.25/.50 NL hand

[illmatic]

.25/.50 NL hand at Golden Palace Poker. Buy in up to $100. I bought in for $35, worked it up to $75. In the cutoff I have A/images/graemlins/heart.gif Q/images/graemlins/club.gif. I limp, along with two or three others. Big blind raises to $3. He has me covered by a little bit. Everyone else folds. I call. Flop comes 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif J/images/graemlins/diamond.gif. I bet the pot of $7. He calls. Turn is a blank. I check. Checked back. Turn is A/images/graemlins/spade.gif. Pot is $21, I bet $20. He instantly raises all in another $48. What is your move?

Results to follow.

[Ray Zee]

i wouldnt call his before the flop raise. and after the flop i would be done with the hand unless trying to pick off a cheap bluff. you just have too many mistakes in the hnad and plus your knowing who is first to bet is out of wack as well. time to think about hand values and the money. good luck.

[Zag]

I also don't understand your position. You said you were cutoff and he the BB, but he acted after you on the rest of the hand. I'll assume that you meant to say that he was the button, not the BB, and it was just a freudian slip.

I think that preflop, you should have raised. The cutoff, especially, is the position from which I make the most raises, because I am looking to buy the button. There are hands with which I would raise in the cutoff but just limp if on the button. (AQo would be one of those hands in some games.)

Now, if he reraises you, unless he is a maniac you just lay it down preflop. More likely, he will call or fold, and you have taken control of the hand. In this case, if he had folded, all the others would have folded too, and you would have picked up about 3 BB's.

Well, now that you are stuck without control of the hand, there are four possibilities:
1. He slowplayed the flopped flush.
2. He was playing his Ad draw and now thinks his top pair (or two pair) is good.
3. He has just made (or he flopped) a straight and has figured out from your two checks that you don't have the flush. (Kd 10x? or 10d 9x? Is he someone who could have raised preflop with these?)
4. He is on a total bluff, perhaps with a big diamond, perhaps not.

For a lot of players, I actually think that #2 is the most likely, and we know we are tied or ahead in all those cases. (Actually, I truly doubt Ad Qx, because he would have raised on the flop with that hand, so you are ahead in all the #2 cases.) Therefore, for many players, I would always call. For an unknown player at these tiny NL games, I would call about half the time -- if the second hand on my watch is between the 12 and the 6, I call.

[illmatic]

You're correct -- I did mean button. This hand bothered me the whole night after it happened for the simple fact that I ignored my gut. My immediate instinct was "he liked the A, he must have two pair or hit his AK. I'm tied or better". Then, I started thinking about AA, the flush, the straight? Debating, debating, counting up the possible wins loses and ties. About to hit "call" and time runs out. He waits a bit and shows AJ. Oh well.

illmatic

[Al_Capone_Junior]

Calling pre-flop raises with AQ is pretty suicidal in my no-limit book. I'da limped, but instantly folded to the 6x the BB raise. After the flop, I think you took it too far, as was pretty obvious by the river. Had you folded pre-flop, you wouldn't have had the predicament on the river to deal with.

al