Laying down QQ preflop

[JoeC]

I have a problem with laying down QQ at $50 NL. I just feel that I can only do it if I'm getting raised big from a guy who (A) has rock-like stats in PT and (B)I have a LOT of hands on. To this date, this situation has never come up, and I've never laid down QQ in one of these games.

I know a lot of you guys say KK should never be laid down in low-stakes NL games online, but when should I lay down QQ? Thanks for your help... 2+2 is slowly ridding me of all my fishy tendencies.

[jtr]

Well, how about laying it down when there's a significant raise in front of you, and then a guy with rock-like stats reraises all-in before the action gets to you? I'd be laying down QQ there, even at Party.

Hope this helps.

[amoeba]

when you are very sure the guy has AA/KK and raise is too significant for you to have odds to flop your set, you fold QQ.

[Raiser]

I think this depends a lot on whether you are playing a full table or 6-handed.

When I played the full table NL25 games, I layed down QQ once pre-flop when some dude pushed all in, some other guy went all in over the top, and there was another caller before me. I honestly didn't have a great read on any of the participants, but I felt that action made AA or KK or AK a likely holding by one of them.

Now that I'm playing 6-max NL50 tables, I can honesly not imagine a situation where I would lay down QQ preflop.

[elnino12]

Pocket queens is a very beatable hand, especially post flop. I would never go all in preflop with it (unless short stacked), and I would certainly be careful with it post-flop. Obviously you must judge the type of player who is reraising preflop and make your decision from there, but ideally you don't want to get too over-involved with QQ preflop. A good strategy with QQ PF is to min-reraise people to find out where they're at...if they reraise you, you're probably beat...if they just call-you might have them covered. I actually laid down pocket KK yesterday in 1/2 NL when someone raised to 8, then I reraised to 14, and then they went all in with $150. I folded my kings, and he said "good fold...rockets here." This is one case where the minraise is an effective tool to gauge your opponents, and I'm certainly glad I did it in this case. Basically-the key is to know your opponents, be cautious, and be wary of a set somewhere on a flop like 10/9/7 or something similar. That's just my 2 cents...hope it helps a little. Good luck!

[schwza]

with two players showing a lot of strength, you can get away from it. when the stacks are deeper than 50 bb's, you can get away from it. if it's heads up and only 50 bb's deep, unless the guy's pokeredge stats say he's raised pre-flop 1% over 500 hands, i'm putting the chips in.

[DBowling]

I too have noticed my self going all in preflop with QQ at 6 max more liberally than at 10max. Ive only played a little over 10k hands there, but so far ive never folded it preflop or lost to AA/KK when going all in preflop. It seems like there are a lot of people pushing a lot worse holdings here. AJo, ATo, small pocket pairs.
But like schwza said, there are some instances where it may be correct to fold

[okayplayer]

I think min-raising them is horrible. (I think min-raising is horrible period, but esp. in this case). And, don't believe everything you hear at a poker table....

I would make a normal raise (i.e, in your case when he raised to 8, I'd make it 20 to go), and if I get played back at - then I can lay them down. Min-raises often smell of weakness (a cheap attempt to show strength and steal the hand) - atleast to me.

[TMFS9]

[ QUOTE ]
Min-raises often smell of weakness (a cheap attempt to show strength and steal the hand) - atleast to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a good reason to min raise, but only do it to encourage a reraise. For example you raise from the button with AJs you have a couple of callers and the flop comes A J 5 rainbow, if you throw out a min bet an aggressive player will see this as an autobet on the flop and come over the top of you, and then you have them right where you want them. Sort of slowplaying.