There are times when we play poker tournaments and our first hand is AK and someone goes all-in playing before us, like you would play AK in the first hands of a tournament against an all-in from an opponent who has played before us. ?

If is the start of tournament of course fold ..dont GO ALL IN with Ak pre FLOP ..just go all in against low stack player then it's good

It's one of the toughest decision in mtt. I've strategy that I check only with QQ,KK,AA in that situation. Personally, I don't like play AK all-in in first hand because there is a lot of situation when we've flip with small or middle pair. I prefer to be aggresive not in the first blinds of mtt but in the middle and late phase of these tournaments.

If in Hyper turbo and turbo, all in, especially if the cards are of the same suit.
Still need to watch other players.

If bluffing is noticed, players often no longer trust.
This is both bad and good.
But bluffing can always be useful.
I prefer not to bluff, but sometimes ....)

If it is a slow tournament I prefer to wait unless I know it is a fish, in turbo / hyperturbo I call

If it is tournament where the blinds are between 10 or 15 minutes, it is better to fold, because you can increase your stack in many, many various hands after that. If it is a hyper-turbo or SNG tournament it is better to call. On the other hand, there are players , who will call every time AK never mind what is the tournament and if you do it,too in the first hand that will not be wrong. It is to what you feel and for what you are playing. Do not blame yourself if you call in the first hand with AK and loose. That was your decision, you were in with good hand, it can be only bad luck.

Originally Posted by schon1958

There are times when we play poker tournaments and our first hand is AK and someone goes all-in playing before us, like you would play AK in the first hands of a tournament against an all-in from an opponent who has played before us. ?

It depends on the structure of the game. In games like 3 people SNG you start with 20BB. By all means go all in.

In freeroll or $3 or under micro. Go all in.

In low stake or above, you can fold it. What happens if you fold AK on the first hand. You lost 0 blinds. You stack is the same as as if you started 1 min later.

AK isn't a made hand. You are behind 22-AA and dominated by KK&AA while they are unlikely since you have blockers for those.

Here is a quick fact. In a 50 table tournament, on the first hand for everyone, there will be 4 tables with someone having either AA or KK.

In regular tournament I prefer fold. In hyper turbo is possible call.

I need to add that in hyper-turbo it's rather all-in. We need to be active in that tournament from the beginning.

i call 100% of the time.

i also only play $1 mtts.

It depends on the structure for me, if this is a deepstacked slow event then I am folding 100% of the time bc there is just no need to flip coins when I think I have a skill edge on the field. However if it a turbo or something where you start shorter stacked then I probably would call and look to gamble to get chips

I used to always reset it.But lately I've been taking risks.If you win with these cards 2 or 3 stacks, then there is a chance to reach the final table.I realized that a careful game will not lead to anything good.Just a waste of time.I think the probability of winning with AK is not higher than any pair more than 10.

Man, is a very hard decision but you must fold AK in the early stages of the tournament.the equity is not in your favor. But if you are in the midle stage of the tournament, shove would be a right dicision.

Originally Posted by schon1958

There are times when we play poker tournaments and our first hand is AK and someone goes all-in playing before us, like you would play AK in the first hands of a tournament against an all-in from an opponent who has played before us. ?

In low stake tourneys specially if its a rebuy will deinetly call, you would not belive the kind of hands I saw people push all-in first hand. Also depends on my possition, how many people are behind me but will probably call anyway. In the long run at low stakes I think I am doing well with AK vs very early game all-ins. Usually I ran into AQ,AJ,A10, small poket pairs plus alot of nonsence. Yes I do run into KK, AA, but thats rare.

It´s difficult situation, but, in many times i would take the risk depends on the buy-in i´ve payd or the stack of other guy.

Originally Posted by VVi10

It´s difficult situation, but, in many times i would take the risk depends on the buy-in i´ve payd or the stack of other guy.

it's the first hand. stacks are even.

In general, with such a hand, in most cases, you can safely call all in. If you play in expensive tournaments, then it’s possible to lose with a heartache because you don’t want to risk the whole stack at the beginning of the tournament and play blind without focusing on the actions of the opponent and the cards on the table.

Like anything with poker my answer is well it depends...

If there are rebuys I go with it and rebuy if I miss. If it is a freezeout it would depend on the action and stakes. If there are 3 or 4 bets happening you are looking at sharing outs to any pair and that stinks. In that case I would fold. If it is just open jam, call and call I may go with it. I always enjoy having a big stack to start a tourney and am willing to gamble some in this situation. For me I probably play this hand about 75% of the time.

Yes, although it is not recommended I have done so. Ak is played by looking at the flop. It's ideal, sometimes I go Allin. you win and lose.

if is the first hand and preflop, Fold

In freerolls I call) Also in hyper-turbo tournaments I definitely play!

I fold for sure, I am not someone who always pushes with AK like some players.

if the tournament is fast the best thing is to go with everything

Situation dependent - buy in and structure etc.

However, I am trying to rebalance my play. I am a TAG player and generally happy with where things stand...but for the fact increasingly I feel like some tourneys should be given over to a 'swing for the fences' attitude. I can cash with regularity but limit my chances to reach the final table by playing things safe.

One of the more pointed comments in a similar thread which stuck with me is this - if you would commit to playing a strong hand such as this later in the tournament, why would you not play it as an opening hand?

It seems logical to exercise caution at first, but the more you look at this situation, not so much.

Well, your average donk goes all like they're betting a blackjack hand so their a6 will beat your ak cause they don't use logic..

It is important for me to understand what stage of the tournament, how many entered the drawing of the bank, whether I am in a position. AK's hand is good, but loves fewer players in the pot, ideally one on one.

