C-Betting / Firing a second barrel AK/AQ

[teknique]

I find myself in this kind of situation a lot and I don't really feel like I play it well in general, today I think I played a few hands very badly including this one.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $5.00+$0.50 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com



CO (t1095)
Button (t1785)
SB (t2030)
Hero (BB) (t1345)
UTG (t945)
UTG+1 (t1390)
MP1 (t930)
MP2 (t1730)
MP3 (t2250)

Hero's M: 17.93

Preflop: Hero is BB with ,
6 folds, Button calls t50, SB calls t25, Hero raises to t200, Button calls t150, 1 fold

Flop: (t450) , , (2 players)
Hero bets t150, Button calls t150

Turn: (t750) (2 players)
Hero bets t150, Button raises to t300, Hero folds

Total pot: t1050

On reflection, I'm not really sure if I should have raised a larger amount PF because I was out of position if he called. Post flop, I think I should have made a larger bet on the flop and then checked/folded the turn if he was still around, But I would like to hear some opinions.

I pretty much C-bet all the time unless the pot is multi-way and I don't like my chances of improving, but I feel quite lost playing the turn when my C-bet is called.

[jmbreslin]

Your CB is way too small, you're giving good odds to drawing hands there. If you are going to CB that flop you should be betting at least 300.

That said, an argument could be made for not CBing here. After the PF raise a proper CB represents a pretty big chunk of your stack, you're out of position with a missed hand, and that flop is a pretty good one for hands that might have limped and called your raise.

[teknique]

[ciaran]

[jmbreslin]

[ImBetterDude]

I think you played the hand alright until the flop.

When I am deciding whether or not to throw out a C Bet, I look at the board and think to myself, "Self, does this look like a flop that my opponent would hit?" And this flop would hit pretty much any hand worth limping/calling a raise, don't you think? You can assume he limped with medium/large cards, and being that you have both an A and a K, you can put him on J's and Q's and 10's maybe, right? At least one of those cards he probably holds, and that board connects very nicely with his perspective hole cards.

Checking isn't always weak, especially if you're kinda tricky and throw in a check/raise from time to time. A K is a strong hand and I like that you didn't over bet it here to merely swoop the blinds and limp. You padded the pot with a nice little preflop raise, and because it was little, it allowed you to get away from the hand if you missed the flop and encountered strength, which apparently you have.

Next time I think you should play it the same way, and if you miss the flop, try checking. Maybe he'll check behind and you'll complete your hand on the turn.

[leofric]

I think one of the issues preflop is whether or not you want the button to come along. If you don't then you obviously raise higher whereas if you don't mind playing AK out of position then.... well why not just check? Given the stack sizes its not an unreasonable way of seeing the flop before deciding what you want to do.

On the flop itself I'd probably look for a slightly bigger c-bet. You missed the flop and although you have maybe 10 outs I wouldnt want to be drawing on them. With a pot of 450 it doesnt make much sense to bet 150 and give him 4:1 odds to call.

That said I'd probably look to bet around 300 which would come to around the same as you put in anyway on the flop and turn.

And of course you can always claim the 150 is really a blocking bet!!

[ImBetterDude]

I'm not sure if checking AK from the BB with a few limpers is ever a good idea, though I'm far from a poker guru. In fact, I don't think I've ever limped AK or checked/called from the BB/SB. RARELY I'll open-limp with AK from UTG in hope that some over ambitious donk raises behind me and I can 3 bet him...but I do that play maybe 1/10 times I get AK from UTG. Normally I just raise.

[ciaran]

[leofric]