AQo in Level 3 Party $22

jeffraider · #1 05-18-2005, 02:25 AM

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (7 handed) converter

Button (t1615)
SB (t1640)
BB (t970)
UTG (t765)
Hero (t655)
MP2 (t535)
CO (t1820)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero ??? </font>

What are you guys doing here? Part of me wants to push, part of me wants to fold, and I don't like raising to 150 or just calling, either.

What's floating through my head right now is I'm pushing my entire stack in to grab 75 chips. If there was a limper or two I think I'd like this more, especially since that would mean I wasn't second to act. I think some of the time I get lucky and get called by AJ-A8 but a lot of the time I'm either on the wrong end of a coinflip with almost no dead money or I'm up against bad news.

Also, if you like folding this hand, do you like pushing if it's folded to you in the button or CO? What if I had 1000 chips here?

KramerTM · #2 05-18-2005, 03:26 AM

Would love to hear some informed response to this question, as this is HUGE gray area for me as well (also in the 22s, incidentally).

My general stategy here has been raising 3xBB and folding to a reraise from a bigger stack, but I feel this is a very weak approach. Is this a + $EV pushing situation? Lately I've been doing that just so I won't have to play this hand post-flop. Speaking of post flop, if you raise 3xBB leaving you a 10xBB stack, and get called by a player who has position, do you make a continuation bet on a flop of rags? How about a flop with a K? A continuation bet might as well be all-in here I presume.

Love to hear some responses.

curtains · #3 05-18-2005, 03:32 AM

Folding is terrible, and I hate calling too. The question is whether to simply move allin or like 2.5-3.5x the BB.

Jman28 · #4 05-18-2005, 03:32 AM

It is a tough spot. I think I make it 150 here, and see what happens. Limping is not that bad and pushing is not terrible.

A little bit depends on your image and the table, but most situations are similar.

curtains · #5 05-18-2005, 03:35 AM

Raising to 3x the BB and folding to a raise from a bigger stack is terrible too. AQo is too strong a hand with 12x the BB to play like this. The reason to raise to 3x is that if one player reraises you, you call and hopefully have enticed them to reraise with some crap like AJ, AT etc

lorinda · #6 05-18-2005, 03:35 AM

I think I probably push more often than anything else.

I don't want to face a stop/go here as I'll probably end up folding and crippling myself, so I'm just going to shove it in. 75 chips seem quite valuable to the stack right now, so it's not a waste if it gets no callers.

Lori

Jman28 · #7 05-18-2005, 03:36 AM

[ QUOTE ]

Folding is terrible, and I hate calling too. The question is whether to simply move allin or like 2.5-3.5x the BB.

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree that folding is out of the question, but I don't think calling is that bad. With that many people still to act it may be nice to see what they have to say before committing a significant portion of your stack.

I still usually just make this 150.

curtains · #8 05-18-2005, 03:43 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Folding is terrible, and I hate calling too. The question is whether to simply move allin or like 2.5-3.5x the BB.

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree that folding is out of the question, but I don't think calling is that bad. With that many people still to act it may be nice to see what they have to say before committing a significant portion of your stack.

I still usually just make this 150.

[/ QUOTE ]

I dunno, I think calling is very bad (folding is worse), your hand is just too strong, and if someone raises you have no idea what it means.

Jman28 · #9 05-18-2005, 03:44 AM

I don't like pushing here. I don't think it's that bad, but I feel like you're usually better off with a standard raise.

Eastbay's program has pushing here only very slightly +EV. I'd like to think you can do better than that in this spot.

lorinda · #10 05-18-2005, 03:47 AM

Eastbay's program has pushing here only very slightly +EV.

My idea of the calling ranges in the $22s might be different to yours and also might be different to the reality.

I can see AT+ any pair, KQo KJs and one or two suited aces calling this.

If the range is much tighter than that, I'm sure I'd rather play it a different way.

Lori