Push or call?

[TheCat]

Did I do the right thing here?

Party 30+3 NLHE SnG, blinds 50/100

UTG 3000
CO 3000 – Loose and Aggressive
BUTTON (Hero) 1000 With AQo
SB 500
BB 500


UTG Folds
CO Calls 100
Hero All in 1000 - Pretty sure CO will call.
SB Folds
BB Folds
CO calls 900


I wonder if a better play would be to flat call here as I’m probably on a coin flip to come 5th. What do you think?

[1C5]

Why a coinflip with AQ, you will be better than that I think. I push here also as you are by no reason even remotely gauranteed to finish ITM if you fold here. And double up and you can now play for 1st.

BUT, I just noticed how small the blinds are...so not as clear cut as if the blinds were 150/300 for example...

[TheCat]

I agree , mostly, the push makes more sense if you are going for 1st place.
The range of hands CO might bet and call my raise with here might be:
Any pair, Ax, KQ,KJ,KT,QJ
I'm dog (small or otherwise) to Any pair, AK. = 13*6 + 16 = 94 hands
I'm looking good against AJ->A2 KQ,KJ,KT,QJ = 16*15=240 Hands, so yeah makes sense to push here.

Does anybody think a flat call has merits? I don't think it's that dreadful.

[apd138]

You believe he will call your raise with a2 and any pair?

[TheCat]

Yes, he's playing fast and loose.

[TruFloridaGator]

Well than you want to push with AQ here, you'll probably be a much bigger fav than you think.

[KneeCo]

Limp in
I think AQo is a tricky hand, if I could I'd like see the flop with position. CO is a great player to have on your left, I think there could be better chances to go all-in on him.

[GtrHtr]

Good push.

[TheCat]

After some thought and reading the comments here I'm sure the push is good. However I still have much sympathy for a limp, if I flop an A or Q I'm looking good to double up, if not the hand can be easily dropped.
In the end it probably comes down to a question of style.

[sofere]

Limping is a good idea with 10xbb maybe 1% of the time. This is not one of them IMO. 100 chips are very precious at this point. Why throw them away the 70% of the time the flop misses you?

Given the lose range of hands you put him on, you're probably a 60-65% favorite if he calls. If you win the hand right there, you increased your stack quite a bit.

[Rosencrantz1]

I'm a more conservative/tight player and would probably flat call with AQo. I guess part of the equation has to be what you think villain's read on your style is. If he sees you as loose, he may be calling with weaker hands. If he is seeing you as tight and is still calling your push, that would scare me.

I would be most worried that he's playing a mid-pair here, which seems likely given what you said about him.

Yeah, the more I think about it the more I would flat call.