AK all in pre flop, yes or no?

[mura2545]

Lately I have been evaluating, the decision to play the pre-flop all in, is usually happening to me because he beats me aj and aq, the flop of the pages doesn't go along, should I play it conservatively or keep trying to play it but flop, should I take into account the instance of the tournament? salutes

 

[Mauricio Perrotta]

All in only if you are short of chips. If the tournament is starting or you are going easy with your stack of chips, just place a three bet. salutes

 

[pentazepam]

AK is almost always a hand you want to get all-in with pre-flop, especially in MTTs, and almost always when you have less than 50BB in stack depth. Against some loose players even deeper.

As you stated yourself, you often get called by players who are totally dominated. They only have about a 25% chance to win with AQ or AJ.

If you get re-raised from a very passive player or several players have gone all-in or are in a re-raising mode, you can sometimes just fold it or call.

 

[StrangeWaves]

I go all in with A5 no matter what

 

[dannystanks]

You should base your all ins on situations not your hand. Stack size, your opponent, how many are in the hand at the time, where you are in the tournament, what position are you, etc. I’m sure I’m missing other considerations but you get the idea. Good luck!

 

[odonob]

In a Freeroll yes if for example it’s the first hand, it really depends on the situation. If you want to build a pot then a small raise may get you more action further on in a tournament or mid tournament. You are looking for the most chips, not to scare off your customers.

 

[Brigistul]

NO! Only in a late position or if you have few chips!

 

[Flyer35]

Shoving just because you have a specific hand is a fools game. Shove only when the situation calls for it. Maybe you'll have an AA, maybe it will be 72. Depends on the situation. Play smart, not that other way.

 

[Tadi]

It depends on multiple factors, but my answer in most situations is NO. When you bet everything you can't change your mind, and like this it used to be obvious to you that these cards will lose and you can give up. They have already indicated situations in previous comments when everything should be invested.

 

[fundiver199]

Lately I have been evaluating, the decision to play the pre-flop all in, is usually happening to me because he beats me aj and aq

If you got it in good, then what is even the problem? Unless you are playing purely for fun, the goal in poker is not to lower variance and survive longer in a tournament, the goal is to maximize your winrate. So if you bust from a tournament, because your AK got cracked by AQ or AJ all-in preflop, then you just reenter or play another one. Its not a problem, and there is no reason to worry about it.

 

[OnyxD]

I go all in with A5 no matter what

So you are that **** that keeps kicking me out of the tourneys all the time? jk jk

Lately I have been evaluating, the decision to play the pre-flop all in, is usually happening to me because he beats me aj and aq, the flop of the pages doesn't go along, should I play it conservatively or keep trying to play it but flop, should I take into account the instance of the tournament? salutes

On the OP's question, depends on what and at what stage you play. If you play a freerolls/micro absolutely yes vs 1 opponent, would be a judgement call vs 2 (often yes as well). Many people want to double up or be done with so they push anything. If it's deep in the tournament it's more nuanced based on your stack, their stack, their play, your 'board luck' that day etc. You should be happy seeing AJ and AQ calls, look at AK winning percentage against those hands, and also vs all/random hands - that's pretty much all you need to know. But get ready to get blown out by 22, T4, Q6, etc. Nothing more annoying to get blown out by a dominated on the bubble (like me today) or complete garbage from, but those are good calls (for you )

 

[alucaa]

Depending on the position and your chips, if you are missing, you should go all-in anywhere at the table; if not, you should play for value, trying to get the most out of it. I like to go all-in only in the final positions, before the button, against more “crazy” players, because I think they have a better chance of winning. At least that's how I play.

 

[Mig32]

For me, going all-in preflop with AK really depends on the situation. When I’m short-stacked or in the later stages of a tournament, I don’t hesitate to shove because the fold equity plus the hand strength makes it worth it. But if I’m deep stacked early on, I prefer just raising and seeing a flop instead of risking everything with what is still just ace-high. I’ve lost enough times against smaller pairs to know that context matters a lot. So now I try to balance—sometimes I push hard, other times I play it more conservatively depending on stack sizes and the stage of the tournament.

 

[lyki67]

Well... only if you have very small stake. In other case I would play ease to see flop and maybe look for my chance with other pocket cards.

