AK suited...what do you do?

[ph_il]

full tilt poker Game #3108461291: $1 + $0.25 Sit & Go (23747007) Table 6 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:03:34 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: itspat (1 930)
Seat 2: Chessario (6 010)
Seat 4: up2late (2 720)
Seat 5: Philthy (5 800)
Seat 6: jacobtaylor (1 845)
Seat 7: MmKgotU (5 595)
Seat 8: Mindbender58 (8 130)
Seat 9: shirazi7 (9 860)
MmKgotU posts the small blind of 30
Mindbender58 posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #6

Holecards:
Dealt to Philthy [Ah Kh]
shirazi7 has 15 seconds left to act
shirazi7 raises to 1 620
itspat folds
Chessario folds
up2late folds
Philthy has 15 seconds left to act

 

[shinedown.45]

Depending on your reads, LAG- I would call here
TAG-insta-fold

 

[joeeagles]

Lol, what a raise. Blinds at 30/60, raise to 1620!!!

hands that do this are pairs from 88 to JJ usually. You have position on him sitting in the CO. With a raise that amount you can't reraise, at that point you shove and play for stacks. This could be the best move if you think you can force him to fold.

A smooth call could be good, but I'm not exactly crazy about it because you'll be flop dependent and odds work against you. If you miss the flop and he c-bets you'll be forced to fold. With AK you'll hit the flop 34% of the time, but your call isn't getting the 2 to 1 you need. Your hand is suited so it adds value, but still not enough to make this call +EV if he really has a PP. Even if you plan to shove any flop, if he c-bets before that, you might not have FE.

His huge raise took away the option of reraising. Most may not agree with me but I view this as a shove or fold, I wouldn't flat call.

 

[ph_il]

I put my opponent on a hand like 77-JJ as well, maybe even QQ. I think he had a hand he didnt want to see an overcard on the board. I opted to just call because it was too early in the game for a race. And if I missed, I could fold on the flop and not be risking too much. Thinking about it though, I should've just pushed...LOL.

Philthy calls 1 620
jacobtaylor folds
MmKgotU folds
Mindbender58 folds

Flop :
[ Ks 2d 8d ]
shirazi7 bets 1,020
[Weak Bet by opponent]
Philthy has 15 seconds left to act
Philthy raises to 4 180 and is all in
shirazi7 has 15 seconds left to act
shirazi7 folds
Uncalled bet of 3 160 returned to Philthy
Philthy mucks
Philthy wins the pot (5 370)

 

[joeeagles]

I put my opponent on a hand like 77-JJ as well, maybe even QQ. I think he had a hand he didnt want to see an overcard on the board. I opted to just call because it was too early in the game for a race. And if I missed, I could fold on the flop and not be risking too much. Thinking about it though, I should've just pushed...LOL.

You did good. It's understandable you don't want to get in a race when you have a nice stack (almost 100 BB's), it's not smart and there is no reason for it. A push there would be good if you think there is a high chance he folds, but against a calling station I agree its probably the wrong move. His silly PF raise took away the reraise option, which made this harder to play.

Although odds weren't the greatest to smooth call, the one thing to consider was the fact that he almost certainly would c-bet and those implied odds would make up for what you weren't getting PF, justifying the call you made.

This was a good hand to post because the amount of his PF raise put this in a perspective way different from what happens when you're faced with a standard raise of 3-5 BB's. Its not really that uncommon either, since there are many players that do this because they don't want to see a flop with pairs from 77-JJ. Well done.