Help settle an argument.

[Chaostracize]

$10 Party. Early with 2 or 3 gone. Blinds at 15/30. Hero and villain's stack are equal.

Hero is in CO-1 with A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif Q /images/graemlins/diamond.gif, no limpers, makes standard 3x BB raise. SB calls. Heads up.

Flop comes K /images/graemlins/heart.gif 8 /images/graemlins/spade.gif 2 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif. Check - Check.

Question 1: What do you think of this play?

Turn comes Q /images/graemlins/spade.gif. Villain bets T30 into T210 pot. Hero raises to T120.

Question 2: What do you think of this play?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[texasrattlers]

Question 1: Agree.

Question 2: Just call. Too early to risk much w/o being pretty sure you have the best of it.

Just the way I see things now.

[McBandit]

I would throw out a pot-sized bet on the flop. It would be the last chips I would put into the pot unless I hit an ace. With a pot-sized bet on the flop, it is unlikely that he's drawing if he calls...a call from him means "your hand is probably no good". If he just calls, I take my free card on the turn and hope to improve.

[ChrisV]

(1) Bet the flop. That's a pretty scary board for most hands and you can take a stab without overcommitting.

(2) Raise is right, that's probably a little much. A raise to 150 or so accomplishes the same thing with a little less risk.

[texasrattlers]

I wasn't paying attention to the position on this hand (easy to follow such things when playing but I need to think thru a posted hand situation more before responding). So, after raising pre-flop I agree a decent size raise on the flop is good, and put no more money in after that unless you get help from the board.

Pre-flop, I would not raise with AQ so early in a tourney. See the "Early tourney question" post for a discussion about tight play early; several posters suggest just a call w/ AQ early.

[ChrisV]

Since I was the guy making the comments about limping AQ, I should probably chip in /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I would open raise AQ from CO-1 at this level. Raising to steal is OK - 45 chips is not nothing so you don't want to get religious about not raising on level 2. If there was one limper, I'd prefer call.

My comments about limping were a guide only - obviously if you're on the button with AQ with no limpers you should raise. Exercise your judgement. The point is just that AQ is not that great a hand at this level.

[Chaostracize]

Here is my argument for question 1.

Since the hero is the preflop raiser and it was checked to him on the flop, a bet is necessary. If called, you can be done with the hand, but why let your opponent have a free card if he or she's unpaired? And if you are up against a small PP who has CC tendencies, get a free river out of your flop bet.

My friend's argument is that since the hero is not sure he has the best hand he should check through on the flop and hope to improve.

Question 2 argument:

I believe that if the hero really thinks he has the best hand at this point it would make more sense to call this down instead of raising right here. Raising might scare off opponents with a weaker hand who would bet again on the river allowing you to pick off a weaker hand. It would also slow a weaker K down. This raise will generally make weaker hand fold and stronger hands keep playing, this, in my opinion, is not a good raise.

The hero believed that he had the best hand at this point so my friend argues that raising would get more money out of a hand he has beat. This will also protect against hands like 2 or 3 outers that may come on the river in which the hero will not know if he still has the best hand.

Any comments would be appreciated.

[ChrisV]

The bet on the flop is clear. Find out now whether your opponent has a king.

On (2), first recognise that it is pretty unlikely your opponent has a king. People don't generally min bet with top pair, he would have made a larger bet otherwise he prices in hands like AJ and AT.

More likely is that he has a weak hand or has picked up some kind of draw. If you just call, you are pricing in any hand with an 11.3% or greater chance of hitting on the river. After you factor in implied odds, this more or less prices in 3-outers or better. If your opponent has, say, JT, or a spade draw, you MUST make it more expensive for him on this street. If he has a strong hand then unless he's very weak you'll be facing a larger bet on the river anyway, so you might as well up the price now.

[TheRonin]

IMO pot size bet post flop b/c of posistion. Sure youve got a chance at taking the pot down / but you are also letting the SB define his hand.

I would opt to flat call than raise even if he thinks he's got the best hand / its to early to put that many chips at risk w/o atleast the top pair on the board

The SB may have hit a set and checked the flop like most people do / or may have been stubborn w/ Kx pre-flop and checked to see if the cutoff has a K better kicker
Just my thoughts

[TheRonin]

What was the result of the play?

[Chaostracize]

Results don't really matter, but I'll pot after I get a few more replies. It's too 50/50 still... /images/graemlins/smile.gif