Absolute Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
6 players
Converter

Hero: $223
Villan covers

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with A Q
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $4, Hero raises to $13, 3 folds, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: 8 A 8 ($27.5, 2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $19, UTG+1 raises to $47,



What to do here?

this is a [censored] spot, AQ can be a pain to play. anyhow, i think without reads that villain is a maniac you should let this one go because he isn't doing this with AJ, or <=KK. does anyone have a different strategy for play on this? in 3b pots against normal players, AQ is often a bluff catcher isn't it?

i let this go also without a read. Villain villain isnt doing this with anything you beat.

check the flop. as played I guess fold even though it's gross

Why?

Tough spot. He's cold called our 3bet OOP which is kinda scarier than him 4 betting. I hate AQ in pots like this, you're gonna beat KK-99, lose to AK and AA, and tie AQ. Him c/r this flop w/ any of those pockets is a bold play. I think I'm calling once and hoping for a hopefully free showdown, which we should get if he's on KK or less. Folding here is also OK. Again some sort of stats on villain would get you better responses.

Hm - I think a check behind might be nice actually. FWIW if we bet flop I'd make it closer to pot ~85%.

Well if I check, that will definatly show weakness, and as you all said my hand is weak here. But if I do check, it gives the pot control his way, and he can be betting with JQ sooted or something, I have no clue where I would be.


Now if I check, he bets 18 or something and turn was a 5, now what am I doing there? Do I call the $40 bet there?

History is probably the most important piece of information here, of which you have provided none.

Um, would've you like him to be betting QJs on the turn? Why not give him the chance to bluff. Basically no hands you beat are going to be in this hand to call your flop bet. You're either way ahead of way behind. So check the flop and get more value from 99-KK, or let him bluff whatever trash you have. Betting just gets played back at by better hands and lets worse hands off the hook.

Also reads help :P

OK thats stating obv. Lets say he bets $40 on turn I call. River is a 2, he bets $100, now what do you do?

Like I said reads will help with this. And I'd prob call turn and fold to a large river bet. If he's aggro and likes to pounce on weakness I'll call the large river bet.

The point is that when the action involves you checking the flop and calling on later streets you're more apt to get money in ahead, as opposed to when you bet the flop and only get played back at /called by better hands. See what I mean?

Betting the flop makes the hand easier to play sure, but it's definitely not the most +EV, I think this is fairly obvios to be honest and I'm not trying to be a douche. I believe without a better read checking the flop here should be standard with a lot of your range.

Good reasoning. However, what do we do if we ck behind flop, call ~pot bet from him on turn, and then he shoves river? Fold I guess, but its hard to tell w/ no info on villain on whats prolly a pretty read dependent spot.

I think if you're calling the flop it should be because you plan on playing for stacks imo.

i think where shpanko is going is that paired board flops are very easy to C/R in his spot. By checking you do not give him pot control because you have position. It simply keeps the pot smaller. I check behind 35% with AQ here depending on villian.

It underreps your hand and he is firing any turn more than likely and you must reason on how much to raise. This gives you pot control back and he cant call unless he really is holding an 8.

If he bets turn and you call and he shoves river then yeah it's still gonna be a tough spot, but you'll get more money in ahead this way. And I'd prob fold without a read bceause most villains don't have it in them to fire huge bluffs in a RR'ed A high pot. He might bet the turn but I doubt he's bluffing/betting a worse hand for value on two streets.

i agree shpanko, but why wouldn't you raise a lead on the turn?

Really villain dependent, which is why reads are so important here. This hand could go either way depending on how aggressive villain has been etc

why would we raise a lead on the turn?

Only if we think villain's calling range is > than his river bluffing range which is impossible to know without history, so raising the turn vs an unknown kinda sucks here.

i think it gives us the most information about his hand...c/r on flop he could have anything...but for him to 3 bet the turn he has to have an 8, nothing else IMO

so we turn our hand into a bluff then? Cuz I doubt he's ever calling a turn raise with a worse hand.

You gotta realize that making the hand easier to play is not the most +EV line here.

raising for information here is stupid and expensive. like everyone has said, no worse hands will call. i like shpankos line, c/c turn, and c/c a reasonable river bet. someone once mentioned AQ is just a trumped up AJ after all, right?

im not raising for purely information, our hand is best here ALOT

ok if you raise turn then you obviously can't fold to a shove. And tbh I think that's spew without any reads, but whatever.

I can't say I see the pros of a trn raise come anywhere close to the cons for reasons stated above.