'Correct' lines for QQ+

Here's a few lines that to me seem to be largely grey area on what the correct play is. All hands assume 100bb stacks unless otherwise specified and if I don't specify opponent type, assume they're an unknown. We're also ignoring all metagame/balancing issues here (because I, and most of you, play against fish). All hands are in 6max cash games.


Hand 1
QQ pre-flop in late position. EP with 19 VP$IP 15 PFR raises to 3bb, you raise to 9bb he 4bets to 27. Over a 100 hand sample we have seen him 3 or 4 bet two or fewer times.
Option 1: Shove
Option 2: Fold
Option 3: You're not allowed to call unless you can give me a really good reason why this isn't burning money.

Hand 2
AA on the button. Two limpers, you raise 5bb, first limper folds and the second calls. Flop is low and co-ordinated, 569 with a flush draw. He checks, you bet (2/3 pot), he calls. Turn is an offsuit T, he checks.
Option 1: Bet turn and value bet most rivers.
Option 2: Bet turn and check/call river.
Option 3: Check for pot control, call/value bet river.
Option 4: These aren't really options... I'm just suggesting random stuff to attempt to force you to say how you'll play the hand, not just bet without thinking about the river.

Hand 3
QQ in early position, you raise to 4bb, folded to CO who calls, everyone else folds.
Flop comes A94r.
Bet/fold? Check/call (if so, how many streets do you call)? Any other option?

Hand 4. Shorter effective stack
AA in late position, MP raises to 3bb, you 3bet to 9bb, he calls. Pot is 19bb.
He checks, you bet 14bb, he shoves. Pot is 47bb, 53bb to call. Unknown opponent. Your move?
How does this change if: Board is wet/dry? How much would stack sizes have to change for you to change your decision?

Here's some of my ideas on the hands. I don't really know the types of stakes/players you are playing so my thoughts could be *way* off.

Hand 1
For me this depends on the player. You say he has 3 or 4 bet a few times. But over how many hands? If he 4-bets very rarely he'll most likely have JJ+ or AK. So shoving is probably a break-even or worse play. If you are already doing well at the table probably fold and pick a better spot. If you are in a gambling mood shove and pray. Calling only comes into play if he is a more aggressive player pre-flop (i.e. if he would 4 bet with 88+ AK/AQ/AJ to get you to fold the pot there often)

Hand 2
The turn card doesn't really change anything in the hand. If he has you beat (i.e. 89 or a set) he still has you beat. If he's an unknown player I would assume he either has a set, a flush draw or possibly an overpair here. Without any reads 89 or two overcards without a FD is unlikely, so you're probably losing money here if you don't bet on average. If he calls, he most likely has a draw. If he re-raises, he may have a set.

Hand 3
I would put out a tester bet here to see where you are at. On this board if he calls, he probably has the A. Also, this is a really good flop for him to c-bet. So if you check/call you don't really know if you are beat or ahead. With no info on the opponent betting is the best option.

Hand 4
Without knowing the opponent, you need to assume that he probably has at least a pair or two face cards. So in general, he's shoving with an overpair, top pair or a set. If you were at 50bb pre-flop, you need to call here in most situations.

1) shove
2) bet/fold turn, bet/fold good rivers
3) usually a wa/wb spot where we'd check to maintain pot control, induce a wider calling range and induce bluffs, but OOP betting is fine (with the intention of shutting down most of the time on turn/river, especially if he bets when checked to. TT and stuff usually just goes for showdown, so when they bet they usually have Ax.
4) uh, never fold. I rarely fold to a c/r in a 3bet pot with AA, but if the stacks are like 150bb+, I start flatting the c/r and playing pot control rather than fistpumpgettingitin.

This is the type of player we should shove against we should never flat here unless we are like 300BB+ here imo

Do WA/WB situations apply OOP? Seems like turning your hand face up to check/call, just begs everyone to bluff with 3 streets for them to get rid of you. I can't see any +EV way of getting to showdown. I agree about betting.

Yeah there is a pretty significant difference IP vs OOP with wa/wb hands, but to be honest it just comes down to your opponent type. IP you simply check back and call or value bet 1-2 streets depending on what you think villain will call.

OOP, there are more options, but they're all usually tougher to play out.

If they're floaty, you might bet, c/c turn and evaluate whether or not to c/c or c/f river depending on their river frequencies.

