I was playing the $3K Guar at UB Tonight and this hand came up right after the break....

I am sitting in late position, and the table chip leader comes in for a pot size raise. I am holding AKs, with a $13K in chips... he had about 20K before the raise. Blinds are 400-800... I think his raise was $3.5K... the questions is do I re raise right away, or call because he has chip lead and wait to see what developes... we started with 700 players, paid top 70, and had 134 left... I had just above avg chip stack

[size=10]Did I play this right... or that close to the money do you want to put your tourny on the line.... tourny chip leader had about 32K

I re raised all in... and he called, the board came KKJ (he surely would have folded to a bet here... the turn was a 9... I finished 134th.

The results dont matter.

In my opinion this is a push or fold situation. If you just call you are really crippling the power of AK by only seeing 3 cards. If your goal was to just make the money I guess you could call.

I would push this most of the time, hoping for a fold to pick up the raise and blinds, but if he calls you are usually in a coinflip. That's just tourney life, right play wrong result.

Push pre-flop.


And why in the world would you want him to fold on the flop if you decided to see it first and then push? You don't like your opponents drawing to two-outers that can be re-sucked out on even if they do hit?

I dont know if this was directed to me.

I'd want him to fold preflop when I pushed over the top of his preflop raise. I'm fine with two outters, I am however not a big fan of putting my tourney life on the line in a coinflip when my stack is not in danger.

do not post results. just post up to the point where you have a question.

results for this hand aside, i think one of the most common mistakes beginners make (and i'm not saying you're a beginner) in NL tourneys is overplaying AK. race for all your chips twice and you're broke.

No, it wasn't directed at you, it was directed at the OP.

Sounds like modern "online tourney" thinking to me. All or nothing plays are much easier to make when you have another tourney available within 1/2 hour, and you didnt drive a couple of hours to sit down and play.

Just because its easier doesnt make it right. With 134 players to go, even doubling up here doesnt change your chances of getting in the money vs winning much. Yes AK is most powerful when you can see all 5 cards, but almost 60% of the time you dont need to go that far, and the opponent gets to see all 5 of his cards too, and suck out to a set or runner runner when he would have folded to most of the flops that help you.

my thinking on calling this.... was whether or not I wanted to put my tourny on the line with a drawing hand... the only hands I am ahead of that may have raised KQs, AQs, AKo... and because he had me outchiped is where this question really revolves.. I don't want to place and win a tiny about... I want to win...

I know against a smaller chip stack I easily push back... but it was because it forced me to put my life on the line with a draw... I don't regret the push... just wanted some feedback.

I would like to win it, pre flop, on the flop or river... I just wanted to win that pot...

Thanks

See my post on this same subject in general.

AK is too strong a hand to push with.

http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-foru...pic.php?t=28584

see my last post.

I'll do the math later, but you need to try and pick up more than blinds with a quality hand when you arent that desperate, and you dont need to risk everything on a coin flip. You should be able to see the flop here and decide what to do.

If you reread HOH II he does not advocate pushing with Yellow Zone hands, just that you loosen your standards and become more aggressive, looking to double up. Even with Orange Zone hands, which you are approaching here, he says "you'll often have to consider an all-in move" with first in vigorish, not that you are always pushing.

He is gaining 40% of his stack by pushing and getting a fold. This seems like a substantial amount to me, 3.5k +400 +800 +500 (i believe 50 antes at this point in UB tourneys) 5.2k total.

His stack is 13k, calling the 3.5k raise puts his stack at 9.5k, the pot would be 8.7k. That is a gigantic pot to just let go any time you dont hit an A or K.

Just because you think the all in or fold move is an online play does not make it the incorrect play right here. I think it is the right play to make, if he doubles up hes the top 3 in chips and can most certaintly coast into the money.

There are 134 players left. Doubling up is nowhere near putting him in position to "coast into the money" , even from the top 3, unless payments go so deep that all you are collecting is 1.5x your buy in. Nobody is running away with the tournament, in fact he's still "in contact" with the chip leader if he folds.

However, if there are $50 antes at this point (which was not in the original post) then it makes pushing a lot more viable then without antes. In fact, based on some estimates I did in another post, this might be right around the "inflection point" where a push becomes the better play. If there are no antes Im not risking the tourney on a coin flip.