Probably a dumb question.....

I recent started playing poker a few weeks ago... Mostly 1-2 hold em Nl or 3-6 hold em limit... I have done reasonably well as long as I am patient and do not attempt to chase... Tonight I played in my first no limit hold em tournament.. I was the chip leader with about eight players left and a player went all in, about half my stack, I had ace king not suited... I was hesitant to call because the way I looked at it, I did not have anything at this point and he presumably had at least a pair. No one else called. I have been watching as much poker as I can on tv and always see players call or go all in with this hand.... My question is... Why is this such a powerful hand??...... To finish the story, the player had pocket queens and the flop, turn, and river helped no one so his pair held up.... I called simply because I have seen it on the wsop numerous times and if I lost I would not be knocked out... Was I right to call and why ?? Thank you in advance for your advice.. I am just trying to learn and improve...

it's impossible to answer this question with the information given. you need to consider the size of the blinds, your chip stack, and the payouts.

the reason you see people in tv tournaments bet or call all-in with AK is that usually, the blinds are extremely high relative to the player's chip stack. Therefore he is desperate to play a hand.

the reason AK is a relatively good hand to go all in with is that it cannot be a huge underdog to any hand except pocket aces. Even against KK, AK is not a prohibitive dog. Against an underpair, the AK is a small underdog, and against a lower unpaired hand, it is usually a big favorite, because usually these hands contain an ace or king, and AK dominates it. Note it would be much better to have QJ vs AK than AQ vs AK.


Compare that to a hand like 4-4. If you go or call all in with 4-4, you are either a slight favorite, such as against AK, or a huge 4 to 1 underdog against a hand like JJ.

The pair of 4s has more equity hot and cold against AK, but AK is a better hand to move all in with.

Finally, an added bonus of going all in with 2 overcards like AK is that it guarantees you will see all 5 card and cannot be bet out of the hand by an underpair.

Quote: sodawater

it's impossible to answer this question with the information given. you need to consider the size of the blinds, your chip stack, and the payouts.

the reason you see people in tv tournaments bet or call all-in with AK is that usually, the blinds are extremely high relative to the player's chip stack. Therefore he is desperate to play a hand.

the reason AK is a relatively good hand to go all in with is that it cannot be a huge underdog to any hand except pocket aces. Even against KK, AK is not a prohibitive dog. Against an underpair, the AK is a small underdog, and against a lower unpaired hand, it is usually a big favorite, because usually these hands contain an ace or king, and AK dominates it. Note it would be much better to have QJ vs AK than AQ vs AK.


Compare that to a hand like 4-4. If you go or call all in with 4-4, you are either a slight favorite, such as against AK, or a huge 4 to 1 underdog against a hand like JJ.

The pair of 4s has more equity hot and cold against AK, but AK is a better hand to move all in with.

Finally, an added bonus of going all in with 2 overcards like AK is that it guarantees you will see all 5 card and cannot be bet out of the hand by an underpair.

what more info would u need?? Incan provide it, like I said, I am trying to learn to improve

With 8 players left it is hard to say if you were right to call or not. If a few had real mini-sacks then you did not do the right thing, it is best to let mini-stacks go in against each other. What positions paid and how much? That is another important question.

The thing to remember watching it on TV is that you are only seeing the most interesting hands. TV makes it look like AJ is going against QK every hand, when in reality there may be several hands between what you are watching. TV isn't bad to watch, but do learn about pot-odds, "Rule of 2/4" and so on to augment your skill set.

Good Luck!

If I'm the leader at the point you describe in the tournament and that call could possibly cost half my chips I fold. I want to risk my chips when I'm pretty sure I'm in the lead. You were pretty sure (and it turns out correct) that you were going up against someone with a pocket pair. That's a less than 50/50 chance to win the hand for you. Less than 50/50 is not how I like to put my chips at risk at that point unless I'm short stacked. Even if he had pocket deuces you're still the underdog and risking too much of your chip stack.

ZCore13

Quote: Dreamer

Was I right to call and why ?? Thank you in advance for your advice.. I am just trying to learn and improve...

Yes you made the right call unless your local casino plays tournaments over multiple days as the WSOP does and you somehow had a super deep stack at the final table.

You made the right call because as the chip leader of this tourney, I am doubting your chip stack was greater than 30 big blinds at the time, correct? Whenever someone shoves a stack of ~15 big blinds into you, you should be a favorite with AK, or you need to exploit that person because he is way too tight. Especially if the player was closer to the button as he/she should be shoving all-in with a wider range.