If they're super bluffy when checked to but don't float often, then c/c as many streets as you think he'll bluff.

If they're super stations, you might bet two streets and try to get river checked through. Maybe even bet three streets small-ish.

Generally if they're simple tags, I tend to bet once and try to check it down.

It depends.

Hand 1
Option 1: Shove
Over 100 hands, he raises preflop with 15 of them, and has limped/flat called with another 4 hands. Of the 15 that were raised, he has 3 or 4 bet ~2 times. How many times has he called a 3-bet? How many times has he called a 4-bet? How many times has he folded to a 4-bet. PT3 gives us all this information. We want to rule out AA and KK. Every other hand we're happy to play against. Gather this information, make your best decision as the timer will allow, or fold to not risk chips. Villain will always call our shove with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs, and sometimes AQs. If we can figure out his fold equity with these also important stats, we can justify shoving here. I ussually have no problem with stacking of with QQ preflop - I've run into KK once in the past year, and AA never, however this year has had a lot fewer hands for me than previous years (thanks Iraq!) - but if it happens it happens, and at the stakes I play it's not going to break the bank.

Hand 2
AA on the button. Two limpers, you raise 5bb, first limper folds and the second calls. Flop is low and co-ordinated, 569 with a flush draw. He checks, you bet (2/3 pot), he calls. Turn is an offsuit T, he checks.
With no information about or villain, (first hand) - I am happy to bet the pot on the turn - as the only hand that caught up to me is T9, and a pot-sized bet is shaking a lot of drawing hands and hands like Tp or 2p are likely to stay in and pay me. If I get raised here, I can start to consider I'm behind to a set, straight, two pair, and can consider slowing down my action. When you're beat, you're beat - and if you don't take the appropriate actions to find out if you're beat - you're going to lose a lot in the long run. Live game this is easy, bet and watch your opponent. He's going to give you information. In an online game it's easier to fabricate information, so you run into the trouble sometimes against craftier players.
It depends on your intuition, but a flat-call on the flop is a risky play for a set, and even riskier on the turn, so I'd expect a reraise on the turn from a hand like T9, 96, 65, or a set. A call would indicate I'm being drawn on, which is why I bet the pot. Given no infromation about our villain, I would look at his stack size, and compare it to the buy-in of the table to see if he was up. If he called here, I'd value bet most rivers.

Hand 3
Bet the flop (2/3s pot), check the turn.

Hand 4. Shorter effective stack
With no information about the flop, I am very happy to stack off here against a hand like KK-JJ, and that the flop contained little threat to him and he thinks his hand is best. If the board comes 3 low clubs, I remember he raised, but wouldn't shove with a hand like the nut flush, or a straight. Maybe he has a draw to a strong flush, or a draw to three of a kind (haha). I am figuring him for a hand like AK unimproved, or a big PP here. And am so very happy to stack off on most flops that play like this. Even against two pair, I'm gonna do him dirty.

But yes, hand 4 definitely depends on board texture.

1. This is difficult. Last 3 times I've had KK in a 6 max game, twice I've been against AA so I'm a little gun shy in these scenarios. This is opponent dependent, in this situation I'm looking him up on poker-edge and it would probably depend on my mood at the time.

2. Bet the pot on the turn. Make drawing expensive.

3. Definitely continuation bet. Hope to take the pot down there. I would potentially fire a second barrel depending on who I am against. I know I could float this flop if I were in position, so a second barrel could be a must depending on the opponent. You could even get him off a A8 if you second barrel, and a lot of people 3bet with AK or AQ...

4. I'm calling the vast majority of the time here. However, I've folded AA postflop when passive opponents have started firing multiple barrels. I'm usually not folding this though, even at 100-200BB.

Hand 1 I would probably call most of the time. If there are over cards and he bets the flop I'd fold. If they under and he bets I'd call and see what happens on the river. If he checks the flop I'd bet regardless of the board unless they've seen me try to take a board with overs and I ended up folding to a check raise or something. I'm usually aware of what I've done recently at any given table. Try not to be too predictable. Carefull with too much calling or you'll get run over by aggression eventually.

1 - call on preflop, dont re-reise
2 - all-in on turn
3 - bet 1/2 pot and fold on re-reise
4 - all-in