Last night, I was playing in my new local 1/2 NL game. I was sitting on about 575 dollars from my 300 buy in after about thirty minutes when this hand came up:

I was UTG +1

UTG (chip count - 200) straddled for five dollars.

I made it 15 dollars to go with QQ. Folded around to the BB.

BB (51) pushed all in for 51 dollars.

UTG smooth-called the 51 dollars.

What's my play?

Reads: The BB was short and I thought his pushing range was 88 or higher and A9suited and higher. UTG was pretty weak-tight. I thought his calling hands were AJ+ and he'd re-raise with KK-AA.

Keep in mind, I hadn't been there very long and so it was hard to have a great read on either of them.

Press to isolate.

UTG's close to being committed to playing for 5 cards and you don't think he has you beat. however, a K may scare you, a J may scare him or a whiff will lose him as well. I think push is good here.

I say go with your gut here. This could be AA, and it could be AK. It depends on the skill level and style of your opponent. If you think he'd re-raise with AA-KK, and most 1/2 NLers would here, go with your gut and push.

One word for this situation. SCARY. did he limp with aces or kings, hope you catch something and plan to go all in on the flop. You dont know. I think you have to push here. hopefully isolate and have 51 bucks of dead money.

He straddled.

It's really not that scary.

- He might be willing to call the lowstacked bb with something like KJ, KQ or low pp.

Fairly easy push. Only 2 hands have you beat, and only one hand makes it a coin flip.

I think we should ban this line of reasoning.

I don't get the "straddle" part. Did he basically min-raise to 5? A straddle would've been $4.

That having been said, I think straddler's smooth-call should not be given as much credit as a regular cold-call unless he had a shyt-eater on his face. If he's good he's playing a smaller pocket pair or drawing hand for value; a donk mightve just called b/c there's already guarunteed money in the pot.

Given no other reads, typically I'd put him anywhere between 55-1010 and AJ AQ, with AK being a smaller possibility but not totally out of the question.



Somebody else said that a "typical 1-2 player would raise here with AA/KK". Who is a typical 1-2 player? Typically it ranges widely from complete donk gambler to very good player trying to make some easy dough.


I NEVER smooth-call a raise with AA/KK unless my read is brilliant and I put the opposing raiser on a smaller pocket pair, and it's not a strong play at any level unless that's the case.

Thanks for the responses so far.

One question...do you discount your opponents' outs while figuring your odds? For instance, in this situation, I thought that either 1) there was reasonably good chance they were crippling each others' ace or 2) I was a 4:1 favorite over UTG.

Does that seem about right?



This is a weird game with all sorts of straddle-like rules. In the particular case, UTG made it a live five with the same rules in place as a straddle.

Most of the players (including all in this hand) are weak-tight. I'm seen as a little more aggressive, though, so he might not put me on a real hand despite raising.

As for the part about a typical NL player...I can't speak on that, but I'm fairly positive this person re-raises with AA or KK.

A. I said you still need to push

B. A cold call of a re-raise IS scary.

C. he might have called with those donkey trash hands, but he probably didnt.

As would most right thinking individuals. If he has Aces or K's he'd (most of the time) raise behind the big blind to get you out. UTG's hand isn't that big of a concern, unless you let him see a flop. Pressing should push him out. Even if it doesn't you're gonna be ahead of him most of the time playing for a huge side pot where you got the money in as a favorite. Since you put BB on a good range of hands that are getting shalacked by Q's You're sittin pretty on the main as well. Press.

Thanks for all the responses.

I hate playing big pots preflop with QQ unless I'm positive about being a big favorite.

However, in this situation, I decided to push. I thought there was a good chance that 1) they were crippling each other or 2) he had a hand like JJ and would feel stuck preflop but not postflop in case an over came. Either case, I wanted his money in as a dog.

Anyhow, the blind had Ac10c and he had AsKc. Normally, the all in with QQ goes against my style but I thought this was one of the exceptions and wanted to see if the players here agreed with my logic.

I know if I go by results, preflop (the result being me getting in as a favorite) or postflop (him hitting his K and winning), I won't really be evaluating the decision-making. But I think in this case, I made the right move.