A-K Four-Handed

[Chipless Wonder]

Chad and I disagreed about the best way to play this hand, so we want to get some feedback from the gurus here...

18-player tournament and four spots pay. We're currently four-handed with blinds of 250 and 500...

Player A is UTG and goes all-in with 3,200 chips.
Player B is the chip leader with 10,500 chips and folds.
Player C re-raises all-in with 4,500 chips.
We're in the big blind with 8,800 and have A-K offsuit.

What should we do in this case and why?

[SNutizzle]

I'd say range is pretty wide for what they'd be pushing with, with the blinds being what they are.

You have them both covered, the bigger one by almost double......the chance to possibly knock out 2 players, take a big chip lead into heads up....I call.

Worse case scenario, you miss, you still have 4500 left, so enough to make another move. No one is busting YOU with this hand, yet you could bust someone probably pretty easily.

You have been given NO opportunity to play this postflop either.......it's not a call and then "what to do?" situation. You're seeing all five cards with the other 2 in for all of it. I personally think you're racing against a middle pocket pair and Ace Queen or even Ace Jack or 10.

Just my opinion.

[Goldnutz69]

I agree with stacey here. Your getting almost 3/1 on your money,and the biggest dog you can be is 2.5/1. Plus you have the added bonus of still having 4300 left if you lose. I also think thats it very unlikely that you would lose to both players. So you possibly bust two players, and most likely one of them won't survive. So even if you lose to the big stack, you move up in pay and have a decent shot at winning still.

[niner1984]

i usually have no problem laying down ak but in this situation i think you have to call. Chances you are racing with one of the players but blinds where they are i think it is a risk you have to take.

[donkeysmasher]

I would fold it. You are currently second in chips and with both of them all in two things could happen. The smaller stack loses and you are still in second or pretty much tied. The smaller stack wins and the other stack is now extremely short.(of course there could theoretically be a tie but the chance is too small to worry about.) Fold, hope the bigger stack wins and then play for the win with your stack still in tact. If one of them does wake up with aces you are a 13-1 dog. Other than that you are ok. Only a 2.3-1 dog against kings. I think a more likely scenerio though is one has a pair and the other has A-k, A-Q, or A-J. Which eats into some of your outs.

I dont see the need to call here and take the chance of tripling someone up and leaving yourself as the person that now needs to make a move. Move up a spot in the pay and leave yourself a stack to play for the win.

[King6ofClubs]

I would fold it. You are currently second in chips and with both of them all in two things could happen. The smaller stack loses and you are still in second or pretty much tied. The smaller stack wins and the other stack is now extremely short.(of course there could theoretically be a tie but the chance is too small to worry about.) Fold, hope the bigger stack wins and then play for the win with your stack still in tact. If one of them does wake up with aces you are a 13-1 dog. Other than that you are ok. Only a 2.3-1 dog against kings. I think a more likely scenerio though is one has a pair and the other has A-k, A-Q, or A-J. Which eats into some of your outs.

I dont see the need to call here and take the chance of tripling someone up and leaving yourself as the person that now needs to make a move. Move up a spot in the pay and leave yourself a stack to play for the win.

Agree 100% when i was reading it was exactly what i was gonna write

[niner1984]

I think you guys are giving a lot of credit to someone who has 6 half bb and someone who only has 9 bb. utg could have 2 napkins and the other one could have aq which to me is more likely then tens and ace queen. Even if it is tens and ace queen you still are only loosing one out i still like the call.

[Bravehearts2]

I think you guys are giving a lot of credit to someone who has 6 half bb and someone who only has 9 bb. utg could have 2 napkins and the other one could have aq which to me is more likely then tens and ace queen. Even if it is tens and ace queen you still are only loosing one out i still like the call.

I would agree more with niner above.

In addition if you consider the third possibility....

1. If you win great
2. If you lose to the bigger stack, you are not down and out.
3. If you lose to the small yet beat the other. you only lose 1900 chips (3200 less the 1300 form the bigger stack)

My maths are not good enough to calculate that, but gut feeling suggests its a good call.

[wreaks]

With your chip stack this is an easy call. If you were closer in stack size to the 3rd place guy I might fold, but the way things are this should be a call. UTG player's range is HUGE, and the repush could be anything from 77-A9s, or worse.

[D-Nut]

Yup.....I dont like to call off my money and I dont like it that it is with an unmade hand....but if I'm going into a three way pot....I'd rather have AK anyways.

This is an easy call for me. I'm against any A-x, likely any two face cards, or any PP from the UTG player. The reraiser (likely isolator....who knows the range is wide) likely has a small to mid PP that he knows cant survive a 3-way.....which sucks because we have to hit our hand....but we are basically in a race getting paid 2-1 on our money instead of the even money of a heads up.