No reads. Same table as my other post; $100 max, etc.. I feel weird about the river, talk myself out of leading and wonder what I'll do if he bets big.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (8 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FCP)

saw flop|saw showdown

UTG+1 ($132.05)
MP1 ($97)
MP2 ($105.30)
CO ($100)
Button ($64.25)
SB ($120.85)
DonkSlayer ($91.95)
UTG ($42.40)

Preflop: DonkSlayer is BB with Q , A .
5 folds, Button raises to $3, SB calls $2.50, DonkSlayer calls $2.

Flop: ($9) 6 , A , K (3 players)
SB checks, DonkSlayer checks, Button bets $5, SB folds, DonkSlayer calls $5.

Turn: ($19) 3 (2 players)
DonkSlayer checks, Button bets $9, DonkSlayer calls $9.

River: ($37) Q (2 players)
DonkSlayer checks

i re-raise pf, against a button raise i would think A-Q plays very well against his range

i either go ahead and lead the turn or c/r it, you probably have the best hand and want to try to get him to pay off with a king, he might not put you on an ace since you c/c on the flop

i lead the river, and probably throw up if he raises

I view this as a button steal and a two-bullets-fired follow up. I don't think he'd play a set this hard on a completely draw-free board. It looks to me like he wanted to take it down PF, he wanted to take it down on the flop, and suddenly became pot committed to a hand he feels he can only win through aggression. You can certainly check the river, and expect a $18-24ish bet so you can table what is most likely the best hand. About the only hand we really hate right now is A6.

On second thought, i like the river check. I think we can squeeze another stab out of him, and I don't see him putting any more money in if we bet the river. If he's close to tilting, then we would welcome a re-shove, but he's valuebet for you twice, let him do it again.

Meh. I guess I don't hate it. Since we're calling any bet, I like to stimulate a bigger bet here by leading the action. $20 ... sound about right?

The only reason to call from the bb with AQ here is to diguise the strength of your hand. When you hit the Ace you have to follow through with your plan(if this was ur plan) and stack him a small bet on the river would do this if he thinks your weak expect a big reraise and just push in and stack him if he has you beat oh well. Now if you had reraised preflop you would have defined his hand. Sounds to me you may may be a passive player loose probably if your calling when you think your beat. You never tried to get a read of where you were at. Have to be more aggressive here. Also know ur opponent is he capable of firing 2 bullets on a bluff.

You really want to re-raise PF with a raise and a call ahead of you with AQos? I agree 100% we are well off against the button, but are we that well off against the SB? Are we counting on the button to fold, giving us position post flop on the SB? Give me your two cents on this, please!

I disagree. I really like the way hero played this hand. Reraising preflop is an option but the table is aggressive and the raiser is the btn so I like the smooth call. I think if the hero raises the flop or turn here he helps villain to play his hand better. No way he is expecting us to show up with AQ here. I would lead this river for $30, obv call push.

Pretty sure SB is repopping if he has AQ beat, unless he is a total moron. The table is aggressive and the raiser is on the btn, I think we are ahead of both opponents the majority of the time, so reraising is fine. I don't mind the call either. You can go either way with your preflop decision in this hand, it just depends on what line you want to take.

I think this can be looked at 2 ways:

1. B/c the button is short stacking, he is probably more likely to let marginal hands get away. So 3betting preflop will win this hand a lot.

2. The button is more likely to commit chips post flop with weaker hands



Postflop:
I would love to see a flop or turn c/r...preferably the turn c/r since that is such a weak bet by him...I raise that up to about 30.

the SB can have a wide range here also that we beat, A-x suited, A-J, A-10, K-Q, K-J, K-10, Q-J, we can probably fold out some small pairs...there is no reason not to re-raise, not saying the call is really bad, but i much prefer the re-raise

I'm sorry, but if this play isn't in your arsenal, you're leaving a lot of money on the table.

Oh, it is. I suffer from tourney mentality.. That's why I ask questions instead of give advice in the cash game section of the forum

Since I don't suck postflop and I know my hand is strong against 2 opponents, AND I'm OOP, I decided to just take a flop here, knowing that the button was likely firing at least one bullet, if we checked to him, that would be worth calling/raising. To say it another way, I'm usually more interested in losing a little if I whiff on the flop and winning much if I do hit.

Also, I *think* that the villain fires a third bullet on the river with a wider range of hands that I beat than he calls a meaningful value bet with. Thoughts?

I'd say the preflop action can go either way. The same player can play it either way and just have different approaches to the hand depending on what he did. Just supposing this was one of the times you smooth call preflop...

