Raise mid pos. with AQ. got pushed on flop of T73

There is two questions here; they are similar so I thought I'd make one thread instead of two. It's a bit wordy but I'd appreciate it if you guys could read it and give me an informative response, it truly has been on my mind for a bit now

I played this hand the other night so forgive me if some of the details are a little edgy. Basically, it went like this:

blinds 200-400
Villain1 (Can't remember how many chips he had, a fair bit more than me though, perhaps a little less than double)(Early Position, he doesn't understand the value of position though) :??
Limps
Hero 6000 (middle position): AQo
raise to 1100 ( I tend to raise to 3BB+1 for every caller, but I reduce my raise size as the blinds increase. Is this good?)
Villain2 (Approximately 8000 chips) (Late position): ??
call

Flop
73T rainbow

Villian1 moves all-in

What should I do here? Villian1 is a known donk(it's a pub league)


Second question: I have been quite unsuccessful at this league; my playing style just doesn't work here. My general style is to play quite tight, and raise when I do play a hand; I rarely call anything. However, I seem to lose to the blinds and start making desperate moves to survive. I am starting to get better at push-fold mode so maybe that will make my style a winning won but I'm skeptical that alone will help. So, recently I've started to call weakish hands like K10 mid position to hopefully make some chips; I don't have to be that concerned to be out-kicked since most players will play k6 onwards in any position.

I think what may be a big leak in my game is when I make raises with premium drawing hands(A10s-AK); I tend to go 3BB which to most players is big(most are fond of min raising, especially when the blinds are reasonably large) I usually always get callers when I raise and whenever my continuation bet doesn't work for whatever reason I tend to lose too many chips; I of course depending on the situation try to double barrel. I have been trying the 3BB+1 for every player preflop betting formula but that doesn't seem to work, as there is usually a few players limping and when I raise to 4-7 BB the players think that I'm bluffing them and try to play back every now and then, which can make it difficult to play after preflop. So, I've been thinking of doing a more passive style, since most of the good players at that particular league don't seem to raise as much as I do, they tend to call much more. I'm thinking of making a rule if my 3BB+1 raise is worth 1/10 of my stake I should just call instead; of course if there is a reason to raise do it but the majority of the time I should not. So, with that AQo hand above I'm thinking I should have called and hopefully out kick them and make some of the calling stations pay dearly for that mistake Any thoughts/opinions?

pat3392 said:

What should I do here? Villian1 is a known donk(it's a pub league)

Click to expand...

Fold, you have no draw even to continue.

IMHO you needed to open-shove here with M=10.

If you are playing against min-raising calling stations you need to play the opposite. Instead of opening 3xBB try 6xBB and instead of 1/2 to 2/3 sized c-bets bet the pot or overbet the pot. Put your opponents to the test sooner. This will be a higher variance style BUT you will see more FTs with a larger stack than you are now. You want to be betting enough to get most hands that you play to be heads-up and if 3xBB isn't doing it, which is typical in live games, then increase your raise sizes. Also really concentrate on developing likely hand ranges for your opponents. IMHO do NOT try to play their game by expanding your range and limping, shrink your range and bet it hard.

ya you gotta fold here, if it was a raise, then pushing would be an option against it, but deffinetly fold.

FOLD. I am not really a big fan of AQ as it is but no real chemistry is going for thi hand to continue

Fold? I dont care how big of a donk he is.. that could mean hes shoving on a pair of sevens, which has you drawing to an ace or queen, about 25 percent. Fold is the only option.

He ended up showing K4, which didn't surprise me whatsoever. I had a feeling that he had nothing but folded to find a better spot

I remember going home and thinking that I should have called; my reasoning was this:

I had 8 outs, so I would win 32% of the time. Because of Harringtons Law he would be bluffing at least 10% of the time; however, I think that he bluffs a fair bit more than the average player, let's say 25% maybe. I sort of thought that he was bluffing then so it was probably like 40% that time but let's just say it was 25% for now.

32+25=57

Therefore I would win that hand approximately 57% of the time; it would be less than that though because even if I was ahead of him he might hit one of his cards and take it down, so really it was a 50-50 call it seems.


I never know what I should do when I'm confronted with an neutral EV play and I'm short stacked; it's always the question, "fold and choose a better spot with a + EV, but be dangerously short stacked because of the fast blinds, or risk it now"

pat3392 said:

He ended up showing K4, which didn't surprise me whatsoever. I had a feeling that he had nothing but folded to find a better spot

I remember going home and thinking that I should have called; my reasoning was this:

I had 8 outs, so I would win 32% of the time. Because of Harringtons Law he would be bluffing at least 10% of the time; however, I think that he bluffs a fair bit more than the average player, let's say 25% maybe. I sort of thought that he was bluffing then so it was probably like 40% that time but let's just say it was 25% for now.

32+25=57

Therefore I would win that hand approximately 57% of the time; it would be less than that though because even if I was ahead of him he might hit one of his cards and take it down, so really it was a 50-50 call it seems.


I never know what I should do when I'm confronted with an neutral EV play and I'm short stacked; it's always the question, "fold and choose a better spot with a + EV, but be dangerously short stacked because of the fast blinds, or risk it now"

Click to expand...

You should also try to account for the possibility that one pair isn't going to be enough to win you the hand. That should push your EV from calling down a few more percentage points.

fold what do you have to call with, its like your handing your chips away if you make calls like that, he probably has a mid pocket pair or hit his king ten and is willing to put ll his chips on the line with that

Opsn shove next time. Fold in this example. Wait for your next top 15 hand and shove. Dosn't matter how big of a doney he is, no use flipping for a pair on turn/river if you feel you can out play your opponent. But above all, don't just raise with 10m or so, shove every time. If it's good enough to raise, it's good enough to shove when you're that low.