10NL AQs

Well I took a break from poker for a few days just to cool off and watch a few videos from the members on the site and I really think watching them paid off because I either ran crazy good today or just made amazing decisions and of course got luck.

Over my 192 hand session I ran at 182.58BB/100 according to HEM which I think does it in big blinds.

Anyway here is one that had me scratching my head.


BTN: $11.55 (115.5 bb)
SB: $5.50 (55 bb)
BB: $5.80 (58 bb)
UTG+2: $4.35 (43.5 bb)
MP1: $2 (20 bb)
MP2: $6.15 (61.5 bb)
MP3: $2.90 (29 bb)
Hero (CO): $15.55 (155.5 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with Q A
UTG+2 calls $0.10, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $0.10, MP3 calls $0.10, Hero raises to $0.65, BTN calls $0.65, SB folds, BB calls $0.55, 3 folds

Flop: ($2.30) A 3 J (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1, BTN raises to $3, BB folds, Hero ???

any stats on the villain?

I think im calling this once and trying to get to sd cheap. but vs an unknown im thinking 2pair or a set.

not sure tho, be interested to see what everyone else says

This is mostly a read based play. Against idiots, I have no problem stacking off here. But against a good player, we pretty much only beat a bluff. No hand that we beat can possibly raise this flop for value. So if they're a straight forward reg, I probably just fold.

Yea, I really figured I was behind at this reraise but then I started thinking a bit.

I didn't have to many hands on villain, which means he probably isn't too much of a regular because I have never seen him. (granted I have only played 5k hands at 10NL but I often still have some hands on alot of opponents) And a stronger indicator of his play was over the 15 or so hands he had limped in pretty frequently. Also my post flop bet was kind of low/weak compared to the pot and maybe he thought I had kings or queens and I was trying to get him to lay his hand down without risking too much.

I made the call but I wasn't comfortable doing it. And as Delta said I wanted to get to showdown cheap hoping he doesn't fire again if the turn is a blank.

Anyway here's how the turn goes...

Flop: ($2.30) A 3 J (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1, BTN raises to $3, BB folds, Hero calls $2

Turn: ($8.30) Q (2 players)

So here is my question, do I bet into him and if so how much or check and hope he fires at me again?

I like check bombing this turn now that we've improved. Sets still stack us, but at least we beat AK & AJ now. If this were a good tag, you could make a case for donk leading. But no one at this level is going to be checking behind for pot control.

As was said, it is read dependent, but from my experience @ 10NL (wich was short and long ago), there is a good chance of a worse ace here, AJ or 33. AK will usually reraise for value/isolation preflop, same thing with JJ.

On the flop, I c/c unless the opponent is really tight. The chances of a set are pretty slim and this might be "I has an Ace!" most of the time betting from wich you can gain some value. Betting here is either for value or to look like a C-bet. I can't see how you can extract value from a boatload of hands since any non-A, non-set hand will probably fold. But since this is 10NL, the raising range might be somewhat wide and even include ridiculous hands such as 77-99 or JT.

Turn is absolutely delicious. I have really no intentions of going to a cheap SD at this point. I bet again and call anything. The only "real" set here is 33 and it is a small portion of villain's range.

Yea, I really put villain on an ace and when that queen hit I felt golden

The turn action goes like this...

I check to villain
He pushes.
I Instacall...
River is a Ten

villain mucks A-T

It is these kind of hands that really get to me. You know at that level once he raises the flop for $3 that you are pretty certain you will need nearly all your chips in to see a showdown.

On the flop the Jack is a stinker of a card. Having said that so many low limit players bet like mad when they have little or nothing, and slow play their two pair/set hands.

For me the big decision is on the flop. If I call that I don't think I am going to fold it afterwards. Obviously you made the right choice, but I think I may just have folded against an unknown player, while I had invested not to much money in the pot.

Blazing_Saddler said:

For me the big decision is on the flop. If I call that I don't think I am going to fold it afterwards. Obviously you made the right choice, but I think I may just have folded against an unknown player, while I had invested not to much money in the pot.

Click to expand...

I agree with that, once I made the call on the flop I think I would have been forced to call him down to the river. I still would of wanted to fold had the turn been a blank or a ten though and he made that all in bet.

I hated making the call on the flop as it meant I was almost surely going to invest more, but that card on the turn made my decision a whole lot easier as it meant I beat the a-j/a-k hand that I really put him on. (although he probably could have had a set almost as easily to make that raise)