4 betting AK and getting called by the button in a $2/$5

[george]

I was recently playing a 2/5 game at a casino that I don't normally go to and found myself at a game with completely random people. I tend to have an aggressive playing style but this hand came early on in the game while I was still developing profiles of the players.

I found my self in early position with AKo and raised to $25. Cutoff calls. Button min-raises to $50 (Effective stacks $500). As I mentioned, this was fairly early in the game and I could not tell what the buttons 3 betting tendencies were. I decided to 4-bet to $175 and hopefully take him off any middle pairs that decided to raise but didn't want to risk too much money and win a $100 pot. Cut off folds and button calls. Considering my large 4-bet, I narrow the buttons calling range to include JJ-KK. I think he would have pushed all in with AA.

Board comes: QJ2 rainbow

considering the range that I put him on I felt that there was a high probability that he flopped a set and I expected him to check back if he did have KK. I checked and opponent bets $175. I fold and opponent shows KK.

What is the correct play here? Should I just jam the flop? Should I check-raise the flop?

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you.

[jjpregler]

I'm not 100% sure AK is a 4bet in this spot. You opened from EP so that has to affect villain's 3 bet range. Before you 4 bet you have to know the following:

1) How wide is his 3 bet?

2) What range of hands is he continuing with when you 4 bet.

I can tell you right off that based on your post if you put him only calling KK - JJ after your 4bet and he would shove his AA, you cannot 4bet AK for value. And in that case, I think you are much better off calling with AK rather than turning into a 4bet bluff.

Against a balanced player this is what I expect his 3 bet range to possibly look like:



Against something like this, AK is better as a call. You have to consider that you raised in EP and most players will respect that you should have a tight range from EP and will not 3 bet wide against an EP range.

After you 4 bet on this board this is what your 4 bet range should possibly look like. Since you 4bet AK, I will assume you have QQ/AK + some bluffs as your range.


AK is basically going to be check/call here.

[george]

One of the reasons I 4-bet here was because I was out of position and if I missed the flop I didn't want him to c-bet and take it down with a weaker Ace. That's why I was hoping to take it down pre-flop and get him to fold his middle pairs. But you have a point that his 3-betting range would be very tight. It was the min raise that made it very suspicious for me.

Thanks for the feedback!

[RealJPB]

"You opened from EP so that has to affect villain's 3 bet range"
I would argue that's a dangerous assumption to make against a villain you've never played with before.

[jjpregler]

I would argue that's a dangerous assumption to make against a villain you've never played with before.

How is it dangerous to assume a tight range because of the hand dynamics? If you ignore the dynamics and assume a wider range that seems way more dangerous to me.

[jjpregler]

But preflop, this is how my range is probably going to look after his 3 bet:

[CrazyEddie]

You start off saying you have an aggressive playing style. You made assumptions of what the player on button might consider folding to your 4bet such as middle pairs.. then you chk fold on flop ?? #@$@$@$

why not cbet that flop ?? Why you thought AA would have jammed preflop ? sounds to me you made a whole lot of assumptions against a player you don't know. Why did you KK would chk behind on flop ??

If turn was either ace or T ... this player probably won't be able to get away ... nobody pointing out the problem with 4bet pre , to play fit or fold on flop ... so then yeah, flatting preflop makes more sense then.