Should I Race with AK?

[baudib1]

lol

Since everyone loves poker stories, here's mine.

Of course I wrestled with this dilemma, as does every other player.

I distinctly remember a tournament a few years ago where I had a big stack, was playing like rock-tight. I raise AK in EP, I look at my HUD and I've been running 6-6 at this table over 50 hands. Another guy who had been playing tight with a pretty big stack, like 50 BBs, shoves from CO. I tanked, and called. He had ATs, the flop came KK3.

I was wondering if I should have folded or not.

Same table, maybe 15 hands later, I have not played a single hand since the AK-AT, I get AK again, UTG. I raise, someone 3-bets to like 10 BBs from MP, I think a bit, shove. He tanks, calls with AQ.

It'd be nice to end this story by saying these two big wins led me to take down the tournament. In a way, it did. I lost an 80-20 later on (I think it was QQ vs. TT) for a huge pot, was down to 1 BB -- and came back to win it.

cliffs:
1. You pretty much have to call with AK if you can put AQ in his range, or small pairs.
2. People you think are tight sometimes lose their minds after folding 40 straight hands.
3. If you are obviously tight, sometimes people will try to get you to fold.

 

[baudib1]

Well why race when you can choose better spots In tourneys its more about winning a ton of small pots Daniel Negruano FTW XD

no. most tournaments are not deepstacked like the ones you see on TV. winning small pots is about stealing and making semibluffs on the flop. you can't do this in most tournaments. it also presumes you have a large skill advantage. you probably don't.

tournaments are about making top pair and getting paid.

 

[baudib1]

p.s. games are definitely way more aggressive now than they were then, and people bluff-raise a lot more.

 

[BlueNowhere]

Well why race when you can choose better spots In tourneys its more about winning a ton of small pots Daniel Negruano FTW XD

Negreanu can play like that because he is a brilliant post-flop player who plays in deep-stacked tournaments and has an excellent read. I don't bother playing a ton of pots, i just look for a double up pot. Online at lower BI tournaments you may as well piss money away as play smallball.

 

[darkassassin89]

I guess xD

 

[EvoFQ450]

Negreanu can play like that because he is a brilliant post-flop player who plays in deep-stacked tournaments and has an excellent read. I don't bother playing a ton of pots, i just look for a double up pot. Online at lower BI tournaments you may as well piss money away as play smallball.

yea i totally agree. i tend to play $3 or $5 rebuys MTTs. When I try not to flip, what often seems to happen is I end up at the showdown with 3 other people.

 

[Durrr]

you were shortstacked there, so you had no way you could fold that hand even with chances of aa and kk,
good move not bad,
he could have had aq aj too

 

[billyjustin]

Soemtimes I fold crap when I get raised before my action. Go on feelings sometimes, sometimes i am wrong, but i feel ok with waiting it out for a better oppurtunity when I open the pot. But you were short stack so I understand the move. But if you put him on a made hand already, gotta let it go and hope you get something else playable. But no right or wrong play there, only bad play would be to smooth call.

 

[Tim3254]

I'm suprised this thread is still going on, but thanks for the info. But some good points were brought up. Definitely playing in tourneys like the free roll I was talking about is frustrating because you're shortstacked the whole way, which means you have really no option but to play longball tactics. Which I am used to, but always is nervewracking.