2-3-5ds game plays like a 5-T with most people buying in for $1-$2k

Hero tag 26 asian $1000
Villian loose generally passive but can make plays occasionally. $1000

Straddle to $10
Random raises LJ to $40
Villian calls HJ $40
Co calls $40
Hero sb 3bets to $160
Random folds
Villian back raises to $340

Folds to hero
What is hero's play with AK?
What is hero's play with QQ?

With ak i feel it is a shove because we hold blockers to aa-kk and generally need to see all 5 cards.
With qq i think calling can be an option since his range holds more aa kk ak. And usually live fish dont like stacking off with just ak, so even though qq has better equity than ak if we gii against aa kk ak, not really since hes unlikely to call a shove with ak. Also flatting keeps in weaker hands like jj.

Then again flatting this 4bet and playing QQ oop with spr 1:1 seems pretty bad. Not like were ever folding on a rag board, and the a/k will come 1 out of 3 times which puts us in an akward spot.

But if ak feels like such a slam dunk shove why does it feel so awkward to do it with a hand that is actually better: QQ

Online i fistpump shove qq because i know villians will stack off with ak, live not so much. If i shove hes probably only calling with aa/kk.

lol backraises.

This is completely game/villain specific, and posters here can't really comment with the reads you provide.

Lets say you just sat down at the table, first hand no reads, because that is essentially the spot i was in

In game i had AK, but I started thinking about the hand afterwards and wondered what i would do if i had QQ instead

If the game is always 2/3/5/T, it's probably a shrug + jam with either hand.

Otherwise, I probably just fold everything that isn't KK+ due to clowny sizing.

Id say it straddles about half the time. Like i said, game basically is a 5-T
I think his backraise is super weird and suspicious, since he was in lp, but his sizing is good. Just around the 33% commitment threshold. Dont think he knows about commitment thresholds or anything, he prolly just rando spazz raised a good size.


Regardless i really dont think we can ever fold here.

I forgot to mention another read, he actually limped utg and 3bet me with aks a few hands prior.

Haven't seen too many backraises that weren't the nuts.

Really? I see it all the time. Backraises especially from late position generally contain a weaker range than only AA KK. Obv player dependent and all.

Anyways thats why i feel good shoving ak here since we do have blockers which cuts down the likelyhood of him having AA or KK by 50%
6 vs 12 combos.

When you 3b from SB and get back raised anyway it has to be a pretty strong hand unless V is a total idiot. Vs sizing screams AA, seems like QQ/KK/AK would raise more. Shoving with AK can't be terrible with all the dead money but I would expect to run into KK+ most of the time.

Well i had AK and felt it was a pretty trivial shove. I dont usually 5bet jam ak live, but vs suspicious backraisers or vs online aggro players who can 3/4bet, i feel pretty good jamming ak.


Villian tanked and finally called with qq. We ran it twice and he won both boards. W/e

I guess if i had QQ id probably jam as well, but i wouldnt be too happy if he called.


Also why do people say AK vs QQ is a coinflip? Its 57/43 in favor of QQ. Granted by the time you gii pre theres likely a ton of dead money so it doesnt matter but still.

At 5/T your not really deep and the 2/3/5/T setup your actually playings means your really close to being short. Given stack sizes, and an unknown villain, I think this is a sigh/shove either way.

I suspect you feel better with AK then QQ here because with AK you will rarely be crushed. You will be slightly behind pairs a lot, but rarely run into AA/KK. With QQ your ahead of more of their range, but when you are beat your way behind.

i feel like a backraise from this player in this position is usually AQ ak 99+

With ak i just pile it in here