Would You Have Made This Call

OK, before you answer, please read the scenario details as I believe they're important for the proper answer. I'm looking for kind of a strategy confirmation as much as opinions of who would call with Villain's hand in this situation

I was fairly new to this table, 12 hands I think. We were getting close to the bubble in a $2.20 100 Max FR Deep Regular. I had been holding my own and enjoying play getting callers when I had Monsters and they held up, with mostly real easy fold decisions other times when I did have money in the pot and the rest were no-brainers for folding. I'd been hanging around the top dozen in chips for quite a bit of the tourney with the lead at times after a couple of good double ups.

So, round before this one when I was SB, it was folded to the button who called and I made a raise to 3bbs with JQ Suited, kind of a semi bluff trying to seal his blind, he 4-bet to 10 bb, Button folded and not having much info on him, it was either shove or fold, so I folded. Next hand, I'm on the Button, AQ O, folded to me and I did the same, raise to 3bb and villain again 4 bet, but this time he shoved. Maybe I should have called then, but I folded.

So, next hand, he stole the blinds from the button with a shove after 2 callers before him, nobody called.

He was quiet all the way around the table until I was again in the SB and I was dealt AJ-S. This is the hand below where it turns out I was better than a 65/30 favoourite, and the one I would like opinions on.

PokerStars - $2+$0.20|150/300 Ante 25 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 24.13 BB (VPIP: 8.33, PFR: 8.33, 3Bet Preflop: 20.00, Hands: 12)
MP+1: 37.58 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
CO: 25.89 BB (VPIP: 27.27, PFR: 18.18, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 12)
BTN: 13.69 BB (VPIP: 11.11, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
Hero (SB): 26.75 BB
BB: 34.86 BB (VPIP: 25.00, PFR: 25.00, 3Bet Preflop: 20.00, Hands: 12)
UTG: 19.65 BB (VPIP: 16.67, PFR: 9.09, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 12)
UTG+1: 10.74 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)

8 players post ante of 0.08 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.17 BB) Hero has A:heart: J:heart:

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, BB raises to 6 BB, Hero raises to 26.67 BB and is all-in, BB calls 20.67 BB

Flop: (54 BB, 2 players) 9:spade: 7:club: 3:spade:

Turn: (54 BB, 2 players) K:diamond:

River: (54 BB, 2 players) 8:spade:

Hero shows A:heart: J:heart: (High Card, Ace) (Pre 68%, Flop 50%, Turn 73%)
BB shows 5:spade: A:spade: (Flush, Ace High) (Pre 32%, Flop 50%, Turn 27%)
BB wins 54 BB

Note multiple votes are available so you can choose he made the right call AND I'm an idiot

I think given the scenario I would have played the same way. But I guess he would have thought you were just making a play because of the history.

if he saw the hands you folded earlier he wouldn't have called, but his call is certainly optimistic. given history if i was him i would have opted not to 3bet since 3b/f sucks.

i think folding AQ earlier was a huge mistake. and AJ is a pretty std raise/4bet shove here, although i hate your 3xing

skrsh76 said:

SNIP<<<< But I guess he would have thought you were just making a play because of the history.

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When he 3-Bet, I was actually hoping he was thinking I would fold, like I had before. I was surprised when he called my 4-bet thinking he had either As, Ks or AK.

duggs said:

if he saw the hands you folded earlier he wouldn't have called, but his call is certainly optimistic. given history if i was him i would have opted not to 3bet since 3b/f sucks.

i think folding AQ earlier was a huge mistake. and AJ is a pretty std raise/4bet shove here, although i hate your 3xing

Click to expand...

Knowing what I know now, yes, agreed. But at the time, only having been at the table for a couple of hands I had no idea what his range was.

In that position given this situation, with AQ O, is that a standard shove?

you raise the button and get shoved on by the blind who has been active and 3bet previously? thats a snap call.

I think the villain is idiot and he doesn't even think of your range, that's why when you know him as loose agressive from last 3 hands you should think of not shoving here and wait for better spot when pushing you want have to face coin flip, he can easily call with KJ, K10 or worse, unlucky for you at this, spot and the fish is alive for sharks.

el_magiciann said:

I think the villain is idiot and he doesn't even think of your range, that's why when you know him as loose agressive from last 3 hands you should think of not shoving here and wait for better spot when pushing you want have to face coin flip, he can easily call with KJ, K10 or worse, unlucky for you at this, spot and the fish is alive for sharks.

Click to expand...

folding here would be good awful, spots don't come better than this.

If you try to steal the blinds and you fail,and opponent raises, you just fold. However, AJ suited isn't a bad hand for preflop allin and you got unlucky, even though you had advantage preflop.

I personally do not like your 4-bet to 26.67 BB. After all, a draw before the flop will still be just a draw after the flop if it does not connect with anything...

If you had just called the 6BB 3-bet then you would have seen that you had nothing and the BB range would certainly include any of 9, 7, or 3. At this point you would probably bet to chase away a possible flush draw and on a reraise fold

for me, i don't like putting all my chips in before the flop, even when I have AA.....AA is still just a pair if it doesn't connect on the flop river or turn! Once the flop comes and i have just A high, I'm very conservative with a propensity to fold. But, this doesn't mean I let a flush draw see a free card on the turn: i will bet in that case but not go crazy with it. On the turn, my raise would be a higher than my flop raise and who knows, a flush drawer might fold at this point.....but on the river I would just fold since i have nothing and villain had been calling my raises art each step which is to say he surely has me beat...

I do acknowledge that you figured "he's the BB so he probably is weak since he was forced into this hand" and so you may have seen his reraise as a defense of the blind. This used to be a leak of mine until i admitted to myself that whether or not money is voluntarily put into a pot, a player could still have something that beats you; and when a blind re-raises there is a chance he has something: a call would more of an indication of weakness in the blind. AJsutied is a hand that a lot of people would say is good to go all in with here. It's not the worst thing you can do. But, I think it is still risky; if your aim is tournament survival, I think plays like this pose too much of a risk. Of course that is my humble opinion

Limping the QJ, don't raise to 'steal blinds' when your in the small blind, that hand plays really well postflop, just call and get there cheaply.

AQ is a snap call if we think he's active.

AJ is even better since we have more info that this guy is a bit crazy, or seemingly crazy, the AQ hand before we proabbly didnt have that read..

I'm raising the QJ as a default, I'm only limping if its specifically to limp/shove limp/call limp/fold with my range rather than r/c r/c. but i don't mind 2.5xing it and being ahead of their calling range.

I probably just call with the QJs. Btn is only folding garbage, I can't really stand a raise, and I'll be OOP with a pretty modest hand any time I'm called.

I probably call with AQ. He just saw me raise-fold, I could very easily have less, and his over-shove is odd. While he could have QQ+ or AK and be hoping I'll hero-call, I'd guess his range is a fair bit wider. I can't say I love risking my tournament life here with a stack of 30bb or so, but I suspect I'm a small favorite against his range, and winning will position me to make a deep run.

Having folded both those hands, I'm certainly willing to get it in pre- with AJs. The question is how best to proceed after he 3bets. Just calling would mean I'll be OOP with a hand that will miss the flop most times vs a seemingly aggressive opponent, so calling to play fit or fold doesn't look like a great idea. So do I call planning to donk when I miss the flop? That doesn't appeal either. That leaves 4betting, and since any decent size pot-commits me, I'm shoving.