my first real 2-5 hand, table full of regs and the game was pretty loose. a lot of limp/calling and raising going on.

Villain: defly a reg, not much info right then, but from what I saw later on he's a pretty solid player. (covers)

Hero: bought in for 600, (relatively shallow for the game), just another asian guy with sunglasses.

Preflop:

Villain limps from MP, co limps, hero at small blind with AQo (no ) just calls, big blind checks.

Given it was my first hand against the 2-5 regs at the table, and seen how they always limp/call, I felt that AQo was not a very strong hand to play from out of position against good players that I have no reads on.

Flop: (20)

Q 10 6

Hero checks, bb checks, villain in MP leads out for 25, CO calls, hero calls, BB calls

This is where I played horrible, my plan was to c/r the flop since I was certain that I had the best hand, but after MP led out, CO just flatted the bet, I got lost of where I was in the hand, QT is a pretty wet board, if i raise and shoved back by a combo draw, am I comfortable getting it in on the flop..

anyways, my read on the villain was that he had a Q or a T

Turn: (120)

5

Total brick, I lead out for 100, bb folds, villain in MP calls, co folds

I was pretty happy with what happened on the turn, I felt villain had a Q and if a brick came on the river, I could easily get another bet of 150 in.

River: (320)
4

flush draw got there, I decided to c/c the river, I check, he checks instantly behind with Q5

he said he put me on a flush draw after the hand, and I was way too embarrassed to show my horribly played AQ. Silver lining is that if I'm being result oriented, by playing horrible I've saved money..LOL

if I c/r the flop and got it in on the turn, I'd have lost it all...

anyways, what do u guys think about the flop play, next time should I take a lead out or c/r line on that flop in a similar situation?

Wow this is pretty bad. I think you should move back down to 1/2 until you get better or else just be prepared for a big downswing.

1. Raise PF.

2. Lead Flop

As played I think not CRing the flop is bad w/ your hand. And him not shoving the turn on you is pretty bad as well.

He open limps Q5s in MP and then doesn't raise you on the turn when he turns top and bottom on that board. And your observation of him is a solid reg....I think you've got a lot of work to do.

ye, he said he was gonna shove the turn and truthfully I told him that I was proly folding to a shove on the turn...

yep, it was my first hand, I was a bit timid, didn't wanna go broke on the first hand..so I played horrible, but I don't think my PF play was that bad, against unknowns with AQo from the small blind, I don't think not raising was that bad of a play.

This might seem like weird or contradictory advice for those who have read my PAHWM TT thread, but in this particular situation I think that not raising pre-flop is a big mistake.

4 people to the flop with AQ off suit means that anybody can have virtually anything. That means you have practically no information - which goes perfectly with your unfamiliarity with every single opponent at the table. Yikes!

My personal rule of thumb, no more than 3 people to a flop unless I'm set-mining or I have a suited Ace suited or JT offsuit. How would you have played AA, KK, or QQ in that spot?

As played, yes, check-raise the hell out of that flop. Being a noob to that limit, I would have made a ridiculous raise - like $200. Chances are good that you're ahead. With that kind of move, even the guy with T6 is probably afraid to call you. By the river, there's most likely a lot of hands beating you.

In this case, the poker cliche of scared money = dead money is correct. Do you ever watch High Stakes Poker? Observe those guys. 90% of the time, the only reason they limp with AQ is because they're in early position and they're hoping someone raises down the line.


VS

Wow...I disagree with most of what is said here.

So? Unless table is willing to give up the hands after limping to a raise of $40 - $50, any raise would simply bloat up the pot and probably doesn't even narrow the range of the limpers.

Again, it all depends, but in most LLSNL tables, raising big from OOP hoping to thin the field is a pretty big leak IMO.

LOL, yes, you will probably pick up the pot majority of the times for few dollars worth of profit, and rest of the time you get stacked by weird two pairs or set.

If that's how you plan on playing a hand like AQ against multiple limpers, you will go broke pretty fast and probably throw a few tantrums at the table because your opponents limped with two random cards on the button.

HSP is never a good reference to any LLSNL plays.

c/c river is the worst river line out of the 3 IMO. c/fold>b/fold>c/call. IMO, the reg's river c/back is either terrible or very good, depending on what level he's on/he assumes you're on. You shouldn't have a c/call range on this river really at all, and I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt in that his c/back was because he felt you were never calling a bet w/ worse or you were gonna c/raise. No good reg is going to have a wide enough bluff range here to make c/calling good, and they are never having a value range that we beat (let alone a single hand in it, really). He'd have to be have a pretty damn good read on the situation to bluff here with something like QJ or A10 or whatever, which IMO, are his only real hands he can bluff with since a good reg is never going to call the turn with naked KJ.

What's our plan against a re-raise?

To OP raise preflop for value and lead this flop every time for value. C/C river makes no sense, villain has a made hand scared of the flush that got there or has just made a flush, so you can imagine what is betting the river with.

by c/c the river I actually meant I never expected him to bet the river, I was 100% sure that he had a Q on the turn, so in the rarest cases he decides to bet the river with a flush on board, I'd call.

I just didn't have a plan for a shove on the flop if I raised..I don't think my hand is good enough to get it in on the flop, although is hard to imagine CO wouldn't raise a hand like QT himself, but villain could have a wide range of hands that I wasn't comfortable getting it in with on the flop

If this is how you are planning on playing your AQ on this board, you will go broke so quick, especially if your goal is to get smaller 2 pairs to fold. What value are you really going to get after you raise then? The only action you would get is from sets and top 2, which our equity is like 10% then. This means by raising we risk a lot and win a tiny pot by folding out all decent hands, and getting stacked the rest of the time. I assume since you limp TT, you are limping AQ here too right? (not attacking you, just asking a question)