Push during first blind level with AQo -- is this a mistake?

[Proofrock]

Poker Stars, 10+1 SnG.
10/20 blinds.

Hero (1200) is in MP with AQo.
Villain (1600) is in late position.

folds to Hero, Hero raises to 60, 1 caller (this guy has called every raise so far and folded to every reraise), Villain raises to 300, folds around to Hero, Hero pushes.

History: Hero has recently raised 2x prior to this. The first time hero opened with 60 from CO with A10o, two callers, and then Villain in BB raised to 360 and everybody folded.
Next hand, Hero opened raised to 60 from LP with Q10o, two calls, and then Villain reraised to 300 and everybody but the button folded. Villain took it down on the flop.

The only thing different this time is that villain seemed to hesitate for a few moments before raising this last time.

What do you think of my line? What about the previous two hands?

-cj

[brettthomas]

Never push AQ in early levels (unless your playing a random hand generator).

[Proofrock]

How do you suggest I play it here? Does the history with Villain play any role?

-cj

[Iamafish]

Who cares what the history is, it matters what he has right there.

[Iron Tigran]

[ QUOTE ]
How do you suggest I play it here? Does the history with Villain play any role?

-cj

[/ QUOTE ]

Fold to re-raise. Even if he was re-stealing before, there's no rule preventing him from having AK now. Even if he has 88 and calls you are a (small) dog for all your money on L1.

No one played back at him yet, so you couldn't know how he would react. I don't see the "history" turning AQ from fold to push. I guess you found out... FWIW, it was a ballsy move.

That hard to let 60 chips go? Easy fold for me to the reraise.

[brettthomas]

AQ is not a premium hand. It is an outstanding hand for going broke against a rr. You just lay it down.

[Uppercut]

Also, stop raising with ATo and QTo in level 1. These are also hands that cannot stand a reraise.

[lastchance]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, stop raising with ATo and QTo in level 1. These are also hands that cannot stand a reraise.

[/ QUOTE ]
Folded to you in LP, these are both raiseable hands. Being able to thin the field, buy the button, and take the pot down a lot of the time with cont-bets matters a lot.

[Proofrock]

So everybody seems to agree that folding AQ to the reraise is easily the correct move here, but I'm having a hard time letting this go. It's not because 60 chips are that hard to let go of, but it's because Villain has made the same play 3 times in the last orbit.

If I have AJ or worse this is an easy fold. If I have AK, this is (probably mistakenly) an easy push for me (given that the same guy has made the same play 3x in a row, representing a big hand each time, it's unlikely he always has aces or kings, and I'm happy to take a coinflip to demonstrate that I won't be pushed around so easily).

AQ seems like the crossover hand in my mind. I know it's a weak hand, but it's not *that* weak. Though the history can't say whether or not he has a monster, what if he had done this the last 6 raises? Would you still fold AQ? If you're going to fold AQ, would you also fold AK here? Do you just wait until you have aces or kings and he makes this move, or until the level is higher and more aggressive play is justified, or wait for somebody else to look him up and note what he shows down?

I'm seriously looking for advice on how to deal with this situation: at a SnG table, blinds low relative to your stack, one player is very aggressive: you haven't seen a hand, but he is reraising preflop more often than you would expect a person to be dealt a monster. You are dealt a reasonably strong hand (AQ or JJ, say). You bet, he reraises, you ...

Thanks in advance for your futher input. I appreciate it.

-cj

[iggy]

With JJ I'll call, but thats because it's already a made hand. The problem with AQ is that unless he has a weaker ace, you're not going to go into this enough of a favorite to put your tournament at risk this early.

[lastchance]

You have too many chips behind for you to properly re-resteal. The bigger his stack, the more he can make you take a decision for you stack that's not for his. If you reraise, you're committed, and AA, KK, QQ, all the hands you don't want to see are coming over the top. But he can easily fold a hand like AT or A9 here if you want to do this.

Folding is really, really correct here.

[biscuitman]

[ QUOTE ]
So everybody seems to agree that folding AQ to the reraise is easily the correct move here, but I'm having a hard time letting this go. It's not because 60 chips are that hard to let go of, but it's because Villain has made the same play 3 times in the last orbit.

If I have AJ or worse this is an easy fold. If I have AK, this is (probably mistakenly) an easy push for me (given that the same guy has made the same play 3x in a row, representing a big hand each time, it's unlikely he always has aces or kings, and I'm happy to take a coinflip to demonstrate that I won't be pushed around so easily).

AQ seems like the crossover hand in my mind. I know it's a weak hand, but it's not *that* weak. Though the history can't say whether or not he has a monster, what if he had done this the last 6 raises? Would you still fold AQ? If you're going to fold AQ, would you also fold AK here? Do you just wait until you have aces or kings and he makes this move, or until the level is higher and more aggressive play is justified, or wait for somebody else to look him up and note what he shows down?

I'm seriously looking for advice on how to deal with this situation: at a SnG table, blinds low relative to your stack, one player is very aggressive: you haven't seen a hand, but he is reraising preflop more often than you would expect a person to be dealt a monster. You are dealt a reasonably strong hand (AQ or JJ, say). You bet, he reraises, you ...

Thanks in advance for your futher input. I appreciate it.

-cj

[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds to me a bit like you are trying to be a table cop and feel it is down to you to stop this guy making these raises as you have picked up something approaching a playable hand.

Why put your tourney on the line with a marginal hand. Your job isn't to keep everyone else in line - its to win the tourney. If you are a good enough player surely a situation will come along later where you have a bigger edge than you do here.

I used to have a hard time laying down in these situations too but now I always remind myself of what Sklansky talks about in TOP - every hand begins as a battle for the blinds. With blinds this small I'll only go to war with a premium hand : AQ isn't it.

[ripped]

[ QUOTE ]
With JJ I'll call, but thats because it's already a made hand. The problem with AQ is that unless he has a weaker ace, you're not going to go into this enough of a favorite to put your tournament at risk this early.

[/ QUOTE ]

JJ is a mistake also. Any 2 overs and you are a slight favorite to win. Search for ICM in the search function and it will explain what I am talking about alittle better.

[lastchance]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
With JJ I'll call, but thats because it's already a made hand. The problem with AQ is that unless he has a weaker ace, you're not going to go into this enough of a favorite to put your tournament at risk this early.

[/ QUOTE ]

JJ is a mistake also. Any 2 overs and you are a slight favorite to win. Search for ICM in the search function and it will explain what I am talking about alittle better.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think there's merit for calling/shoving JJ here, or something like that. Much stronger than AQ anyway. I think you see TT-77 and maybe AJ here. AQ is terrible against that range, and JJ would fare quite well.

At least, it's a better hand to call and shove any non A or K flop.