Ace Queen Test

What is it and where can I find out about it ?????

basically it comes down to this....if there is a raise fold AQo, you can raise with it, but don't call a raise with it. You can find out more about it in the book INSIDE THE POKER MIND.

Actually, I believe this to be very important, but it need not be the only situation that this is important. Any time you are faced with a legitimate raise, and one usually from EP is this way, a normal(important) player will raise with hands that, according to David Sklansky's hand rankings, are better than that AQ. Cold calling raises is one of the ways I have found that seperates the better players from everyone else. It is rare that you will call with this hand, especially early. This is very awakening to someone that has not understood this, and AQ is a very good example to make, how many times do you see a less than skilled player call a raise when that call got him in trouble later. Often I see a fold being the better choice, if you are going to play, then a raise is best to get heads up with the raiser. Remember alot of what John Feeney tells you, he learned from David Sklansky, like you inhereted yourhabbits and important points from your mentors, John is the same. Back to the earlier point, if you have an idiot in your game, more common at the lower limits, he may be raising with a worse hand, but again, isolating him is not a bad play. If, however, you play in one of those types of games that I often find myself in in Los Angeles, a raise is often a personal challenge for someone else to make it capped preflop. thats the times when your AQ is worth a lot less, 6 opponents for 4 bets preflop, that hand does not hold well then, you have to always be in tune with the players in your game at all times. If you haven't read Feeny's book, you should, it is very good, not much math in it, just a lot of thought process of what goes on in his mind when he plays.

Like Mikey states, this "test" was an essay in John Feeney's outstanding book "Inside The Poker Mind".


But before you start routinely dumping A-Q offsuit for a raise, you need to understand that your decision is heavily predicated on what you know about the raiser. If the raiser follows the same high standards for raising in early position that most good players follow (that is he has a hand like AA,KK,QQ,JJ,TT, AK,AQ,AJ suited, or KQ suited), then folding is right. But many players don't play this way. There are a lot of players who open raise with these hands as well as 99,88, AJ offsuit, A-T suited, and even K-J suited as well as others. Some guys like to "vary their play" and "be deceptive" in order to "throw their opponents" off. These kinds of players occasionally raise with hands like J-T suited or worse. Against many players, you would be giving up a lot if you are folding A-Q offsuit for a raise.


This essay sparked a huge thread, started by me, about 2 years ago when John's book first came out. You may want to go to the archives and find it.