 

[Brigistul]

If you have a significantly larger stack compared to the others and you are in a late position, you can try going all-in to put pressure on those who might call with weak hands! But in principle, especially in positions after the big blind, it's better to just call and see what the other players do. If you go all-in, you might get a call from a player with a small stack and a pair like 6-6...9-9, and at the showdown, you could easily lose without even making that high pair!

 

[steve01991]

Honestly, i think the all in move is such a risk, so i would say no, but under some really tight spots you might have to if you are short stacked.

 

[moraeskvmi]

It all depends! Tournament phase, amount of blinds you have, villain information, how many players the all-in is against, among others, from there you start to make a decision.

 

[Magallaneroy]

Depends of the player and my position, but usually yes.

 

[OnyxD]

Well... only if you have very small stake. In other case I would play ease to see flop and maybe look for my chance with other pocket cards.

If your postflop play isn't great or if you got a barely readable opponent who tends to bet a lot to squeeze out out on the flop, you might as well just lure them into all-in pre- or on the flop. And late stage you have a <20bb all the time which is technically small, but actually is enough to end up winning the 1st place.

 

[Phoenix Wright]

Lately I have been evaluating, the decision to play the pre-flop all in, is usually happening to me because he beats me aj and aq, the flop of the pages doesn't go along, should I play it conservatively or keep trying to play it but flop, should I take into account the instance of the tournament? salutes

It really depends on more factors than just what cards you have. Going All-In when deepstacked is often just torching your money. All-In when shallower-stacked has more merit.

AK is a pretty strong hand pre-flop. We typically want to value bet with our strong hands, but we also might be losing more chips than necessary if we just go All-In without seeing the Flop, Turn, or River. The main problem with shoving All-In with AK is that if we do this in a situation where the opponent's range is strong, then our shove may look intimindating and only better hands call us (maximizing our losses), but hands AK would love to win chips from could just fold to our shove (minimizing our gains). If we are shoving AK and hands like AQ, AJ, AT etc. (or often even Ax for that matter!) are folding, then we aren't winning as many chips from those hands and we are letting them get off the hook from a dominated situation. If our opponents are calling us off way too frequently (continuing with Ax hands etc.), then our AK All-In shove may be profitable because we are extracting enough value when we get paid off to justify the other times we aren't).

The other part of it is that All-In means AK can realize it's equity, so this makes more sense when shallower-stacked also because we may otherwise get forced off the hand to larger bet sizes, so if AK goes All-In first, then at least the pressure to call or not is on the opponent and not us (fold equity).

 

[mura2545]

I recommend that you take into account your attack and that of your rivals, and of course the stage of the tournament, since your opponent, at the behest of a bubble or going to the final table, will think twice, unlike the beginning of the tournament where he will try to inflate his chips from the beginning, the strategy of taking care and being selective according to your stack I think is much more profitable than waiting for all the pages to throw the winning hand at you, always playing there in, you have the experience, now it's time to have a current strategy for this case! salutes

 

[antonis32123]

This deci6is easier if you are low stacked , uder 20 blinds . I guess with more you need good odds , specific situations where a shove with AK might have good odds to win . I try to master this , still work is needed for me

 

[pltelles]

In freerolls, it's definitely all-in, but in regular tournaments, I only go all-in under certain conditions, like a lot of chips and late table positions.

 

[christovam]

Lately I have been evaluating, the decision to play the pre-flop all in, is usually happening to me because he beats me aj and aq, the flop of the pages doesn't go along, should I play it conservatively or keep trying to play it but flop, should I take into account the instance of the tournament? salutes

AK pre-flop is a raise, tribet, or all-in four-bet.

What I've seen a lot is players going all-in right away as the first to speak. I think that's a waste of chances to win good pots, not to mention that the player becomes more dependent on turning over the villain's card. If he raises and sees the flop, he can lose fewer chips if the flop is not favorable.

 

[stil370]

Lately I have been evaluating, the decision to play the pre-flop all in, is usually happening to me because he beats me aj and aq, the flop of the pages doesn't go along, should I play it conservatively or keep trying to play it but flop, should I take into account the instance of the tournament? salutes

i guess it depends...