AK TRAUMA

I'm having an absolute nightmare with AK at the moment, i know i didn't play all these hands brilliantly and need to learn to let it go but it'll be therapeutic to post them up. Any advice would be welcome, this is the only hand that is losing which should really be winning for me.

1. Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (10 handed) converter

UTG ($45.79)
UTG+1 ($84.5)
UTG+2 ($53.05)
MP1 ($76.46)
MP2 ($41.96)
Hero ($46.75)
CO ($52.1)
Button ($102.35)
SB ($66.68)
BB ($21.92)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with K:diamond:, A:heart:. SB posts a blind of $0.25.
UTG calls $0.50, 1 fold, UTG+2 calls $0.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to $2, 4 folds, UTG folds, UTG+2 calls $1.50.

Flop: ($5.25) A:spade:, J:club:, T:spade: (2 players)
UTG+2 checks, Hero bets $5, UTG+2 calls $5.

Turn: ($15.25) 6:heart: (2 players)
UTG+2 checks, Hero bets $15, UTG+2 calls $15.

River: ($45.25) 8:heart: (2 players)
UTG+2 bets $20, Hero calls $20.

Final Pot: $85.25

Results in white below:
UTG+2 has 8c Ac (two pair, aces and eights).
Hero has Kd Ah (one pair, aces).
Outcome: UTG+2 wins $85.25.


2 Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (9 handed) converter

SB ($63.75)
BB ($47.8)
UTG ($21.3)
Hero ($52.55)
MP1 ($45.75)
MP2 ($32)
MP3 ($48.75)
CO ($50)
Button ($99.65)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A:club:, K:heart:. SB posts a blind of $0.25. CO posts a blind of $0.5.
1 fold, Hero raises to $2, MP1 calls $2, 6 folds.

Flop: ($5.25) T:club:, A:diamond:, Q:club: (2 players)
Hero bets $3, MP1 raises to $6, Hero raises to $10, MP1 raises to $20, Hero raises to $50, MP1 calls $23.75 (All-In).

Turn: ($99) 8:club: (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($99) T:spade: (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $99

Results in white below:
Hero has Ac Kh (two pair, aces and tens).
MP1 has Qh As (two pair, aces and queens).
Outcome: MP1 wins $92.75. Hero wins $6.25.



3 Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (10 handed) converter

UTG+2 ($61.95)
MP1 ($50.75)
MP2 ($80.65)
MP3 ($26.15)
CO ($32.34)
Hero ($91.55)
SB ($35.68)
BB ($89.05)
UTG ($41.4)
UTG+1 ($31.47)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K:diamond:, A:heart:. SB posts a blind of $0.25.
4 folds, MP2 raises to $1, 2 folds, Hero calls $1, 2 folds.

Flop: ($2.75) 8:heart:, Q:heart:, T:heart: (2 players)
MP2 bets $1, Hero calls $1.

Turn: ($4.75) J:spade: (2 players)
MP2 bets $2, Hero raises to $5, MP2 calls $3.

River: ($14.75) Q:spade: (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $8, MP2 raises to $25, Hero calls $17.

Final Pot: $64.75

Results in white below:
MP2 has Jh Jc (full house, jacks full of queens).
Hero has Kd Ah (straight, ace high).
Outcome: MP2 wins $64.75.



4 Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (8 handed) converter

Hero ($29.6)
MP2 ($50)
CO ($45.3)
Button ($126.95)
SB ($8.6)
BB ($71.9)
UTG ($21.55)
UTG+1 ($273.39)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A:diamond:, K:spade:. SB posts a blind of $0.25.
2 folds, Hero raises to $2, 1 fold, CO calls $2, 3 folds.

Flop: ($4.75) J:heart:, K:club:, A:club: (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $3, Hero raises to $10, CO raises to $30, Hero calls $17.60 (All-In).

Turn: ($62.35) 6:club: (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($62.35) 2:spade: (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $62.35

Results in white below:
Hero has Ad Ks (two pair, aces and kings).
CO has Qd Td (straight, ace high).
Outcome: CO wins $62.35.




5 Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ Hero (9 handed) converter

MP3 ($46.2)
CO ($107.6)
Button ($47.75)
SB ($49.5)
Hero ($45.05)
UTG ($46.1)
UTG+1 ($51.65)
MP1 ($50.2)
MP2 ($39.5)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A:heart:, K:heart:. SB posts a blind of $0.25.
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $1.5, 6 folds, Hero calls $1.

