An average blind steal...

[mcpeepants]

Well, nothing too extraordinary here. Table has tightened up a bit so I'm going to finish out the rotation. What do you do in this situation?

Party Poker 5/10 Hold'em (7 handed)

Preflop: mcp33p4n75 is SB with Q/images/graemlins/heart.gif, A/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
UTG folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, <font color="CC3333">CO raises</font>, Button folds, <font color="CC3333">mcp33p4n75 3-bets</font>, BB calls, CO calls.

Flop: (9 SB) 2/images/graemlins/club.gif, J/images/graemlins/club.gif, 4/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">mcp33p4n75 bets</font>, BB calls, <font color="CC3333">CO raises</font>, mcp33p4n75 calls, BB folds.

Turn: (7 BB) K/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
mcp33p4n75 checks, CO checks.

River: (7 BB) J/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
mcp33p4n75 checks, <font color="CC3333">CO bets</font>, mcp33p4n75 calls.

Final Pot: 9 BB
<font color="green">Main Pot: 9 BB, between CO and mcp33p4n75.</font>

Results to follow.

[InchoateHand]

The only hand I think you are ahead of is ATs, and if the table has tightened up a lot, I think that is less likely. I would expect to be shown 99 or TT, possibly AQ for the split. I'm not sure you will be good 1 in 8 times on this river. But I call here too, so what do I know?

[InchoateHand]

n/m

[InchoateHand]

xx

[InchoateHand]

I'm stupid. Never mind. I think you will see Ax here more than anything, possibly AXc. I think he is betting his busted flush draw. Call away.

[gamblore99]

situations like these i find particularly difficult. I hope someone can give a thorough plan of action with explanation.

I question that 3bet with aq from sb.

[InchoateHand]

If you are in the CO, and you are opening, you more or less have to come in for a raise with any hand that wants to see the flop. As such, I, along with many people smarter and stupider than me, raise a variety of hands worse than AQ from the CO, especially AX hands. Some folks also raise an PP, but I'm not there yet. Problem is, a lot of CO raising hands (hands with Ks and Js in them) got hit by this flop. When the villain slows down on the turn, however, it makes AX or small PP far more likely than a hand that has a piece of the board. I will almost always three bet AQ from the SB against an LP open-raiser, unless I have incredible information to the contrary.
Since the pot is liable to be HU, the last thing you want to do PF is call.
1. Three-bet, 2. fold 3. call. But thats just my uneducated line.

[Jonny Melon]

I think you played it fine.

One of the posters requested details as to why, so I will:

AQo is OK to 3-bet pre-flop because 1) you want isolation and 2) CO is much more likely to open-raise with a weaker or dominated hand than he would from, say, UTG+1.

Bet the flop, hoping the flop missed CO or knocks them on their heels enough to pick it up w/ a turn bet. Still a decent chance hero still has the best hand, but you wouldn't mind picking it up right here.

When CO raises, given the SB aggression, you are more likely to be behind than against a free-card draw on this board. You do have odds to peel one more off, planning to fold the turn unimproved to a bet.

Turn is self-explanatory.

Check-calling the river is sensible. The river call is close, (CO could be a scared jack or smaller PP, but could also be a busted draw), but it's close enough that I think it's OK, especially since CO showed weakness on the turn. You don't want to bet the river because there is almost no chance of folding a better hand, and you potentially induce a bluff.

[mcpeepants]

I like 3-betting AQo PF for many reasons: to get it heads up, because I probably have the best hand, and it'll allow me to resteal on the flop usually. Also, when I show that much strength preflop I get better information on the flop when I bet. How's my reasoning?

Results in white below: <font color="white">
CO has 6c 7c (one pair, jacks).
mcp33p4n75 has Qh As (one pair, jacks).
Outcome: mcp33p4n75 wins 9 BB. </font>

[InchoateHand]

Seems solid to me. You have also prevented future steal attempts with all but powerful hands from this mongo.