of poker players find AK a difficult hand to play. It looks so good preflop, but it miss the flop 2 out of 3 times and then what? If you find AK to be a troublesome hand, then please watch this video and study, how UTG played his AK. Take it all in and in the words of Doug Polk, when he did his "Vanessa Selbst real top 5 moments" video: dont do any of this :)

CardsChat Poker Hands Converter

Also feel free to comment on, how AJs was played as well. Do you limp behind or fold to the limp-reraise? And do you go for the full monty with the nut flush on a paired board, or do you slow down, because he might have a boat?


Thank you for posting

AK point of view

The min click back is fine if you have a post flop skill advantage but OOP you better be stronger than this player was to do it.

On the flop we have no heart blockers and because of our min click our V can have a full range of flush draw hands as well as KhQx ThTx 9h9x QQ JJh would always flat as well as AhQx

Sizing on flop only folds the weakest part of our range but truth be told only a small part of that range was raising preflop at this stake level. Much more of what we would expect to fold would have over limped. Unless Fundiver was a maniac but then why click back as we want to win the pot now or get stacks in preflop with AK versus that wide a range

When the turn flushes and pairs we are not going to get folds for this sizing and blocking here makes no sense versus the IPP's range which we could be and were drawing dead to.

We should never be worried about getting bluffed off of A high on that turn as we have 9% equity vs 9h9x etc and Fun has narrowed their range by raising so many limpers.

Stack protection is a real thing in tournaments.


Hope this helps
:):)
 
theANMATOR

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I think the AK was played very badly, the CO raised to a little more than 6x against 2 limper and he goes and reraises and the CO call. He beta flop and the CO call again, I think that after all this action so far he should already realize that the CO has at least one decent hand and will not fold to his raises, and he goes and sends another one on the turn!?? On the river the villain goes all-in and he calls, does he think he's winning over here ?? Continuing to play like this will only donate chips to the other players.
I was going to comment nearly the same thing, but you already did. Agree completely with your assessment. I'm folding A/K on the river here to the jam. Easy fold to be honest.
 
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