The Ace King debate

[Talking Poker]

Dare I say, "It depends?"

Usually, yes. But if I think I can make a play on him (call the flop, raise the turn, for example) I will. I need to be confident he is on high cards or is good enough to fold a medium pair though.

[Windbreaker]

I think it's fine for a player like TP to flat call the raise with deepstack poker. To me, that means TP feels like he's a better post flop player than his opponent...and can out play him even if he doesn't hit.

Of course that doesn't mean you should be calling raises in this spot every time...but if you take a look at Daniel Negreanu's blog from this years WSOP ME....he said he played 90% of all dealt hands in the first 2-3 days at the WSOP. He can only do this because he's one of the best post flop players around.

So another factor into the call vs raise is the post flop ability of both you and your opponent....I would much rather raise in this spot vs Phil Ivey....rather than a tight player conservative player....but is a weak passive player post flop.

[kkirk1329]

i see no problems in just calling either, it gives you the option to throw your hand away on the flop, after all AK is no good if you dont hit a flop, its just ace high.

i see no problem with reraising either though, if you reraise you give yourself a good chance of being able to scoop the pot up on the flop with a nice sized bet even if you dont hit the flop.

[Talking Poker]

Good point.... I hsould clarify - If a guy I know is better than me raises preflop and I look down and see AK, I'm reraising here 90% of the time. TYPICALLY, I feel that I am a better post-flop player than my opponents, but when Phil Ivey opens, I'm reraising. He'll be plenty aware of my table image, and will likely fold anything but a true monster right there.

[bdawg31]

I guess i do: WHAT WOULD DON DO?!?!

End of discussion. You might as well lock up this thread.

[Defendant]

As far as no-limit goes, its a lot more of an "it depends" situation. For limit, I tend to threebet, for the following reasons:

- Im willing to go to 4 bets with it hands down

- If I get reraised, this gives me a whole lot of information about the other guys hand

If it comes three bets to me, Im a lot more likely to just call and reevaluate.