An AQs Hand And Some General Questions

[bobbyi]

Party Poker $25 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)

Button ($24.25)
BB ($15.9)
UTG+1 ($52.8)
Hero ($23.75)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with Q/images/graemlins/club.gif, A/images/graemlins/club.gif. SB posts a blind of $0.25.
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">UTG+1 raises to $1</font>, Hero calls $1, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, Button calls $1, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, BB calls $0.50.
My thoughts and questions: My first geenral question is how I should be interpreting preflop min-raises. I would muck AQ here against a real EP raise (yes?), but against a min-raise I wasn't sure because I don't know what a min-raise means. What is my opponent telling me about his hand when he makes it $1 here?

My second general question is how to play AQ preflop in these Party no limit games. If it hasn't been raised yet, should I usually be raising? Limp in early position and raise it later? Don't raise it from the blinds? In this particular case, was my call bad? As said, I normally muck AQ against a full raise but for only $1 and with much of the field behind me, I thought if I called, people would come in behind me and we would get a nice mult-way pot (in which my suited hand should play well).

Flop: ($4.25) J/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 3/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(5 players)</font>
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero checks, Button checks.
My thoughts and questions: Check here is good, yes? The preflop raiser has already shown weakness but this still seems like a lot of people to try to pick up the pot from.

Turn: ($4.25) 7/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(5 players)</font>
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets $2</font>, Button folds, BB folds, UTG+1 folds.
My thoughts and questions: Ok, no one wants the money, so I'll take it and we can just move on to the next hand.

[tbach24]

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My first geenral question is how I should be interpreting preflop min-raises. I would muck AQ here against a real EP raise (yes?), but against a min-raise I wasn't sure because I don't know what a min-raise means. What is my opponent telling me about his hand when he makes it $1 here?

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I think that re-raising a min-raise to try and clear out the field with AQs is a good idea unless he has shown down notable hands (some players do it with AA and KK). With AQs, I think that the standard is to raise it unless there is a raise before you.

Calling a raise depends on a couple of things:
1. PF raisers PF tightness
2. Your position in relation to the raiser
3. PF raisers post-flop play

If the raiser is tight or you are out of position against him, it is usually a muck. However, if you are in position and he can't release a good hand, it might be worth taking a flop because of the implied odds.

From the blinds you might want to check, because you don't want to be building a pot out of position. However, if you prefer playing out of position heads up as opposed to multi-way (I do), then you can raise to clear out the field.

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My thoughts and questions: Check here is good, yes? The preflop raiser has already shown weakness but this still seems like a lot of people to try to pick up the pot from.

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Check is good here, I don't like bluffing into a 4way field, especially in a party game.

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My thoughts and questions: Ok, no one wants the money, so I'll take it and we can just move on to the next hand.

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I don't like this bluff because there are now 3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif's on the board and someone may have K /images/graemlins/heart.gif or A /images/graemlins/heart.gif and call you and you won't have any idea where you stand.

Hope this helps, and if I'm way off, please tell me.

[kurto]

There's been many discussions on the minraise and what it means. If you're playing against all good players... a minraise is often fishing for a raise.

Where I usually haunt (PS $.1/.25BB NL)... a minraise usually means... I have a small pocket pair or medium hand (KQ/KJ) "I know its kind of good but not enough to really raise..."

I take notes every time someone minraises and I get to see their hand. Small pp has been the most consistant.

Makes it really easy to play against them. If there's a rag flop and they call a bet or reraise... I'll give them credit for a set and walk away. If its a scattered flop... I'll bet with pocket 4s... they'll fold their pocket 8s. Its fun.

Re: AQ... I will raise with AQs from most positions. Occasionally, I'll limp if there are a lot of limpers. Depending on the number of players in before me, the size of the raise and the opponents stack size... I will call raises with the hand.

"My thoughts and questions: Check here is good, yes?" I'd say so.

"Ok, no one wants the money, so I'll take it and we can just move on to the next hand." I think that worked because they feared the possible flush. If there was no flush draw, you might have been called with anyone who hit or had a pp.

[schwza]

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"Ok, no one wants the money, so I'll take it and we can just move on to the next hand." I think that worked because they feared the possible flush. If there was no flush draw, you might have been called with anyone who hit or had a pp.

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i'm with tbach that the 3rd /images/graemlins/heart.gif makes it a less stealable pot, not a more stealable one.

[bobbyi]

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I don't like this bluff because there are now 3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif's on the board and someone may have K /images/graemlins/heart.gif or A /images/graemlins/heart.gif and call you and you won't have any idea where you stand.

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The third heart can work for or against me. You're right that if someone has the big heart, I won't be able to pick up the pot. But if no one does, the third heart hitting is going to look scary and my bet will almost certainly win the pot right now. I'm taking a gamble here that no one has it. I bet a little less than half pot, so even if I only succeed in picking up the pot half the time, that's fine (this isn't quite right because it disregards the chance that I might end up winning the pot even if I check and that I might get called and still win, and so forth, but it is in the right ballpark). I only had 3 opponents (the converter mess up and said "5 players", but I didn't catch that until now and it's too late to edit). Two of them have already checked, whereas they might have bet the turn if they picked up the nut flush and so far no one seemed interested in the pot. Even if they are passive enough to check the big heart here, it is more likely that not that no one happens to hold it. I thought that this bet would work more than half the time, even though I sometimes get called. I expect a game like this to be very loose, so at first I was wary of making bets like this, but my success rate at picking up small pots has been quite high (in fact, it might be the only thing I'm doing well so far) and I'm pretty sure it's a quite profitable strategy if applied correctly and this felt like a good time for it.

