ITH Poker Forum

[Simpioni]

its day two of the Irish Poker Open the blinds are 600/1200/100 the average stack is 45,000. This is the second level of the day and i have intentionally sat fairly tight on the first level as the anties were comparably small to this level and theres is only 1 person from yesterday who knows how active I had been. I think i took the blinds 3 times (intentionally showing an ace one of these times) in the 75 mins, folded to a 3bet once and got my 33 squeezed out of the pot by an all in.

UTG makes it 2500 (The standard raise from the previous level) and has a stack of 85000 and is the chip leader for the table.
UTG +1 calls
My friend from day 1 shoves all in for 21,000
I look down to see AK suited. Pretty pretty diamonds... I have a 55,000 stack.

Now my friend called a fair few of my bets with position yesterday taking advantage of the fact i was raising frequently. He 3 bet me on more than a few occasions aswell. He also knew that i was feeling quite ill and i know this affected my play towards the end of day 1 due to fatigue. He has played very few hands the first level, and has flat called a bet this level if i remember right. I think he will reshove 99+ AQ+. Honestly i have no idea what he would do if dealt 77+ or AJs+. I think hes folding worse hands.

No real reads on anyone else in the hand, except that theres no maniacs and the UTG raised just knocked out the devilfish with a set of 6's so should be feeling good about himself! No one has really gotten out of line, not many hands shown down.

Fold? Call? or Raise? Im not playing to place, i want that trophy at the end of day 4. Oh and im not ill or tired anymore, im feeling goooooooooood


As you can guess since im sitting here posting this instead of being at the tables this hand didnt go so well! But I wanted to analyse it fully and get opinions from you guys (something i havnt done on here for too long) to see if it was the right play.

Thanks for any feedback

Simpioni

[philhux]

I would say the only play here is to iso shove.

Any reads your 'friend' has on you are irrelevant as you haven't made an action in the hand by the time he takes his action, which is to go all in. He then has no more action to make.

I'm never folding and calling leaves awkward stacks after the flop, especially as you are last to act, which in this case will be a disadvantage as if utg or utg+1 calls and then shoves flop and it doesn't contain an ace or king, then you are probably gonna have to fold.

If you were in the blinds here then you can call the all in, one of the other guys might come along and then you just shove any flop blind - betting into a dry sidepot, but your AK might be good vs the all in guy even if you miss. If you call the all in and utg or utg+1 shoves, then you of course need to call that too, as to fold then having put 1/3 of your stack in would be a disaster.

[the_hawk]

I would say the only play here is to iso shove.

This looks 100% automatic to me.

[leofric]

I'm never folding and calling leaves awkward stacks after the flop, especially as you are last to act, which in this case will be a disadvantage as if utg or utg+1 calls and then shoves flop and it doesn't contain an ace or king, then you are probably gonna have to fold.

I've seen comments like this before but not sure I always believe it. Why would someone shove a hand that hasn't hit when one player is already AI? Either they already had a pair or have AK like you - if you shove now then both those hands might come along anyway (although in this specific example it would need to be a fairly big PP which they might reshove).

That said I still agree with isolating.

[chrisjp]

I would say the only play here is to iso shove.

This looks 100% automatic to me.

+1 All In Guy has a fairly wide range with his M<10. I know I would if I were he. I'm getting less inclined to push AK all the time, but this is an iso move, so it's fine. Lot's of potential dead money.

Chris

[Simpioni]

I would say the only play here is to iso shove.

This looks 100% automatic to me.

Hooray, I made the right play. I shove and my AK suited looked alot less pretty when UTG deliberated and then called with KK and my friend from day 1 turned AK of spades. No ace, and no pretty diamonds and that was that.

Thanks for the replys, my friend suggested just calling and folding to a shove pre, but i think ive got over 2:1 there and thats gotta be a call with AK suited.

My shove can also make the big stack fold a lot of pairs, even maybe as high as queens getting the all in dude all to myself. I pretty much ran into some of the worst hands i could have given this situation! Never mind!

As a side note - the Irish open is awesome - really friendly and really well ran tournament. Highly recommended if anyone wants to sat into a high stakes live game (i know i will be next year!)

Simpioni

[philhux]

Well you want to see all five cards with AK don't you.

Lets say villain has 88 and flop comes T63 and he shoves, well you still have 6 outs twice and maybe a backdoor flush draw to go with it and are now in a tough spot and are probably going to fold. Get it all in pre or get the chance to shove first on the flop and you get to see all five cards and not get pushed off your equity.

You've never seen anyone do anything stupid and bet into a dry sidepot with air? Happens all the time.

Or lets say he has AKo and decides to call too - this is a live tournament and people will do this with AK sometimes and then suddenly he decides to shove on the flop, again putting you in a tough spot where you will probably fold.

This is a live tourney with a mixed field. And in Ireland too! Irish players have an increased random spew or random action element than other nations! It's in the blood I believe to be erratic poker players.

I'm never folding and calling leaves awkward stacks after the flop, especially as you are last to act, which in this case will be a disadvantage as if utg or utg+1 calls and then shoves flop and it doesn't contain an ace or king, then you are probably gonna have to fold.

I've seen comments like this before but not sure I always believe it. Why would someone shove a hand that hasn't hit when one player is already AI? Either they already had a pair or have AK like you - if you shove now then both those hands might come along anyway (although in this specific example it would need to be a fairly big PP which they might reshove).

That said I still agree with isolating.

[philhux]

my friend suggested just calling and folding to a shove pre, but i think ive got over 2:1 there and thats gotta be a call with AK suited.
Simpioni

Some players will make this play, especially live but it would be pretty unforgivable to fold AKs pre here after putting in 2/5 of your stack - so glad you didn't do this!

Yeah you did nothing wrong, hit your ace and you have a nice stack. Flush would be even better!

Live poker sucks!

[Radford]

Calling then folding to a shove would be horrible.

This is a super easy push and i wouldn't even think twice about folding.