$5 NLHE MTT: $5 NLHE MTT Hyper-Turbo, AQs on bubble

Hi everyone,

First post here. This is from a site that does not provide hand histories, so everything is hand typed. I hope that it is readable.

This hand was on the final table bubble with 10 players left. Payouts are 40% for 1st and 2nd, and 4% for 3rd through 7th. The average stack was 456000, and I was 3rd out of 10 at the start of the hand.

Online MTT, $5 + $0.00 - Hold'em No Limit - 2000/4000 (200 ante) - 5 players

Villain (MP): 62142 (15.54 bb)
CO (CO): 16211 (4.05 bb)
Hero (BU): 68844 (17.21 bb)
SB (SB): 19140 (4.79 bb)
BB (BB): 90208 (22.55 bb)

Pre-Flop: (8000) Hero (Hero) is BU with Q♠ A♠
Villain (MP) raises to 8700, 1 fold, Hero calls 8700, 1 fold, BB (BB) calls 4700

Flop: (30100) 7♥ 8♣ A♦ (3 players)
BB (BB) checks, Villain (MP) bets 8000, Hero (BU) calls 8000, 1 fold

Turn: (46100) J♥ (2 players)
Villain (MP) checks, Hero (BU) bets 51744 (all-in)

I am wondering if I should have played differently preflop, or played the turn differently. I entered this into ICMIZER, which shows that AQs is a pretty clear jam against any reasonable range. At the time, I was on another final table that I was focusing on, so I did not have any good reads on Villain. Going back and reviewing the hands afterward, Villain had opened the same size with A4o from HJ in the hand before and A5s from EP a few orbits earlier with a similar ~13-15bb stack.

I decided to flat preflop because I felt that the small open was extremely strong given Villain's stack size and the bubble. Flipping for 15bb would be pretty disastrous in terms of ICM at that stage of the tournament. Villain probably jams AT+, 22-TT, most broadway combos, so what's left are JJ+ and weak aces. Is AQs a clear jam, or is there merit in flatting preflop?

I think the flop call is standard, as there isn't any other way to play it. I am ahead of most of Villain's perceived range, and there is not much to protect against.

On the turn, after Villain checks, I considered checking behind, but with only a pot sized bet behind, I thought that I could jam for value, targeting weaker aces, KK and QQ. What is the best play in this spot?

Can't edit the OP anymore, so making a new post. The hand history converter here won't create a replay without a valid hand history, so I created one on PokerPoise. I can't post URLs, but the replay can be accessed at /viewhand?4618 after the domain.

Also, the average stack above should have read 45600. The total number of chips in play is 456000.

Hi, be welcome

Villain is in UTG and you're in BTN, so I think you can easily jam or even 3bet to 27K preflop.

the way this hand is played is a quite dangerous, because you bring the BB to see a cheap flop, and in the long run this is not good to AQs

BullXT said:

Hi, be welcome

Villain is in UTG and you're in BTN, so I think you can easily jam or even 3bet to 27K preflop.

the way this hand is played is a quite dangerous, because you bring the BB to see a cheap flop, and in the long run this is not good to AQs

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. As I mentioned above, before seeing the math in ICMIZER, I was quite content to play a pot in position post-flop with AQs, even if it meant a 3 way flop.

I don't think that 3betting AQs is correct. It's too strong to 3bet/fold and if the plan is to 3bet/call, then we should jam to maximize fold equity. When we get it in preflop, our equity is not much more than 50%. I don't have a 3bet range at these stack sizes at all, and would flat or jam my entire range.

amuck said:

Thanks for your reply. As I mentioned above, before seeing the math in ICMIZER, I was quite content to play a pot in position post-flop with AQs, even if it meant a 3 way flop.

I don't think that 3betting AQs is correct. It's too strong to 3bet/fold and if the plan is to 3bet/call, then we should jam to maximize fold equity. When we get it in preflop, our equity is not much more than 50%. I don't have a 3bet range at these stack sizes at all, and would flat or jam my entire range.

Click to expand...

Thank U 4 posting

17bb dictates your action preflop you fold or shove. Pro players would be 99% shove! The only time it would be fold is if the MP raises AA KK QQ only

Hope this helps

i like jamming in this spot.

for one, if we pick up the pot uncontested it's a 25% increase to our stack. two, our hand is too strong not to go for value, but also not strong enough to play 3 handed. granted, i am in position but a) i don't close the action and b) i'm put in a weird spot of btn 3bets or, worse, btn 3bets and mp flats. if that happens, i don't have a 4bet shove here that isn't getting called, so i'm are forced to fold, or flat and play post flop. and i don't want to be folding aqs in this spot.

i'd rather be the one forcing the action with a shove as i'm not hating a call against an isolated player and i can still pick up a nice pot uncontested. also, by shoving, we could get called by worse hands like kj or kqs and i don't mind taking a flip with hands like 99-jj. but, by flatting pre, we give those hands an opportunity to fold post flop if they completely brick.