Unusual Mtt hand

Hectorjelly

Im on the big blind with AKs, I have 10k and villain has 2k, blinds of 50 100.
The villain is a weirdo, never folds once hes in a hand. Had a big stack a while ago, but called all in with J5 on a AQ4 flop, with no draw. I havent seen him bet yet, even after he flopped a straight.

All folded to the villain on the button who calls. Small blinds folds. I check.

Comments?

kencleary

Yeah why not. It would be tempting to go all-in here as you're probably ahead pre-flop but if he never raises or folds if you hit you can break him, if you miss pre-flop you still get two more free cards and if you still miss completely you only lose your blind.

DapperGent

Checking here is both the best way to get all his stack and the best way to double him through.

Your 10k stack is monstrous in comparison to 50-100 blinds so it's a good time to take risks to keep building.

The only problem I can see is that given your estimation of the villan as a player you will find it difficult to get away from the hand, he could be calling you down with the nuts, he could be calling you down with J high.

If he really is that bad then it seems a good oppurtunity to take his stack given that half the time you will have at least TPTK by the end and the rest of the time you'll have the no hand nuts.

bohsman

agreed so whats the flop?

kencleary

DapperGent wrote:

so it's a good time to take risks to keep building.

Why take a risk though? Even against two random undercards you're never going to be more than 70-30 in front while risking 20% of your stack. Thats a pretty good edge but you don't need to take that risk. If you hit a hand you're going to get all his chips anyway, so by checking you get to see all the cards for the cost of your blind. People talk about raising for information but here you can look at all five cards essentially for free, then make your decision while still having the option to knock your opponent out or get away from the hand cheaply.

Admittedly though you might face a tough decision if 5 random blanks come down. I don't know off the top of my head the odds that a player with two random cards will have hit at least a pair but given that roughly 50% of time you'll have at least TPTK i think you'd have a better edge on the river than 70-30 so why not wait til then to make your decision.

DapperGent

kencleary wrote:

Why take a risk though? Even against two random undercards you're never going to be more than 70-30 in front while risking 20% of your stack.

I was refering to the decision not to raise as being a risk. A standard and safe play at that point would be to put in a raise, 3x or so and then bet on any flop if called. An even less risky play is to ridiculously over-raise and force a put down.

From my reading of it Hector is deliberately letting a loose opponent see a flop given his tendency to call down bets on the flop with nowt. Where I see this as risky is that Hector will be unable to put his opponent on cards, his call could mean the nuts or J high.

From my reading Hector has decided that the best way to get his opponent to commit all his chips is to let him see a flop and then bet it regardless. If he thought the villan would call 2k preflop then I'd imagine he would bet 2k preflop.

It's risky enough becuase you're committing chips when you have no idea whether you're ahead or not, rather than committing chips preflop when you know you're almost certainly ahead.

Lafortezza

HJ wants all the villains chips. Even if Hj misses the flop and calls the all-in of the villain (if it happens), then its only 2k out of a 10k stack, not a massive dent at all.

A raise preflop could have made the villain go all-in on a marginal K10 or something, or he might fold or he might call and see a flop. Either way with HJ's description of the villain I'd imagine HJ wants all the chips in the middle either way. Unless the flop comes something very scary like all one suit (not HJ's suit) I'd imagine its player-gone or double-through.

Hectorjelly

This is probably the only time that I havent raised preflop with AK, and there would be nothing wrong with raising here; I almost certainly have the best hand so its a + EV move. However, I thought against this paticular opponent it would be better to see the flop and bet if I hit it. One of the advantages of raising is that you sometimes get the hand that would win to fold, but this will never happen against this opponent. Basicallly if I hit I win 2000 chips, and If I dont Ill almost certainly get a free showdown. Im not going to bet if I dont hit, there is absolutley no value in bluffing this opponent. The only way I lose value is if I win with A high.

The flop came A high, I bet the flop and put him all in the turn. He called with QJ for a turned middle pair.

DeVore

A good example of "folding equity" (or the lack thereof!). In a clinical environment like these boards, I'd agree with HJ, though on the table I'd probably raise and raise again on the flop.

DeV.

bohsman

Yes you needed to hit your flop as hes calling with any two cards if you havent hit chances are he has or will