Why will you be a favorite? Because better players will be shoving AQ and AJ here (and even lower Ace highs) with a 15 big blind stack, which you are way ahead of (over a 70% favorite vs. AQ or AJ).

Let's say your opponent has 66 or better, and AJ or better when he shoves. This is a pretty very tight range. Even with this range you have a 51.44% weighted equity here. Yeah it's a virtual coinflip, but winning coinflips are what tourneys are about as well. And winning this flip puts you at even a bigger advantage of winning the tourney, which is the ultimate goal because the payouts are often top heavy. Also think of it this way, if you are folding AK to a shove in a tourney and I picked up on that, I would be shoving into your big blind much more often with my 15 big blind stack because you are never going to defend unless you have queens or better.

Quote: tringlomane

Yes you made the right call unless your local casino plays tournaments over multiple days as the WSOP does and you somehow had a super deep stack at the final table.

You made the right call because as the chip leader of this tourney, I am doubting your chip stack was greater than 30 big blinds at the time, correct? Whenever someone shoves a stack of ~15 big blinds into you, you should be a favorite with AK, or you need to exploit that person because he is way too tight. Especially if the player was closer to the button as he/she should be shoving all-in with a wider range.

Why will you be a favorite? Because better players will be shoving AQ and AJ here (and even lower Ace highs) with a 15 big blind stack, which you are way ahead of (over a 70% favorite vs. AQ or AJ).

Let's say your opponent has 66 or better, and AJ or better when he shoves. This is a pretty very tight range. Even with this range you have a 51.44% weighted equity here. Yeah it's a virtual coinflip, but winning coinflips are what tourneys are about as well. And winning this flip puts you at even a bigger advantage of winning the tourney, which is the ultimate goal because the payouts are often top heavy. Also think of it this way, if you are folding AK to a shove in a tourney and I picked up on that, I would be shoving into your big blind much more often with my 15 big blind stack because you are never going to defend unless you have queens or better.

Winning coin flips is not what tournaments are about. Yes, you will probably win a few on the way, but you want as few of these as you possibly can. Winning when you are in the lead going in is a much better option and can be accomplished by not risking your chips when not necessary on a coin flip.

Falling in love with any hand, including AK is the biggest mistake poker players make. You have to be in love with your chips, not your cards.

ZCore13

Quote: Zcore13

Winning coin flips is not what tournaments are about. Yes, you will probably win a few on the way, but you want as few of these as you possibly can. Winning when you are in the lead going in is a much better option and can be accomplished by not risking your chips when not necessary on a coin flip.

Falling in love with any hand, including AK is the biggest mistake poker players make. You have to be in love with your chips, not your cards.

ZCore13

Well, obviously you want to get it in being as big of a favorite as possible. But I can guarantee if you generally fold here in this spot in a daily/nightly casino tournament, you will not be a winning player longterm. You do not have time to wait for Aces here, within 15 minutes (a dozen hands) your 30 big blind stack will become 15 big blinds when the blinds likely double in the next level.

I am guessing most people that responded to this assumed OP and villain had deep stacks, or have a bad grasp on late tournament strategy. I certainly don't think he has a deep stack since he has mentioned he has played 3/6 limit and 1/2 NL (typical casino limits). So I assume this is a nightly casino tourney.

Did you ever recover from the hit? How did you place? How big was the tournament?

It depends on the stack size, blinds, players left, and the read you have on the player that went all in. Also take into account how many players were in the hand, how many behind you if you called the shove, and if AKx has equity against the all in player's range.

If you're looking to cash then it would be a fold so you can stay alive longer, the cost of half your stack to win a probable coin-flip wouldn't be worth it, but if you're looking to double up and you know the player can shove any Ax, pocket pair, and maybe even KQ then you're ahead of his range and should call.

If the blind structure is at the point where it's too big to play post flop you're looking to get it in with hands like AKx, but of course that is the assumption the player your against has a wide shoving range. If he's a nit (premium PP's or AK for shoving), you're behind his range and should fold. Once the blinds get pretty huge (10bb or less for an average stack) people will start to steal blinds with subpar hands just to gain some chips. Position is important as well; the button has a wide advantage if there are limpers or nobody plays their hand and can steal liberally from the SB and BB if they do not defend. If he was UTG that open shoved you can be assured his range is narrow to only be premiums. UTG would have to go up against the 7 players before he can pick up blinds, but in later positions you can open wider and only have to fold out lesser amounts of players.