On button and I have only shown good hands. i decide to shove to fold out smaller pairs here. What do you think. If I reraise to 8k and he shove i don't think I am folding. These are the spots that seem to make or break the tournment and i am sure if I played it back or its just an unavoidable flip.

pokerstars Game #23979634955: Tournament #132775543, $50+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level X (300/600) - 2009/01/17 0:06:27 ET
Table '132775543 36' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: lyerly_ (38200 in chips)
Seat 2: hoyazo (13763 in chips)
Seat 4: RockyNorth (23805 in chips)
Seat 5: novelseeking (23114 in chips)
Seat 6: EL-Irish (24670 in chips)
Seat 7: rigorozni (27981 in chips)
Seat 8: LemonTrees (15557 in chips)
Seat 9: mattyofoz (7075 in chips)
lyerly_: posts the ante 50
hoyazo: posts the ante 50
RockyNorth: posts the ante 50
novelseeking: posts the ante 50
EL-Irish: posts the ante 50
rigorozni: posts the ante 50
LemonTrees: posts the ante 50
mattyofoz: posts the ante 50
rigorozni: posts small blind 300
LemonTrees: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to EL-Irish [Ks Ah]
mattyofoz: folds
lyerly_: folds
hoyazo: folds
RockyNorth: folds
novelseeking: raises 1800 to 2400
EL-Irish: raises 22220 to 24620 and is all-in
rigorozni: folds
LemonTrees: folds
novelseeking: calls 20664 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1556) returned to EL-Irish
lyerly_ said, "oh noes, 20 big blinds w/ 99!!!"
*** FLOP *** [Td 9c 7d]
*** TURN *** [Td 9c 7d] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [Td 9c 7d 2d] [5d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
novelseeking: shows [Jc Jd] (a flush, Jack high)
EL-Irish: shows [Ks Ah] (high card Ace)
novelseeking collected 47428 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 47428 | Rake 0
Board [Td 9c 7d 2d 5d]
Seat 1: lyerly_ folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: hoyazo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: RockyNorth folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: novelseeking showed [Jc Jd] and won (47428) with a flush, Jack high
Seat 6: EL-Irish (button) showed [Ks Ah] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 7: rigorozni (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: LemonTrees (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: mattyofoz folded before Flop (didn't bet)

The other poster says, "the money is shallow." What's your definition of shallow?

24670/600 = 41bb's, so you have some time to play. Villan has 23114/600 = 38bb's <effective stacks; and has chips to work with. I wouldn't consider the money shallow, unless you are afraid to play poker.

IMHO. novel made it 2400 to go (3bb raise to 4bb). You have two options Call to see a flop (seems kind of weak with AK). 3Bet to 10bb's (6000) and try to see the flop with the initiative and position, if opponent calls. If you miss the flop and the villan bets into you, you can fold your AK unimproved. You then have the chance to play your 30bb stack for a chance to win the tournament (you will not be railing the event).

If the opponent pushes pre-flop, then I think you are calling and taking the coin-flip. You do have the option to fold for a better situation (that's an alternative but is not popular in today's games. It's not discussed in forums. They say, "No one folds AK pre-flop.")

I don't really think pushing 34bb re-raise is the optimal bet sizing in the long run. You fold out all the hands you want to get value from when you hit your A or K on the flop.

 

Originally Posted by MYBLUEDOG

I don't really think pushing 34bb re-raise is the optimal bet sizing in the long run. You fold out all the hands you want to get value from when you hit your A or K on the flop.

This is an understatement. He is being nice..

You should expect your game to be better than one that needs to hope for coinflips
reraise a rational amount and concentrate on the flop play..you are in postion..you have the advantage.

Brian

Personally, I don't think your play is bad here, but it would be nice to have a little more information. You say 'I have only shown good hands', What kind of hands has he been showing? Is he raising preflop alot? Does he usually commit himself if reraised?

It's very possible that he is completely oblivious to the fact that you've only shown good hands. If he isn't, I absolutely think you are in deep trouble with this bet. Why? because he only calls with a hand that is either a coin flip or absolutely dominates AK. Maybe AQs, but unlikely if he is playing solid poker with that size chipstack, which I don't know.

Basically with your shove play you want to pick it up. I firmly believe you can accomplish the same thing by making it say $8000 to go. You also are more likely to get a loose call from a hand you have dominated

Another option would be to cold call his raise, which would make it hard for him to put you on AK here. If an ace hits and he has AJ or something, he will surely continuation bet and you have a shot of winning a very large pot with a good size favorite. Either way you force him to play out of position on the next street, which is good. If you miss and have to muck on the flop you've only lost a 10th of your chips. I think this is the best play in a cash game, but not in a tournament.

Overall, I don't think your play here was all that bad. I prefer not to put myself in position for coin flips in tournaments when I have a stack this large vs another big stack. I'd get more profit by not racing and making better decisions later in the hand. The one exception is if you think most of the players at your table play better than you do and you want to take their skill away from them(think Greg Raymer's WSOP final table), in that case I think you made the best play.
You are playing your AK for the best hand here. Don't put yourself in a spot where only a better one would get turned over.