Can you start giving your videos relevant titles? This is not how to play AK, this is an example of one hand and at the end you ask viewers how to play it 🤔
I think that’s the best way to play the hand to make sure you maximize the value from the exact kind of hand the villain had. If the have 99 or AA there’s nothing you can do .
I like the part where you explain an allin on the turn prevents you from getting out played on the river. I actually recently had a hand where I made that play, whereas a lot of friends reviewing the hand thought call then re evaluate on river was best line. If you like I can show you the sharemypair link to that hand.
I agree, I think the turn shove is the better play. If he hits his flush or his straight then he's just gonna shove and you are in a world of hurt. If you charge him to hit and he misses then you have his money but there is no way that you are gonna get to him to call a River bet once he has busted Straight & flush draws.
@@roadracerdave7645 Sometimes you have to just call your draws and fold on a blank, yes. The ace on the flop hits the hero's 3bet range quite strongly, plus QJdd blocks almost all the flush draw bluffs the hero has in his range. This makes it more likely for hero to be betting for value so that does not seem to be a good spot to bluff.
@@varunbaid1 - I agree. Hero's sizing on the flop bet opens up his range to include KK, QQ, JJ, and maybe even TT depending on his table image. Also AK down to AJ or AT. The turn bluff by villain put Hero in a spot to make a tough decision, and since he probably had to hit a diamond to win it the turn was the best spot to do that. He was also getting a good price to call the all in, as well.
Well in a three bet I would put my opponent in 99+ /AQs+. The flop shows a nine with a flush draw and he checked. With that flop villain should've protect his set or two pair because of the flush draw and he didn't so two pair or sets are not in villain's range. In the turn the straight seems almost imposible for villain and its very clear its a jam in this play. Very well played by hero and I believe Villain's call at the turn wasn't a good one with 25% aprox of equity.
It is very likely when an A hits the flop, that the hero will c-bet a very large portion of the time. Good players would check-raise their two pairs and sets (which the villain could have done). I don't think checking the flop was a misplay. A check-raise may have been a a better play, but I think there are better bluffs to do that with (say 7d8d or 10dJd). Villains call on the turn was correct as he has 13 outs (4 for straight, 9 for flush) amounting to 28.3% equity. At the end of the day, if the villain is well balanced, then the turn raise can be justified (assuming he check raises with many two pair combos too).
This is a classic type of hand played masterfully... The 3x re-raise pre-flop (Giving the impression of a larger range AND having position be the perfect disguise; probably why Villain check-raised on the turn) and the $80 bet on the flop set up that shove so nice!
Great upload. I really like your turn analysis. It is imperative to have a plan, like you said, since so many rivers allow us to be bluffed, have to call it off with worse when he hits, and our opponent can just check/fold when they brick. Gives a lot of credence to shoving 4th st like hero did. Thanks for the great upload.
I think when villian check raises turn, the only value hands he's repping are A8 suited and 98 suited. Other hands are mostly flush draws or combo draws, so the turn shove makes sense in this case.
Villain was in shove/fold position on the turn. After hero 3-bet before flop and with A on the board, there was no hand that villain was beating in Hero's range. So shove or fold in response to the the Hero's turn bet. If Villain was trapping with a set then the way he played makes sense, but its very difficult to rep a trap because the whole idea of a trap is to reel the opponent in. You gotta be playing some really intense games to get to the point where bluffing a trap is a profitable play. You have to set it up by having a few traps go to showdown and establish your rep as a trapper and then play a bluff trap when you are pretty sure that the preflop 3-bettor hit their flop. This video is.more interesting from the villains side of things.
3:13 I think there is good merit to betting large there. The board is kinda wet with Diamond flush draw and possible straight draw with 6,9. We don't want to give the villain an easy call to see another card. Is balancing our ranges worth giving the villain a cheap way to see a card?
Shipping turn eliminates weaker bluffs and narrows the opponent's calling range to hands that have us beat and strong combo draws. If you flat the three bet you keep everything in and give him a chance to bluff all in on the river. I would say that flatting on the turn would force you to call almost all rivers however something like the 10d would probably be a fold.
As a complete beginner, if I were hero and I got reraised before the river, I probably would’ve considered folding thinking maybe the only way this player can have me beat would be trips. But how the villain was playing, he checked through up to this point. Now either he’s bluffing or trapping. It’s a tough spot to be in as he forced the hero to think more and tighten up. Hero clearly raised playing looser with a strong hand, so let’s jam him up a bit to make him consider he could be outplayed with this passive aggressive sort of play. Thoughts of a beginner and hopefully it made some sense lol.
