AQ advice/thoughts

[jjh]

I guess this depends a lot on how you play this hand pre flop for a start but let's assume you like this hand and make a raise with it pre flop.

There's a tight aggressive player who calls. Now the hand is heads up, just you and the TAG caller.

Flop comes A 10 2. You have to bet here because you've flopped top pair with a queen kicker.

Most of the time a decent bet will take this hand down. However, on this occasion, the players calls your bet.

Bearing in mind this guy is TAG, he's called your bet, what are your thoughts on what he could be holding? That is a factor but also, what is he putting you on to help warrant his call? For a TAG player to call a pre flop raise, there's a range of hands he could be holding. But the call for me usually represents a hand similar to yourself. Are you betting into a split pot or are you behind, especially if he holds AK?

I'm not being negative and say not bet the turn, of course you have to but are you digging yourself into a hole?

I ask this because I played this situation out before, as soon as he called the flop bet, I just knew he held AK because he was a very solid player. He'd have let AJ go, I think AQ was a possibility for the split pot, but it was 50/50 as to whether he had AQ or AK. I felt I was betting but behind in the hand but had to maintain a strong image...

Cheers for any help

[jjh]

I guess it isn't really the turn bet, but rather the river bet that is the main concern.

Say $0.25/$0.50 NL cash game. OK you get AQ suited and raise $2.50.

TAG calls so pot is $5.

Flop is A 10 2.

You bet $5, he calls.

The pot is now $15. The turn is a 7 so you're pair of aces are still looking good.

You bet pot amount again here? If you do, then the pot is now $45 with the river still left to bet... what would the river bet be assuming no flush was out and the river card was another low number?

[Dice Man]

I probably wouldn't bet the pot each time otherwise there'll be a possible raise on the river so big I can't call it with a single pair. You could bet the same all the way down, or slightly more each time. He has A6 btw. Or TJ.

[jjh]

It's a hand you have to bet but sometimes gets you in trouble.

This guy really was a tight player and I knew that if he calls the flop bet and especially the turn bet then AK is a real possibility.

Bet pot amount on the flop but never bet so strongly on turn.

He called down- I begrudgingly bet the river and he had AK and took a decent pot. I think having a read on the player is important here, as some players will call down with AJ whilst tight players, for them to be calling you have to fear AK.

[jjh]

I probably wouldn't bet the pot each time otherwise there'll be a possible raise on the river so big I can't call it with a single pair. You could bet the same all the way down, or slightly more each time. He has A6 btw. Or TJ.

The read I've got on him, he's ultra tight, and would never call a pre flop raise with A6 or TJ. Feared AK and that's what he had

[Dice Man]

Not much you can do about it. You've got to bet it pre-flop and got to keep betting the ace.

[PokerWoody]

Okay, I think your bet sizing is a little off here throughout the hand although you haven’t included stack sizes so it’s hard to say. When you are raising preflop, or betting on the flop or turn, you should consider the effect your bets are going to have on the pot and the implications that will have on future streets. You should also be thinking about what sort of pot you’d like to play, do you want to play a big pot here against this opponent or try and keep the pot smallish? Against this opponent you are saying you want to keep the pot small, well if so you should have started doing this earlier in the hand. A hand like AQ IS a strong hand, especially at these levels, but I’d be a touch nervous about putting to much money in the pot with it when an ace flops and a competent opponent is hanging about. Not always of course, you don’t want to be believing those ‘don’t play one pair for stacks’ mantra’s or anything.

Lets say you raise to $2 preflop and get called, there is ~$4.50 in the pot on the flop. You bet $3.25 at the pot and get called, now there is $11 in the pot coming in to the turn which should make things a little easier to get to showdown which is really what you want here.

As for the actual hand, what are the stack sizes? I’ll sometimes bet here and sometimes check depending on various things, so I dunno it’s hard to say. Against an unknown I’d be more inclined to bet the turn and check the river.

On a side note, I played a hand very similar to this yesterday and check raised the turn all in and got called by QT. Generally though check raise would be a bad play here of course!

[Dice Man]

This sort of thing almost never happens to me. Maybe I'm lucky but I basically never get cold-decked. I can't remember the last time I had KK against AA. It's usually me with the AA against KK. I still get bad beats though. My last AA lost to KK for example, but 99% of the time my chips go in either with a hand that's ahead or close to 50:50.

[PokerWoody]

This sort of thing almost never happens to me.

What sort of thing?

[Dice Man]

Betting with AQ, hitting the desired ace then losing to AK. Being in situations where I am far behind the whole way, not even unluckily outdrawn to at some point. I do get outdrawn all the time but I'm rarely in situations where I have the worst of it right from the start (like you do when you have AQ vs AK or KK vs AA), but believe I'm way ahead. That's why I said I might be lucky in that regard. If I had KK against a player with AA I would almost certainly be putting all my chips in and losing and I wouldn't really be able to blame myself for it. That's a case of severe bad luck even though you were never ahead (as opposed to AQ losing to AJ where you get unlucky along the way)