Pocket Queens BB

[brettstix]

300 player MTT. $3000 guaranteed. Blinds 30/60

I have QQ in Big blind approx 2500 in chips.
Everyone folds around to the SB who is very aggressive and has raised me every time I am Big Blind.

SB raises to 240 (Has approx 3000 in chips)

I then ....... to be continued.

Would love to hear others thoughts. Was playing online so I only got 15 seconds to think and I know this will improve with time but I am sure I made the wrong decision.

 

[SeanyJ]

You raise to about 720 and expect to take the pot right there.

 

[Branco]

I would shove... it is early in the tournament and a hand like that deserves a shove. I don't know your particular opponent of course but usually I would put him on a small/medium pocket pair or ace high card.

If he wants a coinflip you're probably ahead, most likely you'll take the pot right there and send him a message about him raising you in the future.

If you really don't want to risk a shove preflop, just 3xraise him and shove on the flop if there are no Aces or if you get an extra queen.

 

[Rounder_D]

I wouldn't shove. It's only 240. Too many people over play QQ and KK online especially. I would say call the raise see the flop that way if he has a hand like KT or AT, you can fold if one hits on the flop and would have only lost the minimum which is you goal lose the minimum on a losing hand and win the maximum on a winning hand. lately i have started playing my QQ and KK alot more coustiosly and it has been working out. I would just say dont be so quick to put it in pre-flop you will have much better results playing post flop poker.

 

[quads]

Agree with rounder here. It's a tournament and sounds like you're still with a full table. Although he sounds like a loose player, and is pissing you off, put that aside. QQ looks pretty but is easily beat. And if you push here it'll be the one time your opponent may have KK, AA. I'd just call here and hope for a favorable flop before I made a decision that would put my tournament on the line. If you flop good here it seems you wouldn't have a problem getting all his money into the pot. But if the board showed flush draw, or easy straight draw, or paired, I'd proceed carefully, and try to see a free card, or call a small bet. If he pushes after a dangerous flop, I'd might even through them away. But, if flop looks good I'd call a push, or push trying to win it right there. If he calls and spiked a set, or hits over pair or two pair on turn or river, you'll just have to pay him off and better luck next time. Remember it's a tournament and no need to rush or gamble at this early stage.

Deep into a tournament, bigger stacks, short table, completely different strategy. (even for cash game)

 

[bill_nj]

What ever you do don't just call. If you don't want to push atleast raise to 750-1000. Based on your read you are almost definately ahead right now. The last thing you want to do is just call and let him hit a set or 2 pair on a flop that looks harmless to you so that you'll get trapped for your whole stack. You want him to make the mistake of calling you with the worse hand.

 

[Rounder_D]

I dont agree with raising at all regardless. You need to give your self a chance to get away from the hand. like I said earlier QQ is so over rated especially online. Their is no point in risking a third of your stack, you have position and can play it post flop and have much better results playing post flop. Like quads said its so early it really doesn't matter dont risk all you chips pre flop. If an A or K hits then you can fold and your M will still be 30 which is huge. You can find much better situations to get you money in with. Bottom line dont over play QQ, KK or AK. Play post flop and your results will become alot better. Daniel negreanu is huge on post flop play and perosnally I dont think you can find a better player to follow for tournament play.

 

[brooklyn]

i was always told never go all in pre-flop with a queen in your hand and through my experiences qq or aq all in pre-flop always finds a way to get busted in the end

 

[MrMuckets]

Call and see the flop if everyone else folded you are in the perfect trapping position. He has to act before you in every betting round so even if an ace or a king falls on the flop you can see what he does before you have to do anything.

 

[switch0723]

^^^^ This imo, use his aggression against him. Flat call now. then bet/raise a undercard flop and look to get it all in there (with obvious exceptions on flop variables). On king or ace high flops, check/call flop, then use your reads and previous experience against player to decided what to do if they fire our 2nd bullet on turn

 

[JokerAce888]

This is exactly what I would do and have been doing lately also. It has been working well for me too. Just seems the smarted way to play this one.

I wouldn't shove. It's only 240. Too many people over play QQ and KK online especially. I would say call the raise see the flop that way if he has a hand like KT or AT, you can fold if one hits on the flop and would have only lost the minimum which is you goal lose the minimum on a losing hand and win the maximum on a winning hand. .

 

[SeanyJ]

I really don't get why you guys want to just call and let him see a cheap flop with what could be overcards to your queens. If he has literally been stealing your blind every time your raise will probably get him out of the hand, which is a good result for you.

You are pretty deep stacked, if you make a standard raise to 720 or so you can still get away from the hand and have plenty of chips left to make a come back, even though in a blind vs. blind battle against someone that appears to be really aggressive I don't think there is a chance I'm folding QQ in this spot.

 

[quads]

I really don't get why you guys want to just call and let him see a cheap flop with what could be overcards to your queens. If he has literally been stealing your blind every time your raise will probably get him out of the hand, which is a good result for you.

You are pretty deep stacked, if you make a standard raise to 720 or so you can still get away from the hand and have plenty of chips left to make a come back, even though in a blind vs. blind battle against someone that appears to be really aggressive I don't think there is a chance I'm folding QQ in this spot.