I think this and a lot of decisions like is are dependent on specific player tendencies...If the player that makes this check raise is capable of doing so with a draw or with a already made hand then, yes, calling or shoving could be appropiate...If this player is very tight and not prone to making these types of plays with draws, then you could be drawing dead.... Remember, you still only have one pair...This is why it is so important to quickly assess the players you are playing with to determine what types of plays they are capable of......
It gets more tricky now a days that so many players are playing any two suited cards. That is why it is crucial to throw a substantial bet out pre-flop to hopefully avoid the suited rag-rag playing along (of if they are foolish enough to call, you will win a lot more post flop than you will lose.
I think it's a pretty well played hand, other than the 3-bet size. Other than the diamond draw this is a pretty dry flop to go for the 1/3 pot c-bet, so I'm good with that. Change the 6 to an 8 or T that makes the board more coordinated, and I think the C-Bet needs to be bigger. Turn should definitely be a bet as well, that's way too wet of a board at this point to be checking. On a board like this it's really easy for aggressive villains to over-bluff, so I think we have to commit to either jamming the turn or calling any river, and I like the turn jam, as it gives him an opportunity to make a mistake. Good hand!
Shoving all in on the turn as played is fine, but I would have just taken a call-call line vs non diamond bricks and worked in folds vs the diamond rivers and super connected board rivers, as I feel like villian is most likely going all in on all rivers either for value or as the whiffed bluff with zero showdown equity. I feel like most beginner players would take the shoving line and the more experienced postflop player would advise a calling station line, but in this situation either line makes sense and it's what makes the game so great. Multiple options are profitable, the best players simply find the most profitable spots and hit them every time.
Very interesting decision. Without facing a huge stack, jamming is the more comfortable approach because a tough decision does not have to be made on the river (if a flush or straight completion shows up).
That is definitely one of the tougher spots in NL hold em. It really comes down a lot to player dependency. I personally would probably not call that re-raise since i just think it is so rare that they ever have a drawing hand in that spot. I would of actually opted to check the turn with AK and bluff catch the river depending on sizing and river card. If you ask me that's usually just a 50/50 spot. Either your behind or your ahead. Hero got lucky in my book lol. If you really think about it. His call really isn't profitable with AK....Villain has 30-40% equity going into the river, and in the event Villain has AK beat by a set or two pair or straight then AK is nearly drawing to 5 outs.....just doesn't seem like a profitable play long term to be jamming AK there. Hero reminds me of one of those 1/2 fish who just stack off with TPTK in any situation no matter what board texture there is. Your either a total genius in that spot or you knew you were beat but called it off anyway with TPTK.
Queen-jack suited was overplayed from the opening bet. But he played it scarily. I would have checked on the turn, because I'm a big believer in the saying about AK and Anna Kornikova: Looks great, seldom wins.
Alex, I am a 20+ year Holdem veteran. At this point, I don’t play much though when I do I generally limit my losses or win. One reason why, I don’t over value hands such as AK. In fact, I make more money playing against AK then playing AK. Remember a pair of 2s beat AK. And in your example an As flops. Most of the time AK misses. If you want to help people, give an example how to play when AK when it misses.
Call turn, call river if it blanks. Great job shoving. I don’t think I have the stones to do that with just top/top. I’m mostly worried about a slowplayed set or Ax that just hit the kicker.
Really appreciate all your videos Alec... I'm learning that I play a lot tighter than I should and I probably would have folded in this spot before seeing this video. I've been trying to build a bankroll recently, do you think playing cash games or tournaments would be the best way to do so?
The Hero did the right thing. Check raised opponent. Either you go all in OR you fold. Calling is like literally showing your opponent that you are weak.
If you’re going to reraise with a 2 card flush draw you should usually do it on the flop. Excellent play by hero. I wouldn’t have been keen to shove with such a deep stack.
Nice play by hero. Ive been using this play when there is a double flush draw on the board with only the river to come. There are so many river cards that you are just unsure of, more than half the deck actually. So shoving the turn for value can take that indecisiveness out.
