Folding QQ Preflop

[TheseNutsWin]

I folded many pocket QQ, majority of the time i was right about the fold when i was dominated by AA, but sometimes i was just bluffed or going against AK when i could have win the pot..

 

[tenbob]

Another awful thread full of bad advise. Saying never in poker is generally a bad thing.

Playing hands like QQ in an MTT when the stacks are shallow will usually be for stacks, and that is just the nature of the game. If your standard line is to fold QQ when your M is <15 to a raise the you are playing too tight. (this of course is in the absence of reads but this is rare). Thinking about your "tournament life" is generally incorrect, you should be thinking about getting in good.

However playing QQ 150bb deep in a ring game or tournament can be a very different senario. In these cases to get a stack in preflop it will usually be 4 or even 5 bet to get the stacks in, and dependant on action and reads we can generally assume that if someone 5 bets then our QQ is toast

 

[zippyhippyca]

I personally will not push all in preflop in the very beginning of the game. Also I will fold ALL hands near the bubble. EVEN AA unless I am short stacked and have NO chance of making the money. SOMETIMES I will play an oober premium hand near the bubble but NOT all in preflop.

 

[Maniakfish]

I folded QQ the other day in a cash game a known player pushed all in preflop 18% VPIP and 4% PFR, so pretty obvious he either had AA/KK cause I'd never seen him do this before, turned out it was AA someone called with TT.

 

[vanquish]

I completely disagree. You should NOT fold poket Queens pre-flop BECAUSE it's the 3rd best hand in poker.

Of course you can be beaten by a better hand but that's a risk you have to take. QQ is a very good hand and a very good opportunity, so it is foolish in my opinion to pass it simply because it can be beaten.

Of course you can do anything you want in poker, you can fold your BB with 5-1 odds, lay down big PPs but if you miss these opportunities, you do not give yourself the maximum chance to win.

Don't fold QQ pre flop, take a chance with it and if you lose, there's always another tournament.

There is one notable exception though where you should fold. If you are playing a satellite and you know you have enough chips so you can fold every hand and guaranty a seat, you should ALWAYS fold QQ there and the same applies to KK and AA. You should not even contemplate a call.

There are also more arguable circumstances:

You also may want to fold QQ preflop if you are at the bubble and cashing is very important to you. If I was a the WSOP one spot before the money (or the final table), I would forgo the opportunity to in order to achieve such a major cash. In other words the certainty of a payout would outweight the benefit that a winning showdown would give me for the rest of my tournament. This is my view in the light of my personal circumstances but that is obviously up to the player to decide, there's no way to say whether this is good or bad play because people's circumstances are different. It would be bad play for Phil Ivey to do so, understandable for me.

Someone is 3betting you. People typically do that with AA or KK, sometimes AK or QQ. They put a minimal re-raise to increase the size of the pot, we've all seen this happen, it's pretty standard play. But again folding is debatable because if the re-raise is minimal, you may want to just call the additional chips and see a flop. But if you are almost sure the guy has AA or KK, the fold certainly makes sense.

You may also want to fold if there are too many people all in preflop. This is debatable again but if 4 people are all in already, you have an increased likelihood that one for these guys (especially the 4th caller has a monster) and you also have a relatively low chance of winning, even if you're the favourite since there are many people in the hand. Even if it makes sense to call from a odds point of view, survival is also a very important aspect of freezeout tournament poker. So it MAY be the right thing to do here.

Perhaps if you were playing a tournament that is expensive relative to your bankroll (say the Poker Stars Sunday Million), you may want to pass here and look for other oppotunities later rather than betting your future tournament life on that one hand, that early. It would certainly ring alarm bells if someone would push like that in a tournament with experienced players.

But seriously these are very rare situations and in virtually any situation you should NOT fold such a nice hand here.

i didn't say fold it because it can be beaten, i said there are times to fold it because it is most likely beaten. also idk why u keep talking about all these tournaments when obv most situations for folding QQ preflop would come up in ring games (ie: u open UTG and get 3bet in MP, and then a tight BB 4-bets)

 

[narizblanco]

IF 2 or more players are allin in front of you, unless you know they are both very loose. lay it down

 

[scphillips87]

I guess it's all situational. I mean, in a ring table I'd probably do it, seeing as I play low levels and people go all in with terrible cards. Then again, they do seem to hit what they need very often.

 

[vanquish]

I guess it's all situational. I mean, in a ring table I'd probably do it, seeing as I play low levels and people go all in with terrible cards. Then again, they do seem to hit what they need very often.

remember you want players to go all in with terrible cards!

