It's a $1.20 45 person MTT and I just switched tables, so I haven't had too much of an idea as to what people were showing down or anything. Anyway, I hit 2 tough decisions during this hand and decided to post it immediately after playing it. Also keep in mind that I was thinking that getting any further involved in this would make me pot committed.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00+$0.20 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com



ThePolkaMan (SB) (t1670)
BB (t2085)
UTG (t905)
UTG+1 (t4700)
MP1 (t5120)
MP2 (t3690)
MP3 (t1485)
CO (t2970)
Button (t2070)

ThePolkaMan's M: 22.27



Preflop: ThePolkaMan is SB with Q , A
UTG calls t50, UTG+1 calls t50, MP1 raises to t200, 2 folds, CO calls t200, Button calls t200,

First question. Should I be calling or raising here?








ThePolkaMan calls t175, 1 fold, UTG raises to t905 (All-In), 1 fold, MP1 calls t705, 1 fold, Button calls t705,


Secondly, should I call here? 1 fold







Flop: (t3215) 4 , 6 , Q (3 players, 1 all-in)
MP1 checks, Button bets t1165 (All-In), MP1 calls t1165

Turn: (t5545) 7 (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t5545) K (3 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t5545

cool hand to post. I'm shove or fold on it pre. I don't really wanna play aq off oop against a bunch of people. That said it's an interesting spot imo, I probably fold but I play way more cash than tourney.

As played I definitely fold to the 3 all ins.

Had you called there, I definitely shove the flop.

Fun hand, welcome to the forums, post more like this plz.

Definitely push or fold preflop.... calling w/ AQoop is really bad, especially in a multi-way pot. I'd lean towards pushing preflop because it's a micro-donkament and you'll get called by any pair, any paint combination, Ax, etc..

I'd actually lean toward folding PF. You have one guy who limped in early position when he's already short, followed by a call and raise from two bigstacks. You could push AQ and end up getting 2 or 3 callers, which would be terrible. This is far from an ideal spot to push and you're not short enough that you need to make a move here.

I would have played it the same. Preflop, there are no really great options, but I arrive at calling by process of elimination:

--Folding AQ (absent a 3-bet or shove or other overbet) in a $1.20 is too weak;
--Your hand's not strong enough to shove when you're this deep;
--Therefore, calling is the only option left. Hey, maybe you'll flop top pair and a Broadway draw or something;

Then you have to fold to the shove. NH

I'm kind of thinking the call wasn't a great move, but, as stated by Slackerinc, a shove and a fold were not exactly ideal either, which is why this hand was so difficult for me to play.

When am I supposed to post the actual result of this hand?

Yeah...I don't think you want to play AQ against several people AT ALL. You would be facing duped outs (at least one or more people are going to have an A or a Q in their hand), along with the fact that someone could easily have AK/KK or a medium PP. Trying to count your potential outs and whether or not they are duped (not an exact science preflop) is an important step in determining whether or not your AQ is going to be as strong as it looks.

Usually it won't be, however. There is no question that it's a shove or fold situation here, imo. I lean towards fold.

Question 1: Shoving or folding are the options pre-flop.
Question 2: Once you call the original raise and the pot gets that huge when it's back to us, the odds are in our favor to see the flop.

Fold equity is one of my best friends, and I'm sure y'all would get along great too.

If no one has shown better than limping interest pf, I love shoving or raising big with AQ oop. Save someone getting tricky and limping AA/KK/AK early, you're never worse than a flip, and that % to win + FE against most pairs lower than a Q make it very +ev.

When the action initially comes back to you, calling is far and away the worst option. If you call here, then the "ideal" situation is that no one else 3-bets the pot (unlikely, given the UTG stack size). So by calling here, you saying that you are trying to take a flop 6-handed OOP in a raised pot where you only have 1 PSB remaining (i.e. you are already in open-push or check-fold territory post-flop). This is a *horrible* spot to get in with AQ. I call here 0% of the time.

Folding is the safer play, but it is also the weaker play as this is a good spot to apply pressure and try to accumulate chips.

Shoving all in gives you good FE (or at least will narrow down the number of players in the pot and neutralize their positional advantage on you while you're holding a better-than-average, but vulnerable hand). Since you are playing without reads this is an easy all in.


Based on the first question, you will not enter into a situation where the second question arises (because we have either pushed all in or folded already)