Agree. I played a hand almost identical to this one. On the button, I raised (AsK) pre with a couple callers; two diamonds on the flop (k/9d/3d), CO check called my $120 cbet with everyone else folding. Turn brought a 10o. CO check raised my $250 turn bet to $800. I had about $1500 left and shipped it. Villain had KJd. And, here was my reasoning. Yes, I have position, but obviously he can play perfectly if I just call. I'm priced in if I call the turn regardless of what the river brings. Plus, what am I afraid of on the river? Any diamond plus any 8, J, or Q. If he has a set, he has a set and I'm done. But, realistically, there's what, 9 combos of sets. There's more draw combos: KJ, QJ, J10, Q10, QJ, any Ax of D except the A9 and A3. Plus, it doesn't look like I'm on a draw, my hand is fairly face up at this point. So, why would he raise that much with a set trying to induce a fold. I think a $600 check raise makes more sense there as it still sets it up a river jam. He hmmmmed and hawwwwed a while before making the call. 2d came and I lost but I wouldn't have changed anything about how I played the hand except possibly checking back turn for pot control. Even then, if he has KJ off, I'm losing value and I got it in good.
one pair is mostly in many difficult spot I ve have pot control on the turn and bluff catch on the river if the card is safe but I would bet at least 60% or more on the flop for value
I’d shove unless I knew the player to be super tight, in which case I’d probably fold. Calling doesn’t seem my best move, because if he’s a decent player he’s going to fire another shot on the river regardless of his hand leaving me with a tough decision...
I think the villain should’ve min raised the 80 on the flop to find out if the button had something like KK or another pair. Not sure if the button did anything wrong other than make a gutsy a call with one pair. I had the villain on pocket 10’s. Easily could’ve had two pair on the turn with suited connectors. Hard to say without knowing his pre-flop range to raise 35. I really think the lesson is how bad the villain played the hand lol. I wouldn’t have done the 3x’s raise on the turn. Just looked to much like a semi-bluff on a draw. Would’ve called and then shoved if the river was scary and not a complete blank.
You played it perfect he had 13 outs to catch a flush or a straight. You had 15 outs cause any cards on the board paired. U win plus any card on the deck that didn't match either of your hands. You win ace high
I think the turn was played perfectly. With how many draws are out there, there are pretty good odds that one of them will hit. And if it had been a 10 or a diamond, the villain would have taken it down. But if you shove all-in over the top there, there is a chance that he folds that draw. I don't think there is much to gain from just calling there. Put the pressure on your opponent while they still have a decision to make.
When I cbet 1/3 pot and our opponent checkraises flop, I find it impossible to lay my hand down levelling myself into thinking that my small sizing might’ve induced him to bluff, and then stack off to 99/66. OTOH, if I make a standard 1/2-2/3 PSB, I’m able to bet/fold more confidently. What do you think?
I would at least call. If I have a read or think he’s bluffing I would definitely put the pressure back on him and jam my chips in the pot. This was a good one.
This comment indicates a player who is playing stakes that are too high for them. As soon as you start hesitating due to the dollar value of a bet, you've already lost in poker.
I can understand hero doing it but why would you (Alec) go all in on the turn if you expect to have a skill advantage? You kill your skill and positional advantage by ending the hand on the turn. Theres nothing overly difficult about river and even if there is, you should expect to be able to work it out better in position. A very simple strat would be to call all bricks, call all clubs with Ac, fold all diamonds. Straightening cards we can work out in the moment, we don't need a blueprint, we have position, we will gain more info before our next decision point. Only compelling reason to jam is if he's rarely bluffing river with bricks, because then he's freerolling us with his draws.
The skill is represented by the turn 3b shove. He explained why.... the fact he shoves represents his skillful play for all the reasons outlined Aiiite? Enough said
You go allin on the turn to get value from weaker hands, i.e exactly what villain was holding. A good player is going to check fold his missed draw so you want his chips before river bricks
I think when you only have an Ace you don't get too crazy on your bets so they don't try to shove a big bet at you to get you to fold. So you might want to go into a passive betting situation and suck them in especially with players that have big pots and you don't unless you are willing to lose it all. I can think of better hands to go all in though such as straights, Ace and King high flushes, Full houses(although I have lost on those too.) Four of a kind (any - all in), Royal Flush - all in
What if villian have pocket 9s, and when we shaft at the turn, we're dead. Assuming he have pokcet 9s, so how do we differentiate/identify that he is not trapping on the flop?
I think I would of jam QJ on the turn instead of raising min. And I don't know if I would wanna play a one pair hand for my whole stack even if I have top top.
