Don't telegraph your hand

Every once in a while I play a hand, that I think perfectly exemplifies a basic mistake, and I post it here.

This hand was played on Bodog, and the hand histories from there are in a table that doesn't paste well here. It was a .05/.10 no-limit.

I had AQ in second seat, and was the first to limp in. Two other players limped to the big blind. The BB, playing his first hand at the table, raised to $1. I didn't believe he caught AA or KK the first hand, so I called. The limpers behind me folded.

The flop came 75 of diamonds, King of spades. He checked, and I checked. The turn comes Ace of hearts, and he bets another dollar. If he had AK or just a King, I figured he would have bet the flop. Yes, he could have hit the flop and was hoping to check-raise, but I seriously doubted it. I put him on an Ace with at best a Queen kicker, and went all-in. He had AJ.

In my opinion, his bets telegraphed his hand. If he'd have continuation-bet, he'd have taken that pot right there.

Interesting! I guess that's why mixing it up every once in a while is a good thing? However, people sometimes bait me by checking the flop after hitting, and not representing whatever was on the flop.

Nice Play ......
Some times you get it right and sometimes you don't.
Good Read .......

He called your all-in? That's a major mistake... but I guess goes to show at those limits (which i play too), there's not much thinking going on. I mean.. how many hands can AJ beat at that point; trips (which made sense coz you limped and then called...common for pairs to do that) ,2 pair.. The only reason to call is he had put you on a draw!

Good thinking on your part.. very bad on his!

What were the stack sizes??

maybe the other players refer to your "telegraphing" as a bluff?

If anyone would instant fold AQ to a c-bet on that flop, they should not be limp calling preflop because they will find themselves folding very often on the flop and therefore losing all of the value that a hand like AQ has.

Raise or limp raise, but calling will leave you OP if the limpers call.

On the flop, as it was checked a bet is in order. If he is afraid of a K then you are ahead, if he isnt you are behind.... however by checking you alow him to see a free card which may or may not help you. If his range is wide, then something like a T may give him a pair which he now bets as value. You should be betting to win the pot now and to set you up for a second bluff is needs be. Checking means that if he hits a pair, he will probably want to see a showdown.

but gordon is banned so he'll never know this.

not that he would have listened if he was here anyway, lolz.

Fwiw the mistakes made in this hand were, imo, as follows, i don't know the stack sizes so these are me presuming both are 100bb deep:

Villain:
Raised huge with AJ in the bb, oop for the rest of the hand facing a few limpers, which he could have done to take down the dead money from the limpers but anyone who's folding to a 10bb raise is folding to a 5-6bb raise.

In raising so big he also started to build a big pot oop with a hand that could be dominated on the flop by anyone that calls a bet like that, pokers easy when played in position so why make it hard for yourself. Doesn't say if this is FR or not but if it is my UTG range was AK,QQ+, i fold AJ in ep b/c it either wins a small pot or loses a big one.

Called a shove with TPGK, calling that shove with TPTK would be very villain dependant, people who stack off regularly with TPTK get owned all over the place playing cash games, you want to be playing big pots with big hands and vice versa, when all the money goes in like it did here TPTK is usually behind.

Hero:
Open limped with AQ in EP, this is either a raise or fold, open limping sucks, unless your on a really aggro table and want to be raised, but AQ isn't really a hand you want to be c/r oop so unless your willing to stack AQ pf, which you shouldnt be, then raise it up or fold.

Called a huge raise with AQ in ep with players to act after you, sure you had pos on the raiser but you can't say that you knew the 2 limpers behind you were folding, what if they squeeze?? Then your throwing money away b/c you can't call a raise and a 3bet with AQ. What if they flat call?? then your oop in a big pot with a hand thats really needs to smash into the flop to warrant playing a big pot. And you called this raise because you.......

This is hilarious, what was this belief founded on? I know if i had AA/KK oop i'd be raising it big with 3 limpers, maybe not $1 but 60-80c for sure, this sounds a lot like your suggesting that if it was his 5th hand at the table you might have been more inclined to believe him, maybe you just worded it wrong but i really did lol when i read this.

Shoved into what i calculate to be a $3.30 pot with TPGK, this depends on stack sizes but looks like somebody just seeing theyve hit their ace and creaming themselves all over the raise button, i'm not sure but i'd rather flat the $1 and keep the pot smaller, the villains line here is strange and i'd be quite weary about stacking off with AQ here.

I'm not having a go or anything but this is just my view on the hand, you've posted before about a hand where you seen all these basic mistakes but actually made a few yourself too, i know your probably going to come back all self righteous and say that the point of this thread wasn't about you but maybe some new guy comes into the forum sees this post from someone who sounds like they play a good game and figures limping in ep is good b/c that gdriley guy done it in his post.

damn it, in my long post writing i missed that he'd been banned, i was looking forward to his reply, anyone want to take a side bet that he shoved $8ish into a $3 pot??

In any case i'm glad he got banned, any particular reason?? Or was it just because he was a fool and thought he was a god amongst men

I would have expected him to have hit the king and was trying to chack raise. then on the turn I would think he missed his hand and was bluffing or... trying to drag you in to a monster. nice play