Raising to 720 preflop is putting almost 33% of his stack on the line with pretty much dead cards. Then if opponent re-raises all-in what does he do now??? The professional play here is check into the flop and risk on post flop only or fold. QQ under these conditions at this time of the tournament is a bad place to be. Especially against a loose or aggressive opponent.

 

[Paw_kit Aces]

he's a loose player I say raise him at least 2/3 his stack. Which is probably all in for you.

 

[tnt72]

If this has been playing overly aggressive.It would make my day to trap him with this hand

 

[brettstix]

I reraised it to 720. He called and then moved all in on a flop 10 6 3 Rainbow. I had a good read on him and knew he had at best top pair or str8 draw and I called. He showed K 10 off. I start give myself high 5's when ..... Turn ...... 10 River ...... King. https://www.cardschat.com/images/smilies/eek.gif At the time I thought the reraise was the right amount to take the pot. This guy obviously thought different.

 

[zxghostxz]

u need to get the queens in . u prob woudent no were u were after the flop. u no it gunna flop a ace or king lol

 

[Rounder_D]

Crucial mistake to winning poker is pot control, watch how helmuth plays people say he makes great laydowns, it has nothing to do with the cards it has to do with pot control he is not looking to play big pots. by re-raising regardless of where you stand their is still 5 cards to come and you have just pot commited yourself. Look at it this way pre flop both put 720 in making pot 1440 making the flop bet at minimum 720 ussally which is now half your stack. But if you call 240 that makes pot 480 and makes flop bet About 300 which allows you to get away from the hand. bottom line the hand is not over until all the cards are dealt and if you could have just seen the turn with out putting all your chips in you would have been able to let it go. Dont be so quick to put your money in until you have a made hand, one pair is not a made hand.

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

Pot control comes more into play when we have a hand with definite showdown value but are unsure of precisely how well we fare against villain's range.

We have villain's raising range utterly crushed here. We have villain's calling of a 3-bet range utterly crushed here. Heck, if villain is as spewy as the hand makes him seem to be, we're way ahead of his 4-bet shoving range (given our impressions of him, he shoves over our reraise with stuff like AQ/JJ-TT here, right?).

Given this, there's absolutely no reason to not reraise here.

 

[nuts422]

I reraised it to 720. He called and then moved all in on a flop 10 6 3 Rainbow. I had a good read on him and knew he had at best top pair or str8 draw and I called. He showed K 10 off. I start give myself high 5's when ..... Turn ...... 10 River ...... King. https://www.cardschat.com/images/smilies/eek.gif At the time I thought the reraise was the right amount to take the pot. This guy obviously thought different.

He was a 4 to 1 dog and got lucky.

 

[Rounder_D]

"Pot control comes more into play when we have a hand with definite showdown value"

Pot control happens the instant you decide to play the hand, and a hand like QQ that can be easily beat. You want to minimize your pre-flop commitment to the hand. The only time I would agree to re-raise is if I was already in the money. I bet if you take your hand history and track how many time you commited yourself with QQ pre-flop that you lost with it overall.

 

[nightmoves44]

bb

I had this same hand yesterday.I had to slow play because veryone folded but one.We ended up allin on the turn.I ended up losing to pocket 3 because he hit a heart flush.I didnt have any hearts and he had 3h.So,i know how this story ends.

 

[ABorges]

I bet you wouldn't have posted this if you had won the hand. You played it as good as anyone could have, you got all the money in as a 4 to 1 favorite. You lost the hand, big deal, the moment you become results based is the moment you start to play worse. And I just don't get what people are saying here about not re-raising this preflop... if you're not going to re-raise a SB raise to your BB with QQ, then when the hell are you gonna do it...? Only two hands beat you at this point and you have absolutely no reason to believe you're up against one of them, so why let your opponent see a flop when you can make him pay for it?

 

[Jillychemung]

I bet if you take your hand history and track how many time you commited yourself with QQ pre-flop that you lost with it overall.

I know my HH is not the biggest but this doesn't hold up for me. Of all the QQ hands I've had only 11% of these hands have I lost when my stack was committed preflop.

 

[widowmaker89]

I am very confused at all the people who are calling simply to not get chips in. I can see the trapping, although dont really like that play since its blind vs blind and if he is stealing everytime he knows you know that and is willing to play worse cards and will call a raise here. However if he misses his hand he may make a stab but I would only think you will get 1 more bet out of it that way, which you would probably get PF anyway.

Aggression is the key to poker how on earth are you going to flat call because you dont want to be committed? That doesnt even make sense you want to get your chips in with the best hand. It is against the other blind, this is essentially a HU match and you have QQ! I would love to get all in his range is huge.

If you think any pro is flat calling with the intention of keeping the pot small you are very wrong. This is a huge hand right now, if a A falls then pot control becomes an issue, not with QQ against a SB raise.

You played it well and got unlucky, what can you do. The raise was good.

Also, against aggressive players you dont simply call and hope to hit big with your big hands, you wait for these hands and strike early and hard. To sit and wait for trips is silly because 1) they will take you off many winning hands 2) they wont pay you off because they are raising with shit.