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I would have checked on the turn for pot control and that might have induced a bluff from him on the river, but one I could call without jeopardizing my whole stack. Top pair and top kicker is just not something you want to ride all-in to the river with. Generally, if you're called, you're beat, and you don't have any outs.
After the 630 came out, I would have folded. As you said, some players always have the Ninja moves, and if it was one of those players, I would let him go into the night without a fight. If it was someone who was raising all night long, then I would simply call.
Did the villain try and make his check raise look like a value bet? I would think his move would be all in and then be a lot harder for AK to call, however it may look weaker and like he’s trying to chase off
And if villian had a set he would prob value bet more cause I don’t think he’d be scared of the draws. At least not the diamond cause more likely his range would be AQ and better. Villian could be pushing all in to disguise his hand as a set who is now scared of the back door flush though
I think this is a ponderous analysis. AK is a great hand but it's a drawing hand. Most of the time in a live game, it's a win with one pair. If you sense the strength of more than one pair from the opponent, then muck AK without much hesitation. Sets happen. End of story.
My stats state that I acutually am losing money with AK, AKs. Nice to look at, but not worth much. You mostly only can make top pair, but in loose games, that seldom is enough. Hero was lucky on such a draw heavy board.
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That flop is too dangerous to bet only $80, it is an invitation for drawing hands to call and catch and win .... The all in on the turn is just putting at high risk your stack, could have just called and see the river.
That was my first thought was well. Betting 33% of pot into a 36% draw is a no brainer call for the villian. With 3 more outs on the turn, I think villian made a great choice of raising and calling the all-in on the turn. In hindsight, of course, hero's play worked out, but if we could play this game backwards we'd all be rich.
Went to sleep totally confused after about 5 minutes I really want to learn more about poker playing . But surely 5 minutes tops. Should do it thanks 👍
the 3 bet should have been 3x the open raise + 1 BB per person who has knowingly put money in the pot at that moment so 115. The flop bet should have been 90-95. Enough hands that are behind will continue with that amount compared to the 80 and it is still under a hundred so does not cross a threshold amount like 100 that makes a player think more about the amount. (Same reasoning why companies sell something for 99 instead of 100, it is just a mind trick to make people think it is not that high a cost that you can use to get an extra 10-15 here or there as if they would call 80 they would also call 90 without any more thought as it does not pass a threshold trigger number.) Turn bet was a fine amount. The shove was mandatory. Very few two pairs he could have and with 2 flush draws and possible straight draw he has a mountain of semi bluffs here to be playing. If he had a set he would just call and check river to induce and then jam over.
The villains first objective was to bluff you out with a back up diamond draw. He already knew you had an ace so that computes that both of your cards isn’t also diamonds like his and that your kicker was at best king diamond. Which is no threat to his flush draw. All you can do is call his three bet and pray no diamonds or club comes out on the river. And if it does come out, your only option is to call or fold. I would actually put a road block on the turn and shove all in. I would not risk giving the villain the opportunity to make his hand on the river. It all boils down to greed. If you want more in the pot, you’ll have to deal with allowing your opponent to catch cards on the river. And all you committed to goes down in flames.
How would you play this if it was low stakes 1/3 on the flop? Feels like betting a third of the pot into two diamonds gives correct odds for diamonds to continue drawing which ended up being the case here
Aces never win. Every time I have a pair of aces and I lose it seems that I am told that. I find that if you have aces in your hand or pair an ace on the table on the flop that it is best to end the hand early. If on the turn you get checked raised I would seriously consider folding unless you are playing against a lose player. People believe in playing aces to the end as a standard rule of play. Sometimes it is best to have a small pair in your hand and pick one up on the table as most people ignore the lower value hands. If you bet with as ace on the table the standard thought is that you paired up. Nice hand to analyze.
With the line that was taken preflop then villian checkes flop. I believe betting pot is the correct line. Tptk with that board this line isnt just st8 forward its mandatory. If he checkraises here u have much easier course of action wouldnt u agree? With the 1/3 bet size ur setting urself to get stung. Exactly wat happen. The line here hero took nightmare became reality. Says fuck it and shove. I recall exact line with aa vs 77 except villian had flopped set shipped around 1k. Only diff was my preflop 3bet was larger. Flop 782 rainbow board pair2 two clubs.