I call the flop and lead the turn and hope to confuse the hell out of the button and have him try to make some thin calls if we're lucky enough that he does have a piece of this board.

I'd lead the river since he fired 2 bullets already and might not fire a 3rd without a real hand. Lead out with $20ish and call a push. If he has us beat then just reload. I think we are ahead anyway and he has AT-ish or busted straight/flush draw. Like possibly QhJh.

There's nothing wrong with how the OP played it pf, but I think most of the time you want to be raising there. But yeah, just to balance out your play, checking is fine.

what did he have?...please dont say J 10!

Hi DS (been a while)

Lead the river for $15. Since you don't belong to the church of pot commitment, I'll let you decide for yourself what to do if villain pushes to give you nearly 3-1. But I would say that if we're leading this, we're not folding it.

But the main purpose of the lead isn't to induce a river reraise bluff. The half pot bets on the flop and turn seem like pot control with a mediocre A. The turn bet especially seems like, "I'm betting here so I can check behind on the river." Leading for $15 is enough where even a mediocre A will be compelled to call a lot of the time.

If he's got air and is a thinking opponent at all, I'm skeptical he fires the third bullet often enough where hero check-calling is more profitable than leading against a weakly made A. The reason is because from flop to river, to the villain, the board doesn't develop in a way that hands you could have are devalued vis-a-vis what he could potentially have any more than they were on the flop and turn (unless villain thinks that you think he could be betting a gutter draw that hit, which is doutful). I think it's pretty clear by the river you've got an A and you're not going away, so I think a lot of time the villain just gives up instead of firing the 3rd barrel.

Quite right. Reraising this preflop is just a spew. It's AQo, OOP against a raise and call. AQo isn't that strong of a hand, and if the guy is aggressive when the flop bricks, you're going to be wasting dollars. Call is the better play.

The flop it might have paid to raise him, but once you flat call you're resigned to c/c-ing him down because you don't know where he is at. It smells like AJ. I probably value bet the river to make sure he's not checking it down with a poor excuse for a hand. But checking to make him think about three barrelling if he's bluffing is an ok hand as well considering you don't know anything about it. Playing this hand passively is alright because the pot doesn't explode when you're not too strong.

Disagree. Assuming we're fairly selective about employing this move, we make $.



If we're reraising here, it has very little to do with the strength (or weakness) of our hand since we're not really doing it for value.

If you can't play AQ postflop, then you shouldn't probably be playing poker very often. Most of the time here, you're going to take a flop with the preflop action even if you raise, unless you reraise a significant portion of your stack, which with AQ I prefer, to avoid doing. Even if the button is just stealing, he does have the button, and I hate playing big raised pots postflop oop the few times he or the SB wake up with a better hand.

AQ is a hand that you can get in a lot of trouble with unless you are in position.

Like I said before, the reason for the reraise has very little to do with the hand we are actually holding. That would also include a "fear" of playing AQ postflop.

I don't reraise with this all the time, nor do I call with it all the time.

EDIT: PM me if you want to discuss further. The pf decision is not the reason DS posted this hand and we've probably hijacked the thread enough already.

This is 6 handed, not full ring. Raising this pf is definitely not a spew; in fact, it's without a doubt +EV. What's in a button's opening range? It's usually something like this: suited connectors from 54s+, any pair, any broadway, nonsuited connectors 78o+, some suited one gappers as well. AQo is ahead of this range. Putting in the raise lets us get money in the pot when our hand is most likely good. Also, if the button or the sb calls our raise, we have another chance to take it down on the flop with a c-bet. Raising AQo is fairly typical in this spot. I raise this 80% of the time, call 20%. Look how difficult our decision is without raising too. We have no idea where we're at. A 3-bet pf also gives us information on the person's hand. Against a reasonable opponent that we have many hands with, we can get a better idea of his range if he calls or 4-bets.

What up Nomad.


Villain checked behind and mucked KJ. I dunno.

I think that c/c against against a better hand loses me less money than bet/call. I think a value bet on the river only gets a call from KQ or some random weird A3/A6, but those hands would probably make one more half-pot bet on the river.

Bleh. I might feel differently tomorrow, but I'm fine with the river check tonite.

a spew? really? A-Q against a button raise?

there is no way that this is spewing, in fact if you aren't re-raising at least 40% of the time here then it's a spew...i guarantee that you are leaving a lot of money on the table by just calling every single time, i'm not saying that calling is a bad option, but raising is the much better play IMO because you can get some better hands to fold(like small pairs), get action from some worse hands, and when you are against a big pair or A-K you will often find out without having to invest any more money

This is 8 handed btw, not 6

I don't mind a 3 bet againt a button raise, but some are justifying it saying it's 6 handed.