 

[scphillips87]

Not too terrible, cause I'd rather have them dominated.. not two live cards. I've seen two live cards beat my pockets way too many times...

So if you ever see me at the tables, go all-in with the most terrible cards you can muster. Cheers, from canada.

 

[PokerGemmy]

I'll admit I would usually call with QQ but there have been rare occasions I have folded.

 

[gadgetfiddler]

I'll call a small raise with qq but not a re-raise unless the person re-raising is really short stacked and seemingly obviously trying to steal blinds. i usually slow play unless i'm in late position and then i'll raise if there isn't more than 2-3 calls. but i've folded qq many times, and the majority of those folds, as i recall, were actually good folds.

 

[left52side]

Unfortuantly I have never folded qq preflop,it has hurt me a few times in the past.
but it has also helped when a player mover with jj or worse.
I wish I was diseplined enough to fold it oop with a tight player but dont see that coming anytime soon.,

 

[marvinas]

Too many different situations to make clear conslusions. Of course odds tell us to call, it is only 7,6% that someone has AA or KK on 9 - seated table. So unless you're in a very special situation and want to avoid any risk at all costs, I say call is a must. If not, what are you going to play with? AAs don't come around that often, and you must move at some point. Bad luck can hit you with AA too (I remember once beating AA with JT - hit 2 pairs )

 

[TheUndertaker]

I will only toss QQ pre-flop if i'am on the short stack and i only have a couple more people to outlast before i get in the money.

 

[silverslugger33]

I've thrown away QQ quite a few times and even KK a time or two. If you think you're beat, you fold. It's that simple. There are times when I've known (not thought, really KNOWN) that a player had AA preflop and there are plenty others when I've known they had KK or AA. If that's your read and your a confident enough player to trust it, then throw away the QQ.

 

[glemly]

it's very rare, but in some situations i might fold QQ. If more than 3 ppl are all in already and you haven't committed to the pot yet, i would probably fold. It all depends though.

 

[kevkojak]

If it meant getting bubbled in a seriously high paying tourney (bottom cash would have to be 10x buy in) then i'd CONSIDER folding QQ. If I was playing to win, i'd be all in without a seconds hesitation. You are a hot fave against all but 2 hands (KK and AA). Even then you have a 20% chance of cracking the hands. Anyone who lays down QQ preflop is a WAY too negative player!!!
And undertaker... short stack you should 100% push with Queens! Anyone who disagrees is better watching poker than playing!!!

 

[BlakIcon]

Man! me my self i could not give up 2 Q's b4 preflop lol sometimes even if i think they probably have A's or K's lol.

 

[scphillips87]

Yeah guy's I think we should all remember its the 3rd best starting hand. After the flop comes down it's way different so, try to isolate ONE other hand, not get everyone in the flop and get busted. The problem with the bubble and having shortstacks around they're gonna push with A-anything. Probably K-9's and up .. maybe even a J-10 or two (I can't seem to beat J-10 even if I'm dominating it.)

 

[DarkAceMafia]

I look at how to play these big pocket pairs depending on stages of the tournaments. Early stage, I would push on the big pockets. If I get beat at this stage at an all-in then I'm OK with that. Although, in the middle and late stages of the tournament, I would be very aware of the re-raises ahead of mine. 2 reraisers after me, I would fold the QQ. Of course chip stack plays a role also here and your place to the money.

 

[vanquish]

(I can't seem to beat J-10 even if I'm dominating it.)

lol your posts are so negative on the whole. cheer up man, if ur dominating the other guy's hand, u prolly did something right

 

[brianvoytek]

I've folded Q/Q AND K/K preflop before when I knew they were the worst hand. In those times, I was right every time. You can tell, most of the time, when someone has Aces. Just pay attention to the action at the table, how people are playing and WHAT they're playing. When you fold Q/Q it's not that big of a deal, it's just one hand.

 

[vagas35]

i didn't say fold it because it can be beaten, i said there are times to fold it because it is most likely beaten. also idk why u keep talking about all these tournaments when obv most situations for folding QQ preflop would come up in ring games (ie: u open UTG and get 3bet in MP, and then a tight BB 4-bets)

I play 6 seater cash games, i agree with this, This is the rare occasion i would lay down QQ

 

[iveyrocks21]

It would be a tough lay, but I dont' see any pro folding it pre flop.
If you're in a free roll or low buy in maybe, but in a staked game odds are in your favor.

 

[Igrac]

I would definitely fold QQ preflop. Maybe not early on tho. In a SNG i might fold if two ppl go all in and i dont want to be drawn out on.