Flop: ($3.25) K:diamond:, 5:diamond:, 4:club: (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $2, Hero raises to $6, UTG+1 calls $4.

Turn: ($15.25) 8:heart: (2 players)
Hero bets $10, UTG+1 calls $10.

River: ($35.25) J:heart: (2 players)
Hero bets $20, UTG+1 calls $34.15 (All-In), Hero calls $7.55 (All-In).

Final Pot: $96.95

Results in white below:
Hero has Ah Kh (one pair, kings).
UTG+1 has Ad Ac (one pair, aces).
Outcome: UTG+1 wins $96.94.

There's somewhat of a recurring theme here of getting too involved with top pair top kicker even when there's strong evidence you're not ahead. In a bit more depth -

Hand 1 - he got lucky and sucked out on you. It happens. You've got good incentive to slow down on this one a bit though. The flop is a fairly dangerous one considering some of the typical hands that might call that raise - pocket jacks, pocket tens, JT suited, KQ suited or no, AJ, AT. You like your TPTK but not enough to get married to it. I'd suggest a $10 bet on the turn and then you might end up calling a smaller bet on the river when he moves ahead of you.

Hand 2 - the flop is excruciating, about as bad as a board can get and still give you top pair top kicker. Flat call his first raise and let the hand play out. If you re-raise him to test his mettle and he re-raises you back, that's a clear fold. He can be easily read for AQ, AT, or KJ here... the worst hand he might POSSIBLY have is two clubs with one of them being a K or J, which still means that you're barely ahead of him.

Hand 3 - not much you can do about that one. His river bet tells you all you need to know about that board pair on the end, but you still have to call, I think. He didn't raise so much that you can comfortably fold there.

Hand 4 - again a dangerous board. I doubt you can really fold this though. You flopped a little better than TPTK here... hard to get away from without a definite read on the opponent that he has the straight.

Hand 5 - got to slow down. You have good reasons to think you're ahead here but that doesn't mean you have to bet out this hard. From the way he played the hand, you could have bet less aggressively and probably saved some cash. If he still went all-in on the river (which then would have been a bigger raise), that's a fairly easy fold.

Hand 1 - 3 broadway = dangerous for TPTK. Flop is good, turn you bet too much, you will be paying off better hands more frequently here than adding value to your hand. River fold. The fact that this guy was a moron and got lucky does not make it a good play.

Hand 2 - This looks like a hand played under major tilt. There is no way I am putting all my chips in the middle on that flop. What exactly are you hoping to beat here?

Hand3 - raise pre flop, just calling a min raise is weak. raise the flop to take control of the hand or fold him. His bet looks like a weak probing bet. Turn is fine. River, tough decision, you probably have to call here tough.

Hand 4 - I am losing my chips here too, stacks are not too deep and its easy to put him on a stong draw.

Hand 5- Not unreasonable to re-raise his small raise pre flop, could extract some information if nothing else. Flop is fine. turn is fine. Check the river, he has called you twice now and the only thing calling/raising that river bet of yours is a hand that has you beat. Your bet leaves you pot struck forcing you to once again commit all your chips.

thanks for the feedback guys, i'm slightly put off playing at the moment as i'm worried this sort of thing is going to continue. I guess i just need to be disciplined and net get carried away with TPTK

Wow dude, you're getting spanked. Here's the thing you have to remember about a broadway flop with top pair aces holding AK. The only hands giving you serious action are either drawing to a flush (fish), or already have you beat with two pair or better.

Straights aren't drawing, because it's impossible for them to be open ended. No one is drawing to a gutshot for big bets.

There are a couple of hands there where you just got unlucky. Especially the flopped straight to your two pair. That was tough.

It's important to know who's calling your bets in these situations. If a tight player calls a pot bet on the flop, then you better believe you have problems. The least you should do is slow down on the turn. You have a pattern of committing yourself into better hands when you only have one pair on the turn and river.

To make a long story short, when one or two other big cards flop with your top pair, any call to a big bet is trouble from a tight player....

Here are the hands that a tight player will call a big preflop raise with... TT JJ QQ KK AA AQ AK KQs

Holy shit right? Screwed on a broadway flop. Especially three of them.

Overconfidence = Reverse Implied Odds