[jojobinks]

Saw Flop | Saw Turn | Saw River | Saw Showdown | Won

POKERSTARS GAME #3261537456: TOURNAMENT #16146239, HOLD'EM NO LIMIT - LEVEL I (10/20) - 2005/12/06 - 21:00:20 (ET)
Table '16146239 1' Seat #3 is the button

o]O2[o - t3990
festus_9 - t270
cudabarra Button - t1730
RaleighRodeo - t1330
alvo23 - t160
Teeoffgolf - t1450
jojobinks - t1500
RiverRising - t3070

PREFLOP undefined
jojobinks is UTG+1 with K A
Teeoffgolf raises t40 to t60

no reads on anyone. this is level I, where i fold and wait until level III.

so what next...?

[CaptLego]

what the heck...
From the distribution of those stacks still at level 1, I'd say they're not afraid to mix it up. (Except maybe for UTG, and Jojo). If you're gonna tangle with them, AKo is a pretty good hand to go to war with.

I'd make it $180 to go.

[Pavel6969]

I'd riase to 180 or 240 and see what happens next.

[VARoadstter]

I like popping it up to 180.

He may fold, that's fine.
He may call, also fine. You can play the flop with knowledge that your opponent has something worthy of a call.
He may raise. This early, you don't know if he's the bluffing type, the type that overplayes a naked ace, or is tight as a rock. If he comes back with a 3x or all-in raise I probably let the hand go (only because it's so early, obviously one could argue for taking it to the limit). If he minraises, I'll call and see a flop.

[Fins]

I was thinking raise to $120... are the stacks b/f after posting I can't remember.

[littlebu]

I'd bump it up to $150 and see how he plays it. Him either folding or calling is fine by me here.

[jojobinks]

Saw Flop | Saw Turn | Saw River | Saw Showdown | Won

POKERSTARS GAME #3261537456: TOURNAMENT #16146239, HOLD'EM NO LIMIT - LEVEL I (10/20) - 2005/12/06 - 21:00:20 (ET)
Table '16146239 1' Seat #3 is the button

o]O2[o - t3990
festus_9 - t270
cudabarra Button - t1730
RaleighRodeo - t1330
alvo23 - t160
Teeoffgolf - t1450
jojobinks- t1500
RiverRising - t3070

PREFLOP undefined
jojobinks is UTG+1 with K A
Teeoffgolf raises t40 to t60, jojobinks calls t60,

okay, here's the thing. UTG made a raise. my experience at this level tells me that a raise and a reraise from UTG and UTG +1 doesn't mean much to these guys. my experience tells me that if i reraise to 180 here, i risk playing a big pot 3 or 4 handed with a hand that only flops relatively strong 30% of the time. a big move the online maniacs like to make is this. if the flop comes ragged, and i bet 3/4 of the pot, they assume i'm bluffing and just call. then on the turn, if i still don't hit, and i check to them, they go all in and i have to fold. then i'm out at least 1/3 of my stack with an unimproved AK! maybe it was just last night, but i was tired of that. even if i do flop an A or K, one of these guys is likely to flop something suckoutable against me. i don't think that playing a big pot OOP early on is something desirable. so i'm hoping to keep the pot smallish, and keep my options open. so i just call. then...

1 fold, o]O2[o calls t60, 3 folds, alvo23 raises t100 to t160, Teeoffgolf calls t100, jojobinks ...?

correction to the OP. alvo is a maniac. he crippled himself with nothing more than a 5 high flush draw on a paired board. he's an idiot and i don't respect his push at all. now, the pot is 440-ish, and it's 100 back to me. i already have two opponents in for 160, and o]O2[o left to act. i don't know anything about teeoffgolf or o]O2[o (except that he made aces full against alvo).

so what do i do now?

[CaptLego]

Originally Posted by jojobinks

okay, here's the thing. UTG made a raise. my experience at this level tells me that a raise and a reraise from UTG and UTG +1 doesn't mean much to these guys. my experience tells me that if i reraise to 180 here, i risk playing a big pot 3 or 4 handed with a hand that only flops relatively strong 30% of the time. a big move the online maniacs like to make is this. if the flop comes ragged, and i bet 3/4 of the pot, they assume i'm bluffing and just call. then on the turn, if i still don't hit, and i check to them, they go all in and i have to fold. then i'm out at least 1/3 of my stack with an unimproved AK! maybe it was just last night, but i was tired of that. even if i do flop an A or K, one of these guys is likely to flop something suckoutable against me. i don't think that playing a big pot OOP early on is something desirable. so i'm hoping to keep the pot smallish, and keep my options open. so i just call. then...

1 fold, o]O2[o calls t60, 3 folds, alvo23 raises t100 to t160, Teeoffgolf calls t100, jojobinks ...?

correction to the OP. alvo is a maniac. he crippled himself with nothing more than a 5 high flush draw on a paired board. he's an idiot and i don't respect his push at all. now, the pot is 440-ish, and it's 100 back to me. i already have two opponents in for 160, and o]O2[o left to act. i don't know anything about teeoffgolf or o]O2[o (except that he made aces full against alvo).

so what do i do now?

I see your problem with the pf raise, but I still would have preferred that. With a pf raise, you have a chance to take down the pot or isolate UTG with position on him. As it is, you've priced in a big stack who has position on you. If you do raise pf and get lots of callers, then you probably have to give up the hand on the flop when your AK is unimproved. I've found that the continuation bets can get you into a lot of trouble with a family pot.

As it stands now, I'd call and hope to hit the flop.

[Fins]

Originally Posted by jojobinks

i just call. then...

1 fold, o]O2[o calls t60, 3 folds, alvo23 raises t100 to t160, Teeoffgolf calls t100, jojobinks ...?

correction to the OP. alvo is a maniac. he crippled himself with nothing more than a 5 high flush draw on a paired board. he's an idiot and i don't respect his push at all. now, the pot is 440-ish, and it's 100 back to me. i already have two opponents in for 160, and o]O2[o left to act. i don't know anything about teeoffgolf or o]O2[o (except that he made aces full against alvo).

so what do i do now?

Well... unfortunately O2 has entered the pot... my thinking w/ the raise to 120 as I thought there was a good chance alvo was pushing... maniac or not... so you were probably looking at multiway in any case and wanted a minimum amount in the pot.

... I call & hope O2 does the same and when he pushes I fold and chalk it up to my large downswing luck as of late and then slam the table when O2 shows his 10's vs alvo's Q8o vs Tee's AQs on a KKx flop.

[SpaceMonkey]

I probably would have only called preflop myself. At this point I'd either fold or push depending on my mood. I supposed calling is an option, but not one I'm thrilled with. Like you said, you don't really want to get involved in a big pot OOP this early. What's the plan for the flop if you do call here? What happens if the flop comes K9x, KQx, etc, you lead out and then you get popped? Do you check/fold a missed hand? Do you fold pre-flop if the large stack re-raises?

Why did the UTG smooth call the SS all in rather than re-raise? Does he have KK+ looking to milk the pot, or is he not that strong? Lots of questions for so early in the tourney.