FOLDING AQo in Middle Position After an Early Position Raise (Tournament Play)

samircyber9

samircyber9

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Jan 24, 2022
Total posts
148
Chips
0
Greetings everyone,

I have a question regarding tournament play:

It’s early in the tournament and everyone is still deep stacked for the most part. No one knows much about the other players at the table.

I have AQ offsuit in MP+2

A raise is made by UTG+1 for 3x the bb.

Is it ever a reasonable play to fold AQ in this situation?
 
Joe

Joe

99.98% Kiln dried
Bronze Level
Joined
May 28, 2016
Total posts
8,333
Awards
10
GB
Chips
116
Based on your stipulations, no, not in my opinion...

You have position on the raiser and a strong starting hand.

My opinion is you should be mixing up raising and calling here, but not folding preflop.

If you had info/experience with the opponent and know they're a total nit then yes, you can consider folding, but you stated no knowledge of opponents..

While AQo is a starting hand with vulnerabilities, it's also the unpaired second nuts preflop..! :wink:
 
D

daniel888

Visionary
Bronze Level
Joined
Apr 19, 2018
Total posts
513
Awards
2
Chips
57
I will don't fold AQo in this case unless there is a very big 3bet behind me. AQo is not very strong when playing against UTG open range but it is strong enough to play. Athough I think I don't 3Bet with AQo here because I think it's good to play at postflop. Maybe I will balance my 3Bet range with AJo or some suited hands like 65s,...
 
Last edited:
A

alien666dj

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 7, 2020
Total posts
1,308
Chips
0
At least in this situation there is a call, but not like a fold. You can also 3Bet as an option against an unfamiliar opponent.
 
F

fundiver199

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Jun 3, 2019
Total posts
13,267
Awards
1
Chips
262
No. AJ can be folded in this situation, but AQ is at least a call, see a flop and then make some decisions from there. If you flop top pair, but the opponent continue to apply a lot of pressure, and you think, he is not bluffing often enough, then maybe its sometimes possible to fold.
 
Matt_Burns88

Matt_Burns88

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Aug 24, 2018
Total posts
1,425
Awards
2
GB
Chips
259
In the scenario described, I would be calling pretty much every time.

Folding is out of the question to me. Our hand is way to strong and 3bb is standard in the early stages of the tournament and the implied odds are very good.

3-betting is a better option; we're in position against the initial raiser, but in middle position there are still plenty on players to act behind that could 4-bet us, plus the initial raiser, which would put is in a fairly dicey spot. In later position, I would be much more inclined to 3-bet.

Calling is my preferred option, because we're keeping the pot smaller with a strong speculative hand and we can still call a 3-bet for the later positions, if we want to.
 
eberetta1

eberetta1

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Aug 11, 2007
Total posts
2,218
Awards
7
US
Chips
162
I would be folding, but I am nit. For a person to be 3 betting that early in position they usually have a strong hand, so you are probably up against AA, AK, KK, KQ, QQ, or JJ. So you are basically calling a coin flip. I wait for better odds.

Now if my AQ was suited, I would call.
 
F

fundiver199

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Jun 3, 2019
Total posts
13,267
Awards
1
Chips
262
I would be folding, but I am nit. For a person to be 3 betting that early in position they usually have a strong hand, so you are probably up against AA, AK, KK, KQ, QQ, or JJ. So you are basically calling a coin flip. I wait for better odds.

Now if my AQ was suited, I would call.

The Villain in this hand was not 3-betting. He was making a 3BB open raise, which is completely normal, when stacks are deep.
 
pirateglenn

pirateglenn

Legend
Bronze Level
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Total posts
2,440
Awards
4
Chips
0
This is a call every day and twice on a sunday in my opinion, considering however the bet size of 3 x which will be minimal as its early into tourney, i would peel one and evaluate - initial raise is certain to c bet whatever lands so a good flop is going to be equitable for you.
Its early in the tournament - an opportunity for you to also potentially get some information on the initial raiser, the fact you have some position of course helps but regardless of that fact alone - be prepared to have a counter move post flop.
 
willjosp

willjosp

Rock Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Sep 13, 2017
Total posts
432
Awards
2
Chips
0
any type of high cards can be foleyed and even more so being in that position sometimes at the tables we cling so much to our hands that we really don't read that our opponents may have a better hand and that can lead us to lose many chips and even the tournament :eek:
 
RustyRed83

RustyRed83

Legend
Platinum Level
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Total posts
1,045
Awards
2
Chips
175
Call/raise/fold are probably all marginal decisions this deep against an EP raise, but I still feel pretty confident that fold is the worst of the three.
 
Folding in Poker
Top