crazy Pot Limit HE game, AQ hand

[absinthe]

Right, so a buddy of mine brings me to this weekly game. Blinds are 50c/$1, but it's not table stakes. No all-ins - you either fold, or put up an IOU. You can bet up to the pot, even if you don't have the chips. In other words, the chips are pretty much pointless. No restrictions, if you can't handle the bet, you fold.

The players are pretty good at reading people, but don't know a damn thing about the cards. They're the "any two" type.

So it's 10-handed or so, my buddy gets AQo in EP, puts in $3, and gets 2 callers (an unusually low number). $11.50 in the pot at this point.

Flop comes K Q 5 (suits not particularly important). My buddy bets $6, gets one caller ($23.50 in the pot now).

Turn: Another king, now K (K Q 5), rainbow. My buddy bets pot. The opponent deliberates for a while, and calls. Now $70.50 in the pot.

River: A blank (let's say it was a 2, nothing's really a blank in this game, but hey). Board: 2 (K K Q 5). My buddy checks, and the opponent says, "Pot." My buddy thinks about his next rent check for a while, and folds.

Thoughts on my buddy's play? Given his play up til then, how should he have handled the river?

Anyway, after it's over, the opponent shows AQo as well. I know this is pretty much depends on the read of the players, but would love to hear any input.

[sam h]

[ QUOTE ]
My buddy checks, and the opponent says, "Pot." My buddy thinks about his next rent check for a while, and folds.

[/ QUOTE ]

The guy bet 70 bucks and your friend was thinking about his rent check? What is he doing playing in this game? Even without the non-table stakes factor, to play in a .5/1 blinds PL game you should not be in a financial position where you need to worry about a seventy dollar bet.

[Paul2432]

Most people on this forum hate AQ out of position. Folding pre-flop is probably your best bet, especially if your going to get outplayed on the later streets.

On the river, it really comes down to knowing your player. If you think he would make this bet with less than three kings more than one third of the time call. Your buddy is in much better position to make the read than anyone here.

BTW, aren't people afraid of not getting paid in this game. On a fluke hand like quads vs a straight flush, the betting could get into the thousands of dollars. I wouldn't be very happy taking an IOU especially if I was a non-regular.

Paul

[absinthe]

Paul,

Thanks for the reply. About getting paid, most people seemed to know each other, and the non-regulars had someone to vouch for them. We didn't see any fluke hands, just some strange action. Biggest pot was about $600, and top two pair ended up beating top pair, decent (not top) kicker.

[theBruiser500]

Before me and my friends knew about "all-in", that's how we played too. Everyone knew each other so the IOU's were fine, I think that made the game pretty interesting, though a little crazy. My opponents were happy with no all ins because I didn't know how to play, so if I started a bluff I wouldn't know when to stop. I'd keep betting the pot on each street. That was costly. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

There was also one kid in the game who really had no idea how to play. He might have $70 and he'd stack his chips into 70 piles of $1 each. Then one pot came up where someone in the game kept betting pot on each street and on the river the bad player called a $100 bet or so with bottom pair or queen high, something ridiculous and when he lost the pot he explained his call by saying, "I was bluffing."

What a game.

danny