AK vs mid pocket pair

[hecklerjoe]

In early tourney play, would you guys call an all-in (no more buy ins) in late position with a guy who has mid pockets (9,9)? You have AK off suit.

[r8ed]

No. If you can see the other person's cards, then you should have no problem winning the whole thing without a coinflip situation

[Schmitty]

lol @ r8ed. AK hasnt been a good hand for me against all-in bets.

[jmontis]

try to avoid all in's with AK, unless you're a short stack. When you get a healthy stack, do NOT push all in with AKs etc

[BeeJall]

It all depends on your stack, if you're short stacked it might be a good idea, but if you're not short, I'd fold that always. Especially early in the tournament.

[lovemachine]

this just happened to me as i was reading this actually, early in the tournament, i have 3400 chips, average stack is 2500, 25/50 blinds, i raised my AK from UTG to 250, big stack goes all-in over the top for 5000 chips. laid it down because im guaranteed to still have chips at the end of the hand, still above average stack, blinds are still small giving me plenty of time to work with. if i had a good read on this guy i might have called but he was new to the table and had a big stack so i laid it down because it just isn't worth getting into a tossup this early. later in the tournament when blinds are big you may need to play this hand and hope to win a tossup.

as it turns out, the guy said he was on tilt from a game on his other site, he said he had AQ, and knowing this i'd have called, but with the information i had at the time and not knowing he was on tilt, it believe it was the right laydown and ill lay it down more times than not

[poskid_1982]

As all things poker...It depends. IMO I want to push with a great read HU (someone who I know is holding a drawing hand) or when the 2 or 3 fish at the table (even if they have a bigger stack) push. I believe AK holds up well HU if you have the read and gives me good enough odds to push with a couple PP's/JT type hands. If you worry about making the bubble never push with AK early. I personally try to win...not make the money.

[a500lbgorilla]

{Moved from HE Strats}

Going AI increases your variance and removes your skill for the game.

Fold and outplay.

-'rilla