$33 early QQ hand

[Scuba Chuck]

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (10 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

MP3 (t895)
CO (t635)
Button (t715)
SB (t325)
Hero (t760)
UTG (t935)
UTG+1 (t1470)
UTG+2 (t855)
MP1 (t635)
MP2 (t775)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q/images/graemlins/club.gif, Q/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
<font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, MP1 calls t30, <font color="#CC3333">MP2 raises to t70</font>, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t300</font>, MP1 folds, MP2 calls t230.

Flop: (t645) 4/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif, A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero .....

<font color="blue"> I hate these situations. I'm first to act, what do you do? </font>

[curtains]

Well I think checking and folding here is not the line I'd take, as there is too much money in the pot relative your stack, combined with too great a chance your opponent had some pocket pair that is lower than queens. Also there is the less likely chance that your opponent could just be some bozo with KJs, you never know in the $33s.

If he has some lower pocket pair than you obviously want him to play with you, and if he has an ace you should lose all your chips no matter what you do.

Will checking induce him to put money in with something like JJ-99 whereas betting wouldn't? These are the questions you need to ask here. I would lean towards betting something, maybe 100-150 to induce the smaller pairs to play with you and to pot committ them in case they decide to call. If they have something like 99 and you check and they check behind, and turn is a jack, there may be no way to make any money off of them anymore.

You have to be careful because the pot is pretty big, and in these cases it can sometimes be a disaster to give up a free card, even to a hand with very few outs. However if you believe that making a play other than allin will encourage him to put in signifigant money with a lower pair, whereas betting wouldn't have, then it should still be worth the risk here.

[LeVoodoo]

[ QUOTE ]
there may be no way to make any money off of them anymore.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I hold Queens and an Ace falls, I'm not usually concerned about getting more money from my opponent. I'm very happy to take down the pot right there and consider myself lucky to have done so. Is this too weak?

Generally, I don't check, I need to find out if I am beat right now and if so I am done with the hand. I bet a bit more than half the pot and hope that the Ace scares my opponent as much as it did me. If he calls, i check the turn. If he re-raises, ciao.

Feel free to tell me this is poor play, i'm open to suggestions.

[lutefisk]

I don't know what I'd do in that spot, that's a tough one. I'd probably go with the 1/2 pot bet, although that is going to leave you hurting.

To help avoid this, I would suggest a smaller raise, maybe only to 200 pf. Yes, you're probably going to get called here, but that's ok. It's still nearly 3x his bet, and I don't think you eliminate anyone at 300 that you wouldn't at 200. You can then make a continuation bet of 200 at this spot, and happily fold to a re-raise. Also, I think I'd check fold on the turn if he called the flop bet.

[Scuba Chuck]

[ QUOTE ]
Generally, I don't check, I need to find out if I am beat right now and if so I am done with the hand. I bet a bit more than half the pot and hope that the Ace scares my opponent as much as it did me. If he calls, i check the turn. If he re-raises, ciao.


[/ QUOTE ]

Pot is t645, hero has t460 remaining. LeVoodoo, your suggested bet is somehwere betweeen almost allin and allin.

Curtains, my thought is that a bet of 100-150 chips into a t645 pot seems almost meaningless and furthermore, WEAK. And furthermore almost pot committed. Since it's level two, I really don't mind being stacked at 300, as I'm sure I'll get a chance or two to double up before level 5.

Curtains, so if I hear you correct, you advocate a 150 bet. If it's raised, you're through?

[spentrent]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
there may be no way to make any money off of them anymore.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I hold Queens and an Ace falls, I'm not usually concerned about getting more money from my opponent. I'm very happy to take down the pot right there and consider myself lucky to have done so. Is this too weak?

Generally, I don't check, I need to find out if I am beat right now and if so I am done with the hand. I bet a bit more than half the pot and hope that the Ace scares my opponent as much as it did me. If he calls, i check the turn. If he re-raises, ciao.

Feel free to tell me this is poor play, i'm open to suggestions.

[/ QUOTE ]

It sounds like you make the play like curtains suggests. You can only check if you're very sure that the villain is generally aggressive and ready to pounce on perceived weakness.

I think Chuck is really just shooting to pick up the blinds without seeing a flop, since that pre-flop bet is so big that it might as well be his whole stack. That's why having to make this decision on the flop feels so unsettling... the decision was already made BEFORE the flop.

I get the impression that Chuck didn't want to lay anything better than 2 to 1 but ended up betting half his stack by mistake. Might as well push pre-flop?