Hi

I got involved in a hand at the vic the other night and wanted some feedback.

Sat down and literally the first hand I am dealt so no reads on the table.

I sit with 400 everyone covers.

I'm dealt AQos utg+2, utg opens for 20, utg+1 calls, I call as do 3 other players.

Flop(120)
q 3 4 dd

utg opens for 75, utg+1 folds, I raise to 225, hj calls, sb calls and is all in, everyone else folds.

Turn(870)
9

I shove for 155 more, hj calls and wins with a set of 4's sb had flush draw.

Any suggestions how I could have played this differently? I obviously don't want to be playing such a big pot with tptk but given the that the board was so wet on the flop how could I have played it differently from ep? I felt as though there was a strong chance that both players were on a draw and I don't feel as though I could risk checking the turn and giving them a free card.

Maybe there is a case for me 3 betting pf, as it is unlikely the hj calls with 44.

Any feedback appreciated.

Cheers

Call or fold flop.
UTG bets flop into 5 other players (120 in the pot he raised 20 pre)he could easily have AA or KK.

Raising is more of a bluff than anything else, guess if you're lucky he could fold AA or KK and you may get in vs someone nut flush draw or combo draw ...
And folding preflop is totally fine too, you have no reads on other players and a hand that can be dominated (or i should say that has reverse implied odds, you won't win much vs someone QJs on a Q high board IMO but you may lose a bunch vs AA or KK flopping Q high, or vs AK on A high.
With AQs i would flat, with AQo i think you can fold (even more when you just sat and have no reads on how tight UTG open raises from this position).

Good point, the reality was I had just come off 3 sessions of running bad and had played a session earlier the same day where I had been card dead for hours, so to get dealt AQ felt like the nuts and in my mental state there was no way I wasn't playing it.

What do you think about 3 betting pre to isolate the utg raiser and hopefully push players acting behind out of the pot. I'd feel fairly comfortable going to the flop hu and ip with this hand.

I like 3 betting pre. As played I don't really see the point of raising the flop. We get called by better and fold out worse.

The more I think about it the more I like 3 betting pre.

I was raising flop to push out draws, given the texture of the board I felt there would likely be some, although having looked at my bet sizing on the flop they would probably have been priced in anyway so maybe redundant.