First post! AQs vs KK

[muzungu]

Hello all! Been lurking here for a couple months- thought I'd finally get an account and send a hand. Thanks in advance for any advice.

$50 buyin (.25/.50) NL game at UB. Been winning pretty consistently at the $25 for a coule months now, and just moved up.

6-handed game for now. I get AQ /images/graemlins/club.gif UTG. Raise to $1. Button calls, SB raises to $1.50. I and button call. (Aside: These tiny preflop reraises make me suspicious sometimes, here included- what would you have that doesn't either justify a pot bet or a simple call? Sometimes people will do this with a monster, trying to get in a little more $ and still keep everybody there). BTW, SB seems fairly solid, not too aggressive, and he and I are the biggest stacks with around $75 apiece.

Flop: Q /images/graemlins/heart.gif 3 /images/graemlins/club.gif 5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif.

SB bets $5.

First question: what to do here? This supports my slight preflop suspicions of an overpair. On the other hand, I've seen people make this pot bet with things like JJ or AK, and I guess KQ (or even another AQ) is possible too. The two other board cards seem too small for him to have a low set, given his preflop reraise. My first thought is that I might be behind (aside: any chance I should consider folding? Don't think so, but it crossed my mind), and that if I call he's just going to bet pot again on the turn. I raise to $15 here, planning to fold to a reraise and hoping that if he calls here he'll check to me thereafter, so that I check too and can get to a showdown as cheaply as possible. Additionally, I guess there's also the possibility he could wimp out with KK or AA and fold to the threat of a set, but that seems unlikely. Button folds, and SB does in fact call here. Again, he seems fairly solid, so he's gotta figure AQ for me is pretty likely.

Turn: 9 /images/graemlins/club.gif

Yay! More outs. He checks, and I do as well. Any reason to bet here? Represent the set? I'm still feeling the overpair vibe. For context, I don't bluff too much, esp. on later streets.

River: 7 /images/graemlins/club.gif

Aha! I win! SB now bets $2, which seems to be a "i've got a good hand, please don't raise" sort of bet. How much should I raise here? In the one previous pot I won between the two of us I made a couple of half-pot bets to suck in more $. I had been trying to change gears, and my thoughts here were to play it as if I had AQo, thought I was lost, and bluffed at the flush draw. So I bet $30 and he thought for a while and folded. Should I be looking at more of a value bet here, say $10 or 15? (The pot at the time was $40 or so. After the hand he said he had KK, which seems reasonable given the betting.)

That should cover it. Thanks again for any advice!

Dan

[Guy McSucker]

First off, let me say that I don't think he had KK. If he did, why no reraise on the flop? He must expect he is winning there. And he's going to have a hard time folding KK to an unlikely backdoor flush. But I've seen stranger play online so perhaps he did.

Anyway. Why did you make it $1 to go from UTG? I just don't see the sense in these tiny raises. Nobody who wanted to play for 50c will fold for $1, so all you do is build a bigger pot, out of position, with a decent but non-monster hand.

The flop raise is fine.

On the turn, you pick up the flush draw, and the preflop/flop aggressor has backed right down. Why not make another bet? You wouldn't mind taking the pot right there, you might get called by a weaker hand, and if you're behind you have 11 outs. Aggressive play is always good, especially short handed.

If you bet the turn, there's no decision to make on the river. Bet the rest of your money if there is any.

As to your actual situation, bet whatever you think looks like a bluff or marginal hand. I don't think he'll call for much though: he seemed to give up after the flop.

Guy.

[Zag]

I like your flop bet, but not much else.

Preflop, why the minimum raise? The only hands it will chase out are the bad aces in middle position -- just the ones you want to play against. I agree that his minimum raise was even worse (because it opens the betting back up for you, and you might have AA) but we aren't critiquing his play.

On the flop, I like your bet. It is enough to take control of the hand if he just has top pair, but not so much that you can't get away from it if he comes over you.

On the turn, this is a must-bet, IMHO. If he check-raises you, at least you have outs.

On the river, your bet is too much to invite a curiosity call, and not enough to look like you are trying a desperate bluff. And the hand doesn't really support a desperate bluff attempt, because there are no hands that you could have which would have been drawing on the flop. I would either reraise just a little more than his pitiful raise (perhaps to 6 or 7) or push it in.

[tewall]

I think on the flop you want to call some of the time and raise some of the time. I'm not sure how much of each though. There's certainly nothing wrong with raising.

The turn was an ideal time to bet. There's a good chance you'll win it right there, and if not you have many outs.

On the river you want to raise the maximum amount that he will call. Given that he thought a while before folding, it doesn't sound like you were too far off. This will be player dependent.