Fixing a leak - AQo

[TommyO]

I finally got around to buying PokerTracker (I wish I would have done this 6 months ago). Anyway I was shocked to find out that the hand I'm losing the most money with (by far) is AQo. My question is, how do I fix this leak?

I did some searching and found some really good threads on specific hands involving AQo but I was wondering if there is a thread out there that discusses AQo in general and how it should be played in different situations.

I'll keep looking but if anyone has something like this bookmarked (or cares to repond with their own thoughts) I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

[Fnord]

Don't 3-bet players that don't raise a lot of hands with it. When in doubt, fold it to a PFR.

[TommyO]

Thanks. If the raiser is somewhat loose, is it OK to cold call or is a 3 bet better?

[djr]

review the hands you're playing with it.. Are they bad beats? Are you coldcalling preflop too much?

AQo was also one of my worst hands, but when I reviewed each hand I played with it I lost a couple huge pots to bad beats (trip aces falling to a 9s full boat on the river or top two pair falling to a low set for example). Just a couple of these outliers can skew the numbers and a larger sample size is needed to get a true estimate of your winrate.

Also how many times have you played AQo, losing with 10 instances is meaningless, but if its 100 then you need to be a bit more concerned.

[djr]

unless the raiser is a maniac PF, I think you should lean toward folding in most positions. Button/blinds I'd coldcall. even to a somewhat loose raiser you'll run into domination too often for comfort.

[TommyO]

I've got 70 instances of AQo in my database. After looking at the individual hands there are no monster pots either won or lost. It looks like I'm winning with this hand about 37% of the time, which doesn't seem too bad. The problem seems to be that I'm winning the small pots but losing the big ones. Maybe I'm not protecting my hand and playing too passively?

[MyssGuy]

I hate when people post this, but I think the sample size may be too small still....however, look at what you are losing to, what position were you in, are you coldcalling raises, limping in, etc....

[Fnord]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks. If the raiser is somewhat loose, is it OK to cold call or is a 3 bet better?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're not sure enough to 3-bet, fold.

[djr]

that or you're not letting go when you should. Are you chasing with this even when you miss the flop/turn? I've seen a lot of people chase their AQ/AK down to the river thinking "oh man, if I just hit my card I'll win!" AQ/AK are strong preflop (and postflop if they spike a pair+), but if you miss the flop they're just above average overcards with upwards of 6 outs and should only be played as such.