Here's a quick one. It was a MTT on PS. Of the original 1650 players, 140 were left. With the blinds at 400/800 + 50 ante, I started the hand with 14,500 chips, an above-average stack. I opened for a 2,400 raise UTG with AKo. I got called by the CL in MP (36,000 chips) and re-raised all-in by a reasonable player in the CO.

The CO had about 13,000 at the start of the hand, and so I had him covered. I figured that his most likely hand was a pocket pair, AK, or AQ. While I was behind most of this range, I was also not much of a dog to a majority of the hands that beat me and would be getting the right pot odds for a race. I called for 3 reasons: (1) my own M was less than 10, (2) my stack would dwindle down to around 10,000 once I passed through the blinds on the next two hands, and (3) I wanted to position myself for a run at the final table if I won the coin toss. The CL folded, the CO showed 88, and his medium pair held up.

Is this a reasonable spot to gamble? Would the fact that CL called, but did not re-raise, your UTG raise lead you to believe that at least one of your outs was in his hands?

I tighten up a bit in the last 150 of a 1k+ field because I don't wanna give the short stacks courtesy double-ups. A rule that I try to follow is not calling large portions of my stack with Ace high and low pairs. Do I always follow it? No. But no way this guy does this with Aces or Kings. That's such a big re-raise. It's really up to you whether you want to gamble in the moment or not.

I've made this same call and asked myself the same question when I lose and I've made the fold, too. When I say that I tighten up, I don't mean that I'm a pussy. I just mean that I pretty much stop re-raising and I'll take flops and open for small raises because I want to see some more cards and define my equity a bit better before playing a big pot.

If CO is a savvy player he may have purposely made an advance play against opps he figured were aware enough of the Gap principle to steal a pot with a mediocre hand. Harrinton calls it the sandwich play and others call it the squeeze play.
Idea being that if UTG/EP come in for a raise and just gets a caller and both are aware of the Gap principle the caller should have a hand at least as good as the original opener - such as AK or JJ+. Now if CO goes all-in the original opener has to figure he's not only got a huge re-raise from a very powerful hand but also the CL yet to act!! Original opener will often fold and the caller is now faced with an all-in re-raiser so he too will often fold but at the very least the re-raiser has gotten heads-up with a mid pair and increased his winning odds by a third.

In your case, I figure you have to call. You need the chips and your M is getting too low to pass up a hand this good.

Oh ya - your last question. The CL would most likely have an Ace or another mid pocket pair to just call unless he's playing quite loose or trappy.

Originally Posted by mxp2004

From my perspective, it's the presence of the CL in the pot that makes this hand interesting. I was not all that worried about him calling, too, because I feel that AK plays well in multi-way pots. I was worried about whether he had some of my outs, and it was that concern that had me thinking before and after the hand whether this was the correct spot to commit my chips.

If anyone feels that I was focusing on the wrong issue, I'd appreciate their comments.

To continue a short bit with the Gap principle, I would say it was a safe bet the CL did have at least an A-Q , A-J or A-T if not a mid to small pair. From the CO's point of view the both of you having A-x is good news as both your outs are reduced and his mid-pair winning chances are increased. That said I would guess the CL did not have a mid to small pp as he would also have to give some credit to you and the CO counterfeiting each other's overcards making his pp more powerful and he would be more inclined to call unless he suspected a larger pp!

However from your point of view, CL having A-x (he should not have called with K-x but include K-Qs as a possible) should not be a worry to you as your A-K has him dominated with a better kicker or at worst tied. Not the nuts yet as A-2 can still beat A-K if a duece hit the board and a king doesn't but you still have the best of it going into the flop with just overcards. It's the pocket pairs that present the biggest threat putting you into a horserace. If CL has a one of your outs the pocket pair gets an extra lengh coming out of the gate making your chances a bit more worse.

All in all, I'd still say you made the right call given your hand and M - the CL just complicated things a bit. If the CL had not called and the CO re-raised all-in, would you have called? I'm guessing 'for sure'!

If you fold here, you have an M of just over 7 and soon to be 6 with the blinds approaching. You don't have a lot of pf raises left in your stack before its push/fold every hand.

So the question you have to ask is: With 11-12k chips (assuming a fold here), how am I going to accumulate chips over the next couple of orbits?

The answer depends on the table. How often the the initial raiser scoop the pot? Does someone end up all-in pf most hands?

It boils down to which scenario is best:
1) fold now; I can build my stack stealing blinds at this weak/tight table
2) fold now; I'd rather wait for a good hand and push first in and try to double up
3) push now; my best chance at surviving is to double/triple up now with AK

At an aggressive table, I would choose option 3
At a weak/tight table, I might opt for option 1