Overplaying AK in 3bet/4bet pots

I lost nearly 4 buyins and my bankroll is 850$.  I had a bad run and i played reasonably weak but most of all I think I just had a bad run.

In  a few situations I had to play AK in 3bet/4bet pots in and out of position, sometimes with big effective stacks and I didn't really know what the right move was.  In this post I'll try to look at some of those situations and try to come up with some thoughts to be able to have more confidence in making decisions if those situations come up again.

Some links i've come across while reading about AK in 3bet pots:

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/ak-3bet-preflop-t49313.html

http://www.deucescracked.com/forums/8-Beginner-Small-Stakes-NLHE/topics/5838-A-K-in-3bet-pot?page=1

http://www.leggopoker.com/forums/small-stakes/200nl-i-stink-3bet-pots-2233.html

Here are some of the hands i played:

Hand 1: AK in pos, vs. a 3bet.

Villain is 16/ 8 / 7.4 3b / 20 af

What is the right move after the 3bet? Villain 3bets smallish OOP so he must probably be strong, villain 3bets 7.4% of the time. Range could be JJ+, AK.

The options are calling, folding or 4betting.

Calling:

You hit AK around 32% of the time. When hit it's quite likely that you're ahead and you can play from there, when not hit it's an easy fold to a cbet.

Folding:

3bet ranges in lowlimit games are quite tight, in this particular case 7.4% of the hands are 3betted though which isn't particularly tight.  When 3bet percentage drops to < 5% i think folding AK could be a good idea. Cause even when you hit your K villain could have hit a set, split with AK or even dominate with AA

4betting:

You really want to take the pot down preflop with AK type of hands. So 4betting against a reasonably light 3better seems like a good play. But 7.4% 3bet isn't extremely light and since he's 3betting smallish OOP his range tightens. I think 4betting would be better when being OOP.

I think in this example i should have called the 3bet and fold the flop or maybe even fold preflop.  After the 4bet shove i should have layed away because a big part of his range dominates or splits with AK and the rest of the range is basically a coinflip.

Hand 2 Another example:

CO opens with 3bb, SB calls, I Squeeze with AKs to 14bb, CO pushes with around 100BB. I only have 6 hands of this guy but his huge overbet seems weird. I don't really know what range to give this guy, I wonder if AK wins very much by calling cause alot of times it will be a coinflip, sometimes i'll dominate AQ or AJ maybe?? and some other times i'm dominated by AA, KK.

 

Hand 4: Example of In position Call and Hit with AKs:

Coutinho is 37/24 / 17.6 3bet / 9af  after 41 hands

I decide to call in pos and hit a K on the flop. Because the board brings a flushdraw i decide to raise his CBet ( i think i better could have called because the flop isn't that draw heavy and i only fold out worse hands with a raise and lose money to hands to dominate me.

Hand 5: This is another example of a reraise on the flop which should have been a call. Almost exact same situation:

 

Hand 6: An example of AK OOP

Here i decide to call vs a 3bet from villain which is 31/21 / 7.1 3b / 38 af after 39 hands.  

In this situation i should have just fold or 4bet.

Hand 7 Silly 3 way pot:

BigMacTM squeezes after i opened from CO and got a button caller.  Villain is 16/ 10 / 6.3 3b% / 35 af after 160 hands.  Here i decide to call which is stupid because i give the button player odds to see a flop. I should have folded or make a 4bet.

 

Hand 8: Just when you thought it couldn't be played stupidier.

Here i 3bet myself and get 4betted by a guy who has position on me and has stats 15 / 12 / 5.1 3b% / 40 after 171 hands and i Call!!! Stacks are deep but considering his 3bet% its a fold or 5bet (shove)?

 

Anyways those were a couple of examples. I'll be more carefull to not overplay AK and to not call AK OOP and to fold more against 3bets when villains aren't loose.

 

Good luck at the tables! NLFish