In alive game , where I have been able to analize the other player , a fold might be easy.
In an online tournament , specially low stakes, I would probably shove all the time.

Originally Posted by blix177

It depends on the structure of the game. In games like 3 people SNG you start with 20BB. By all means go all in.

In freeroll or $3 or under micro. Go all in.

In low stake or above, you can fold it. What happens if you fold AK on the first hand. You lost 0 blinds. You stack is the same as as if you started 1 min later.

AK isn't a made hand. You are behind 22-AA and dominated by KK&AA while they are unlikely since you have blockers for those.

Here is a quick fact. In a 50 table tournament, on the first hand for everyone, there will be 4 tables with someone having either AA or KK.

Exactly. And if it's a rebuy that you can get back into, pull the trigger and call.

Depends. Like others have said if it is hyper yes all in.

Think about what the other person has. If this person open shoves with KK or AA, unless this is a hyper that people will call loose, shoving is not a good move. So your AK is a coinflip even against QQ. So I would go for it. I am looking to build a big stack early.

A large stack is very important in an MTT if you wanna go far. It's stating the obvious but it really is very important.

Depends a lot of the structure of the tournament and the field you are playing in .

AK is not always the best card, do not forget that the opponent may have super premium hands, if you didn’t hit the flop, then you should throw it and forget this distribution

If you are willing to make a reentry .. you always have to pay!
Ak is a strong hand .. he cannot bend for fear of falling.

Originally Posted by schon1958

There are times when we play poker tournaments and our first hand is AK and someone goes all-in playing before us, like you would play AK in the first hands of a tournament against an all-in from an opponent who has played before us. ?

Depends on the buyin, the amount of big blinds, and the position of the shover

If it is a freeroll then I am almost certainly calling with AK. If however it is an event with a $5-10 buyin or greater and the player is shoving for over 60 blinds I may consider folding.

I used to go all in with AK like that. I learnt my lesson.

It all depends on the importance of the tournament. Still from the place where you are sitting. In freerolls, I would answer with allah to allah. But it's better to throw it away.

AK is JUST A drawing hand 2/3 times you won't even hit the board. No worse felling that your AK getting beat by 6's in the very first hand.
I have been paying attention to the players to my left and right. Most of the time these players either have similar range to your hand or hold the cards that block you from making a better hand on future streets.
All in all I don't think any drawing hand is worth an All in more so early in the tournament.

If I have seen the villan shove in light with hands like AJ or if its a freeroll then I am calling the shove with AK.

Depends of the tournaments. But i already fold several AK hands in first hand. I think that never i feel comfortable with my cash bank and with i always think that in a long run... you have more benefits to fold this AK in fisrt hand.

I am not an expert but I never fold AK to all in, i don't know if its even profitable to always go with AK. But micro stake there are a lot of fishes so i guess it isnt that bad call or shove.

At the beginnig of tournament I always fold.

I usually take a risk, because you can benefit a lot if you win for the rest of the tournament, and besides that with these cards your chances are big. If you lose just look it as bad luck and thats it

Originally Posted by Jusko1

I usually take a risk, because you can benefit a lot if you win for the rest of the tournament, and besides that with these cards your chances are big. If you lose just look it as bad luck and thats it

If it's a very strong hand I only fold it when there are several players all-in first than me.

I think you need to answer

I would say it always depends on the format of the tournament. If its hyper tournament i will always call or even be aggressive and go all in Preflop with AK first hand especially if suited. If its a fast tourney, depending on the buy in, then i will know if its to play it or not. High stakes i fold it first hand, but average stakes that wont hurt me too much for losing i would call or go all in. If its a slow paced tournament, i would fold it. But in almost any hyper tournament i would go all in preflop on the first hand with it, they blinds raise too fast to not take advantage of a good hand and try to double up.Also it depends on position, if soneone went all in and 2 or more players called before me, even in hyper, i would fold. too many options for pockets preflop and opportunities to hit sets which could most likely kill my hand dead on the flop. but 1 on 1 i would make the call for sure in hyper.

Beginning of tourney, if I have a premium hand: AA KK QQ, suited face cards, and someone goes all in in front of me, if you're playing to win, you shove back. If they win, so be it. You're going to have to win a coin flip somewhere in the tourney, might as well see if "it's your day" on the first hand.

If we are talking about freerolls or cheap tournaments, then AK can be called, in other cases - easy fold.

For me, with small buyin in the early part of the game, I will definitely play with him. However, when buying more than 100 US dollars, AK will only accept all in within 30BB. Otherwise, I will fold

How much advantage will there be in doubling or even tripling up first hand? It really depends on the size and structure of the MTT. If you're opting for a high-risk early game strategy, then by all means call. You'll need to continue playing loose aggressive if you want to build an early megastack. It's a great strategy for KO bounty tournaments, and one which. most decent players won't adopt which means you will have good opportunities to eliminate a lot of fish in the first three or four blind levels. As your stack increases, expand your range of starting hands. You won't have much to worry about until you start encountering other large stacks. If you're not going to play this way, calling all in with AK first hand is fairly pointless: you'll have better chances to grind your way through the tournament.

Originally Posted by Madragalahad

How much advantage will there be in doubling or even tripling up first hand? It really depends on the size and structure of the MTT. If you're opting for a high-risk early game strategy, then by all means call. You'll need to continue playing loose aggressive if you want to build an early megastack. It's a great strategy for KO bounty tournaments, and one which. most decent players won't adopt which means you will have good opportunities to eliminate a lot of fish in the first three or four blind levels. As your stack increases, expand your range of starting hands. You won't have much to worry about until you start encountering other large stacks. If you're not going to play this way, calling all in with AK first hand is fairly pointless: you'll have better chances to grind your way through the tournament.

Very good your advice thank you very much