it would be good if we could play out this hand step-by-step so please bear with me. (i think that divulging too much of the hand at once can influence opinions on intermediate steps.)

i initially thought the hand was fairly standard but i reconsidered after a few friends (who are no MTT n00bs) disagreed with how i played it

field in this event was generally decent so we must take all edges.

below are some (admittedly) detailed player descriptions - just want you guys (and gals) to form your own conclusions on players' tendencies/ranges/etc. based on observations (mainly re: Villain 2) rather than on a vague description from me (e.g., 'very aggro online pro')

player descriptions:

• Villain 1 (CO) is a standard young, aggro player. nothing notable to say. as it's his 2nd or 3rd orbit at table.
• Villain 2 (BTN) seems to be a well-regarded young pro (24 yrs). the other pro at the table seems to know him from other tourneys (and they certainly have history based on how certain hands played out). from the discussion, Villain 2 had a deep run at some tourney in the Bahamas which I believe was televised as a couple of the players recognized him (hero had no clue who he was). he had been opening quite a bit from btn/co; he doesn't seem to have gotten out of line with 3-bets (based on showdowns) but he has 3-bet a fair bit up until the hand in question (not excessive but def not nitty). here are two notable hands, neither of which seemed to be tilt-induced:
  • he did a weird NY backraise earlier with AKs - he (Villain 2) flatted on BTN (250bb stack) after CO (150bb; this player is no longer at the table) opened for 3bb, SB (150bb; the other pro who seemed to know him) 3-bet to 10bb, it folded back around to CO who called, Villain 2 backraised to 34bb, SB folded, CO jammed all in for 150bb (with 55) and lost to Villain 2's AKs (lol @ CO's back-back-raise for 150bb with 55)
  • in another hand, he called a BTN's ~18-20bb open jam with Q9o from BB (he had a 200bb stack at the time)

hand:

Borgata 6-max NLHE ($1000+$90) (live)
50 minute levels
Day 1 of 2

Level 4: 200/400/50 ante
5-handed

CO: 20k
BTN: 80k
Hero: 22k

Preflop (Hero is in BB with A Q):
1 fold, CO raises to 800, BTN raises to 1850, SB folds, Hero?

~4k/f looks proper to me, calling caps our range and we're vulnerable to OR's squeeze (which might be very wide)

$1000+90 doesn't seem like mid-stakes to me!

Given descriptions and stack sizes, hard to see how BTN is folding here to anything less than a 4-bet that would commit you to an all-in call if he shoves back, so seems like either flat or shove. Description of CO doesn't suggest that he's going to squeeze if you flat here. I call here. (But I've been told that I'm a terrible player. )

Yeah I'm seeing a flop for 1800.

Wow..I dont know what to do..

When you 4b you only accomplish worst hands and a few flips to fold..

The problem w/ calling is what Alexo said.. you induce a lot of squeeze that you wont be able to call and caps our range pretty much.

Anyway I think I would end up calling, hoping CO doesn't squeeze and keeping a lot of dominated hands in their range...

call
flop?

in-game, hero thought that it would be weak to flat call nearly 10% of our stack only to then c/f on low-card (non-spade) flops. also, folding seemed out of question....therefore we must....4b/gii (!). (this was my thought process at the time)

is it optimistic to assume that villain will gii with 88+, AQ+ given (i) the dynamic of BB vs. BTN, (ii) hero's reraising frequency up until that point and (iii) the fact that hero's stack represents a fraction of villain's stack?

Preflop (Hero is in BB with A Q):
1 fold, CO raises to 800, BTN raises to 1850, SB folds, Hero raises to 3,700, CO folds, BTN raises all in for 22,000 (eff), Hero calls and loses race against Villain's 9 9

was it reckless as played?

Cold call is the worst option here. (for obv reasons)
I think a 4bet here looks super strong, so i will 4bet/f, but then again, i don´t blame you for going broke here, i mean it´s LP vs Blinds in a 6max, against *wich seems* to be a really aggro/spewy V, idk
Also Hero´s image is really important here

This is a great question at this spot!!

I really dont seem to like the min 4 bet here, ok turns out villain had 9s and was shoving on you anyhow, but why min 4 bet with still two people still in the pot?
Is this not polarizing your hand then!!
preferably i would flat the 3 bet and see the flop as cheaply, although there is talk then if we completely miss the flop we are easily exploitable by c/f..

would love to hear the other views on this matter

I still prefer calling pre and seeing 3. If co jams and button folds it's tough (but call), if btn and co both gii then fold, if co calls (by far most likely) then take a flop and stack many dominated Ax and Qx co hands, c/jam some draws etc. not sure call is worst option at all.

Ps c/jam is going to have rather good FE vv 99 on majority of cj flops