[bobbyi]

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"Ok, no one wants the money, so I'll take it and we can just move on to the next hand." I think that worked because they feared the possible flush. If there was no flush draw, you might have been called with anyone who hit or had a pp.

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i'm with tbach that the 3rd /images/graemlins/heart.gif makes it a less stealable pot, not a more stealable one.

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Ok, but the real question is whether it is stealable enough to justify betting. I think it is, regardless of whether a blank may have been even better. Two of my three opponents have checked twice, which denies top pair/overpair/better (right?). So the only thing I can see calling my bet is the flush draw. It's probably not out, and even if it is, getting called doesn't mean I lose the pot. Four out of five times the flush won't get there on the river. I have the option of checking it down, and my good ace high will often win. I also have the option of betting to try to take the pot from a missed flush draw, especially if it is the preflop raiser who called, because he is particularly likely to have AKo with a heart, so he can't really call a river bet with just ace high after I've shown strength on two streets. And again, with a hand like that, there may well have been a turn bet. If he is the preflop raiser with AK and no one has shown an interest in the flop and he picks up the nut flush draw, a bet would be somewhat likely and he checked.

[bobbyi]

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I will raise with AQs from most positions.

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You specifically say AQs. Do you also recommend raising AQo most of the time? Are these hands good enough to raise UTG in a ten-handed game?

What about AJo/AJs? I've generally been mucking AJo up front and limping with it in late position in unraised pots, since I figure if no one has raised, I'm probably not dominated. I often limp with AJs early (folding to a big raise behind me) and raise it in late position. Is this good or am I way off? Sorry for the boring preflop questions, but I'd really like to make sure that I have the basics down. Thanks.

[TheWorstPlayer]

FWIW, I think preflop Qs are really interesting and important. There was a pretty big thread on here with some great discussion about ATo UTG in 6 max recently and I think there could definitely be a lot more discussion about AQs/o and AJs/o. In any case, I haven't played full ring in a while, but when I was playing it I would raise AQs in any position (except possibly from the blinds if there were a lot of loose limpers), I would raise AQo from MP/LP and limp from EP. I would fold AJo in EP but limp it in MP/LP, raise it if I'm first in. AJs I would play the same as AJo but I would also limp it in EP. The thing is that thezse are just the very rough defaults, though, because it is really dependent on the number of limpers and the nature of the limpers and the blinds. If you have a tight/passive limper UTG, I might ditch AJ in MP for fear of being dominated. If I had two really loose/aggressive EP limpers, I might raise AJo in MP to try to isolate them with position. All depends.

About min-raises. My default is to ignore them. If I have a hand that I wanted raised, I will just re-raise them. That is what I would have done in your position. My experience has been that they are usually small pairs (which will fold when they miss their set) or marginal hands like QJs/KJs, etc. The other possibility is AA/KK. Once I see someone min-raise and go to showdown, I make a comment what their min-raise means. They hardly switch it up. If you had re-raised preflop, in this instance, you would have taken down a bigger pot with less risk. And if someone had hit a ragged pair here, you might have ended up losing a pot to rags that never should have been able to play with your Brunson in the first place.

[kurto]

"You specifically say AQs. Do you also recommend raising AQo most of the time?" I should scold myself for being so general. I should say I've been doing this more lately but, lately I've been playing at tables with deeper stacks (I used to look for tables where people bought less then the buy-in thinking that means they're weak... now I've been playing tables where everyone's closer to the full buy in because it allows me to play more speculative hands... suited connectors... small pairs, etc.)

I'm far from an expert here so take my musings below with a grain of salt-
I personally prefer the suited because (1) it obviously increases the value of your hand preflop and (2) psychologically its easier to play for me... if I have A /images/graemlins/club.gif Q /images/graemlins/heart.gif and the flop has 3 hearts... I start to think about playing for the backdoor non-nut flush draw which.. is bad. (I'm sure this is completely my own issue)

I also take into account how aggressive/tight the table is. If I'm going to raise under the gun and get 6 callers... I might just limp since I'm going to have to hit it hard to feel confident. If I believe I'll only get one or two callers... then I'll raise it up.

At low limits with shallow stacks... I am less tempted because I'm going to miss the flop enough times and be called by people who will call the raise with 1/5 of their stack with 7-10 suited.. hit their 7 and raise me. If I miss my A and or Q but flop a draw... their stacks aren't deep enough to justify me playing a draw. So I'm forced to either bluff (which you have to figure in how many people called you and if they'll fold with any piece of the flop or any PP) or be forced to check/fold.

I apologize... I'm at work and have come back to this 4 times. I think each time I lose my focus and end up babbling.

Short and sweet... I treat AQ similar to AK except I now have to be wary of kings. I prefer to raise it in late position, but will raise early if (1) it will narrow the field and (2) I know that the people will consistantly call with hands worst then AQ.

I don't play AJ as aggressively upfront. I would say I raise with it 10% of the time, limp a lot if the table is passive and I am likely to fold it upfront if there's a lot of raising going on.