losing your whole stack with top pair in nl heads up

[Potato 0]

Suppose you are playing 6 handed NL (.5-1.00) live. You know nothing about your opponents. You have $45 and are on the small blind with AK. Two limpers and you raise to $5, big blind calls, limpers folds. So thereis $12 in the pot and you have $40. The flop is K73 rainbow. I thinkmost people believe in betting the pot in this situation, so you put out $12and the bb calls. Now there is $36 in the pot and you have $28. Theturn is a 10 do you go all in? Bet a smaller amount? or check? Ifyou check and he goes all in do you call? My thinking is that he hasto have something to call both those previous bets...not to sound like a wuss but I am inclined to check and fold to an all in.I guess my essentail question is can you avoid losing your wholestack with top pair best kicker to a crappy two pair (e.g, K10, K7,K3) or a set (KK, 77, 33, 1010)? I can accept losing my two pair to aset, but I think you need some defense to losing your whole stack withjust top pair.any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[tekn0wledg 0]

Being that you raised from the small blind, the big might be defended the blinds with a marginal hand. Unfortunately it's hard to tell if you run into two pair or trips. I generally like to make them pay for their two pair or trip draws.... More often then not the hand is yours, so don't bet lesser amounts to avoid losing this hand. I think I'd definitely move all-in on the turn. Just because the guy called $12 doesn't mean he has two pair or better. He could have KT or KQ. I dunno, I guess it's a hard decision to make since you know nothing about this player, but I'd definitely move all-in.Reason being, if you bet anything smaller than that, you are already comitted to the pot with approx 2/3 of your stack in the pot, so why give the guy a chance to see another card? Besides, if you bet a smaller amount into the $36 pot, now you are giving him good odds to call and draw out on something.Dedinitely move all-in if you think you have the best hand. Otherwise, check and react accordingly.

[Eskimo 0]

Great post, teknowledg. I think if he had 2 pair or trips on the flop, he would have re-raised you.

[copernicus 0]

Great post, teknowledg.  I think if he had 2 pair or trips on the flop, he would have re-raised you.

Small two pair re-raises marginally on the flop..I would vary my play there between calling and re-raising all in. A set or Ks up a re-raise on the flop would be awful imo. In his seat he can only read your likely hands as AK, KQs or a pair higher than 7s, leaning toward AK. In any of these he wants you to think youve got best hand and will come at him on the turn. With only 1 K left your re-draws are minimal with only 4 outs and maybe runner runner possibilities. A reraise all-in carries too much risk of you folding and a smaller re-raise smells so bad you would be wise to fold to it. Unless he is a super loose player you have to believe his call pre-flop is meaningful since the pot was only laying 1.7/1 and he is out of position if either of the limpers calls to give him better odds. If you check to him on the flop a bet may not mean that much though. Youve shown weakness with your check and an underpair could very well throw out a bet here.I would be in check and call mode on the flop. If the board doesnt do anything funny and he checked on the flop I'd be inclinced to throw out a 1/3-1/2 pot bet on the turn and fold to anything coming back at me.

[Potato 0]

Thanks for your responses Knowledge and Copernicus.Coper: So you check top pair on the flop in this situation? You might be on to something here, because there really aren't any typical draws you would be afraid of him catching. I have also noticed that when I check, it is less likely that the other guy will make huge bets at me. He thinks he is way ahead and wants to keep me around. This is especially true if I have made some slow plays recently and he is scared of me trapping.Conversely if you bet big and they have a monster (2 pair or set) they aren't as worried about keeping you around and they unleash on you.