$20 SNG AKs facing raise

dvdfan

1st Hand of an STT with AKs in the blinds - 20/40 $1,500 Starting Chips on Party Poker

1 limp, Early Position Raised to 200, 1 call in middle position and folded to me approx 500 in the pot...whats your move all in or flat call...im only interested in 1st or 2nd

kpnuts

9/10-handed STT i call and take a flop.
6-seater STT I'm all-in right now.
GL

cardshark202

I would probably just make it 700 and call a shove/shove flop. SHoving preflop is ok though.

dvdfan

It was 10 handed. Dont usually like getting all in so soon in stt's but i was going to find it hard to win this hand if i didnt hit the flop OOP so i pushed all in, I figured the original raiser would find it hard to push all in unless he had a premium pair here so i should get heads up here. the limper called with A8o and the raiser and caller folded.

Just wondering what most peoples line would be. If i had position here i would be happy to take the flop but pushing early you tend to get callers quicker than you would later in the tourney as theres always 1 or 2 willing to push in with any pair or any 2 card jack high.

kpnuts

dvdfan wrote:

It was 10 handed. Dont usually like getting all in so soon in stt's but i was going to find it hard to win this hand if i didnt hit the flop OOP so i pushed all in, I figured the original raiser would find it hard to push all in unless he had a premium pair here so i should get heads up here. the limper called with A8o and the raiser and caller folded.

Just wondering what most peoples line would be. If i had position here i would be happy to take the flop but pushing early you tend to get callers quicker than you would later in the tourney as theres always 1 or 2 willing to push in with any pair or any 2 card jack high.

Sounds like fun. I've never really played STTs below $100 level, but it's certainly a no-brainer shove if that's the standard of players you're up against in the $20s!

dvdfan

cardshark202 wrote:

I would probably just make it 700 and call a shove/shove flop. SHoving preflop is ok though.

As in the stop and go technique, so id be pushing flop no matter what came. Or do you mean that RR might take it down enough times that you wont have to worry about the flop but if i do see a flop ive half my stack committed so push all in.

The reason i didnt want to RR is because i was just building a big pot OOP so i taught the all in would give me a better fold equity and might force the likes JJ-88 and AK-AQ to fold that might take a look at the flop for the RR.

cardshark202

All in is fine, re-raising should achieve the same but obviously you are not folding on any flop. Re-raising will often get players to call with even worse hands in the hope they can hit the flop safe in the knowledge that they will have some chips left if not.

NickyOD

The problem with shoving is that it makes your hand look exactly like AK, but the alternative is you make it 700 and get called a lot of the time, miss the flop 2 thirds of the time and and probably have to check fold and give the pot up to TT-QQ on low flops. I would actually prefer cold calling to raising to 700.

Since there is a caller in between you i think shoving is your best plan. If you take it down you increase your stack by 33%. If you get called you're most likely on slightly the wrong end of a race situation with great pot odds and rarely up against KK/AA.

Calling is okay if starting stacks are bigger but I'd never cold call with AK when the pot already represents a third of my stack. The weakest hand that could possibly be out there is probably TT and there are a lot of donkeys who will still stack off with TT early in a SnG so I think folding is > than calling. In fact i think calling is horrlble, and i don't mind a fold at all unless this is a turbo.

In order of preference.

-Shove
-Fold
-Call
-Raise to 700.

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

BobSloane

I would generally push all-in and take the coin-flip if thats what its going to be. We've all seen dumbass all-ins at the start of these SnGs A 10 v K J etc. $20 games are often plenty loose at the start from what I've played. If its AA or KK thats a tough break.

Part of the reason for moving in is because its the first hand and it sets you up to do well in the tournament if you double up. If you lose you're out with very little of your time wasted. You could spend the whole game as a mid to short stack only to get eliminated on the bubble after 45 minutes.

or maybe thats backwardass thinking