AK hand 4

Again, sitting on a smaller stack would make things a little easier. But even on $400 stacks I think we can apply enough pressure on preflop/flop to get in stacks and realize equity. So against someone who is doing wide 3bets, I'd probably go to about $130 which will setup a PSB jam for any flop (perhaps slowplaying A/K flops).

Our 3bet size is way too small, imo. It has little FE preflop (which we want against hands like TT/etc.). Plus it really puts us in this awkward when we whiff... unless we're committed to getting in stacks by the turn with a double barrel, even on terrible boards (like this one).

As played, I agree some players attempt to see where they are at, while most would tarp with monsters. So what would we do with AA on this drawy board in an SPR 2.5 pot? We'd probably jam. So, if continuing, that's probably what I'd do.

Weird turn spot. We shouldn't really have an 8 so he's going to find it odd that we're shoving on it. And wouldn't we just shove the flop with a big overpair? Not convinced we get enough folds at this point given this turn card / the way we've played it.

GcluelessNLnoobG

I 4 bet pre. I thought we were supposed to make it around 2.3x for a 4 bet IP? Or is this a hu thing?

Also, there is no A on the river . I see this weird A with a mark over it show up a lot. Do you know why this happens?

At a typical small BI LLSNL table most stacks sizes are such that we can (and should, imo) tailor all our sizing to stacks sizes instead of some nx rule, imo.

I'm not sure about the weirdo character thingy. I've accidentally hit an undesired combination of keystrokes to do something similar (but it is across all applications). Maybe reboot your device?

GcluelessNL/ITnoobG

I think you're right that his donk is some type of weakness. In this case, that could just be JJ or QQ trying to find out where they're at and/or deny a free card. But this is a 4 bet pot in lslnl and JJ is actually a fairly weak hand.

The stack depth is tricky as others have said, and I think a fold OTF is fine, but I don't mind your call with the spade. I would rely more on reads, but it is an OK tie breaker that you do have that extra equity. If the turn is a spade and he checks, of course you jam.

Can you jam here? I don't think it is the most profitable play in the world, but I don't mind it at all. I think he bet that $75 to force you to fold AK and avoid tough decisions. Look at it from his POV. Or pretend V posted this hand here and said he had JJ or QQ and faced a turn jam. I bet a lot of people would tell him to fold. He is only beating a hand like AK or maybe once in a blue moon some kind of FD, and both of those have equity.

265 is a sizable amount, and he might not want to go broke. In reality, if you had AA here, I would suggest betting smaller to set up a crying call on the river. However, whether it is correct or not, your shove could still look like AA or KK that is afraid of the flush draw.

If you shove and lose, there are some silver linings. More money is on the table, you have a good image,

I would probably flat call preflop at 1/3 even if you had been 3-betting, but 4! is reasonable and would be standard at higher stakes.

When he donks the flop, IMO flat calling is the worst option. I probably shove and win when ahead, get some pps to fold, and have reasonable equity if called. You can reasonably represent AA/KK, shoving for protection and value with villain having possible draws on this board. Folding is fine too. There is a good change he has an overpair and you are about 25% to win.

Grunch:

PRE - weird action with the micro open from UTG. Your 4B seems fine. Not sure about the sizing. When we're IP and we also don't mind taking it down pre with AK, I think we could get away with going a tad bigger.

FLOP - also a weird donk in a 4B pot. Weird size. WTF is he doing?

I've never seen this that I can recall, but the sizing and the situation would make me think he has an over-pair to the board, something that wasn't quite strong enough to 5B jam pre, but doesn't want you to check back with AK, so this is some sort of stop-bet. Maybe he's using a larger size to make you less comfortable raising.

I'd guess this is QQ/JJ, or perhaps sometimes he has AK and is hoping you'll fold a chop.

In your spot, I hope I'd have the presence of mind to work all that out, and think about how I'd respond with AA. Obviously we wouldn't fold AA, and we probably wouldn't raise. We'd just call.

TURN - I'm looking at this on my phone, and the text in your post is messed up, but it looks like the turn is an 8 (?).

When he checks, I think we have the green light to stab at this. We don't need to go huge. It would suck if he x-jams or snaps it off if we jam.

The GTO wizards may hate this, but I think I might bet really small, like $30-$35. My thinking is that his line makes no sense. I don't know if he's giving up or trapping. But if we want to either get to showdown or make him fold by the river, we need to bet something here, and we'd probably bet small with our nutted hands.

So, I guess bet small, like 10-15% pot, and if he calls, look to play some poker on the river.

...

Maybe you call if you have AA, but you have AK and likely are way behind, so maybe fold AK. What good does it do to represent AA unless you are trying to get villain to fold a better hand?

The point of repping AA would be to get him to fold a better hand. That's the point.

He's not donking huge on the flop and then checking turn because he loves his hand, even after we call. Seems to me like he's checking to check-fold. We can bet small, get one more street of value, then get a range fold on brick rivers.

Or, we could check it back, pray for an A or K on the river, at which point V is just going to check-fold, and we won't get the value we could have gotten on the turn, had we just bet as a semi-bluff. Alternatively, we could check it back, and fold when he stabs river, which he's likely to do on most cards after we check it back.

Yeah, I like that plan. I can see calling with 6 outs and then shove the turn with a little equity if he checks. That uses position and that villain is sort of face up as TT-QQ. I don't think you can call the flop and just hope to hit or check it down and be good.

I would’ve snapped in a stack of red preflop. AP I likely fold flop though a shove isn’t horrible. Certainly check back turn (and river, expecting to chop).

Perfection.

Love this quote

It’s interesting that you have seen him fold to 4Bets a few times, but he didn’t fold here.

I’m calling in position, not 4betting pre-flop
I’m just not an advocate for blasting off with AK. I’m glad that over-playing AK seems to be in vogue, because I see it misplayed often. Folding AK better than our opponents is not that hard - a lot of money lost with that hand.

This hand is typical: bloated the pot like people tell you, missed everything - now what do people tell you? Players are lost, but they’ve put in money, so they call another street.

Although I take more chances in tournaments, most of the time I play AK like suited connectors - get in cheap and fold when I miss

As played this is not your typical donk bet - yes, donk bets are often weak stabs, but not this time. Dude bet more than half pot on the flop and into a 4better, I think he has something.

We have nothing - fold