Not a big fan of that 3rd pot range bet following the 3-bet preflop. I like that play more if you decided to flat the raise on the button instead of 3-bet because then both players have similar ranges going to the flop hand you have position. I feel like when your 3-bet gets called OOP you have the range advantage for made hands while your opponent has the best draws. This is because you have all the AK, AQ, AA hands in your range which your opponent won't have as many combos of and less hands like 7d8d or 5d6d speculative draws your opponent will have more combos of that they decided to peel you with. Also most of the Ax hands your opponent will peel with will be behind AK here which means on this flop as played with the 3-bet preflop I prefer a bet in the neighborhood of 3/4 - full pot. This charges the draws too much to profit if they can't rely on implied odds and punishes the weak Ax hands hard. This also stops annoying floats with the idea of trying to push you off of your hand with awkward cards on the turn moving forward.
Villain played odd. Hero repped an ace preflop, flopped an ace, continued to value bet....im still learning poker, but that seems to scream back off with suited QJ, unless hero had been bullying often and he was trying to catch him
I liked the jam at the turn. I think the final result would've been the same had hero called the turn. Villain goes all in as a bluff and hero calls. I like the turn shove.
Is it safe to say that at a 1/2 or 1/3 or even some 2/5 games where 95% of villains are never semi-bluff checkraising the turn, the only hand in our range we can call this x/r with is AA and exclusively AA? This is assuming we are playing snug and not 3betting light with something like 99/66, 87s or JTs.
Just gotta identify your opponent. Maybe 95% of them are nut only players or maybe your analysis needs some improvement? I'm a novice and I over play flush draws
You are not wrong here. At lower stakes the number of players who raise anything other than strong hands are few and far between. They simply do not have it in them to bluff much. At those stakes you always take any raise as a serious challenge to your hand.
I agree somewhat... I believe knowing this player is crucial without this knowledge u cant make a valid play. Is he or is he not the player to be making this play. I bet sizing here not pricing in the draw which now makes the raise suspicious except one thing! The bet on flop...the error here!
I think the villain should just called the turn. They priced themselves in and hero had shown strength. The chance of folding out the hero is slim. I am OK with a call or jam by hero on the turn. Kind of need to call and river so might as well jam.
I like Heros turn line, but I think, the 3-bet was to small. And I also think, the flop C-bet was to small. I really dislike those cute little 1/3 pot bets on wet boards. I think, they are missing out on a ton of value and just letting the opponent get there for cheap with his gutshots and what not. As for the Villains line its rather bizarre, he did not check-raise the flop instead. He could have done that for a much better price, with more equity and against a weaker range. I think, his turn play with this hand is frankly just bad and setting money on fire. Its also super unbalanced. He have very few hands, that want to check-raise the turn for value, and if he is bluffing even with his flopped draws, he have WAY to many bluffs.
i agree with you on the flop bet sizing...why not get value from weaker aces (the most likely hand that will call) and charge a bit more for draws? i usually like about 60% pot in those spots against one player and probably 80%-100% against two opponents.. i think Alec's talk about "long term balance" is often not applicable in typical casino situations where you face an ever-changing cast of characters...i mean, over a year you might see 1000 different faces, right? and not everyone has a good memory, either...i mean, half the players playing are stoned, drunk, on speed, up for 24 hours at a time, etc. in live settings you gotta focus on value, i strongly believe.
I actually think villain played his hand fairly well here. Preflop was fine by both players. I actually like the sizing here because we keep in weaker hands especially from weaker players like off suit broadways with kings and stuff like that in which may fold to a slightly larger size. I am with you on the flop range bet here though. Which to me screams please take this pot away from me on awkward turn cards! This not the time nor place for this bet on the flop when you 3-bet pre-flop unless you are 3-betting more of your suited connectors pre-flop than not but why would you? I like villain's call on this flop because he's getting such a good price and he can legitimately represent more made hands on the turn than the flop and more credibly especially considering he peeled and didn't "protect his made hand with a raise". When he check raises this turn he could have all the sets but AA, 7dTd, 5d7d, 6d,8d, and depending on his image A8 off suit. Also as Alec mentioned all of villain's bluffs are semi-bluffs and have equity meaning that hero is getting his money in all but dead against villain's value range while only being slightly ahead of most of villain's bluff range. Also when villain checks if hero checks back (which I think he should have on this abysmal turn card) this isn't horrible for villain either because he will have more information with which to evaluate the river. He can bet all his bingo cards and awkward cards for hero and check fold all the bricks.
