Hellmuth Quiz

[mojolang]

I was @ hellmuth's website where he had a quiz and I checked out this hand and it seems like bad advice when considering the gap concept.


* There are 24 players left in a limit hold'em tournament
* You have eight players at your table
* You have 12,000 chips
* The blinds are $300-$600


What do you do with A-Q off suit when it is two bets to you from an early position raiser and you're on the button?

I like being aggressive with A-Q in limit Hold'em tournaments. A-Q beats a lot of hands that players wil raise with in limit Hold'em tourneys, and is only in bad shape to A-K, A-A, K-K, and Q-Q. Re-raising puts the heat on the original raiser, and gets rid of the marginal hands that may call two bets behind you. My least favorite option is calling two bets; I would prefer folding over calling.

What do you guys think?

Joe

[iblucky4u2]

I was recently knocked out of a similar tourney/situation when UTG open-raised with only T1200 in chips. amazingly, there were 2 more callers to me in the CO. I look down to see JJ and made it 3 bets to go. The player on my left, who was about to call 2 cold, takes back his chips (not yet on the table) and mucks, as do all but the UTG. Flop was T82, turn a 4, river ... a friggen Q. He went on to win and I lost my table image and shortly after my chips /forums/images/icons/frown.gif

The question I would ask about your hand - which would you rather have - AQo or JJ to make your play?

Also - could you provide hellmuth's site url? thanks

[Glenn]

I think this is a good play if the other player is aware of the gap concept as well (or at least raises more than in a ring game). Sure AQ isn't the nuts, but a lot of times an open raiser late in a tourney can have all sorts of things, and AQ will be a big favorite. On top of that, they will often back down when you play back at them and the flop doesn't hit them. For instance say the raiser has AK and you 3-bet with AQ. The flop comes T 8 7. How far is he going to go with his hand? Does he want to put 2.5 big bets in with ace high? If he has something like pocket 8's, he might fold on the J 6 9 flop. I wouldn't do it every time, but I don't think it is a bad play if you know the raiser.

[slamdunkpro]

I'm assuming that Phil said call.

I'd most likely fold AQ in this case depending on the early player's observed tightness. I'd be looking for either AK or KK, maybe JJ

[Copernicus]

NL I think its a clear raise. Limit I think calling is a viable option. The Gap Concept doesnt apply to my hand (at least in my hand rankings) since it is both a raising hand and a calling hand. While I might be in "bad shape" only against the listed hands, I'm also behind against any pair, and in limit dont have the leverage of a big bet on the end when I do hit. The competing objectives of chip preservation and folding equity are pretty close here, since I don't think many early raisers are going to fold for one more bet unless they are on a stone bluff. He's got better than twice the odds to call than I do to raise.

I don't think calling can be criticized, and is probably where I would wind up. Since you have position and are heads up, showing some weakness here may well pay dividends, especially if it flops Q high.

If there were others in the hand I definitely raise.