In a difficult full table game, does anyone fold KQo UTG?

[cero_z]

Hi eugeneel,
I must admit I'm surprised at the responses to this question. I muck AQo in a tough game, so obviously I'm ditching KQo without a second thought. I think there are lots of games where raising with AQo will fold out the dominated hands and draw a re-raise from better hands, but which are still well worth playing in. I used to just look for pre-flop mistakes to determine the quality of a game, but now I see many opportunities I didn't before, as in a table full of too aggressive post-flop players, or a table full of doubters (payoff stations), etc.

[Duke]

I muck it without thinking.

THe hand doesn't have a whole lot of value in that position, if any.

~D

[Nottom]

Mucking AQ UTG seems like tightness getting out of hand to me. With AQ you are only worried about 4 hands (AA, KK, QQ, AK) and folding seems like seeing monsters under the bed. Even if you don't think you are getting the most of it by raising, there still has to be some value in limping if it will allow hnd like AJ or KQ to come in behind you.

[snakehead]

in a tough game, it is an easy fold. so is 88.

[Baltimore Ron]

You should be asking: "Why am I playing in a game in which this is a question?"

Here's the kind of game I like. When I raise KQo utg I get called by JTo in mid position and T8s in late position. Throw in the odd A7 that will call all the way to the river when the flop is Q-hi and you've got yourself a profitable game.

BR

[Eric P]

[El Dukie]

In a relatively tough full game, I muck KQo and AJo UTG or UTG+1. If you get played with, you're often dominated. (Well, often enough that I'll muck them UTG...)

[ike]

To be fair I've never played above 5-10 but I have a hard time imagining a game where AQo isn't worth a raise utg. In fact, if the only hands that will call a raise beat AQo then you probably have a good enough chance of taking down the blinds to justify a raise. There just aren't many hands you're worried about. Maybe theres something going on here that I don't get, but this is baffling to me. (mucking AJo and KQo however both seem pretty reasonable, there are signicantly more hands to worry about with those.)

[glen]

. . .I think this is a worthy question. Sometimes, live or online, games are tough. People drive to casinos and want to play, and if you get stuck in a main game that is not so great you just play because you like poker. Also, online the turnover is so fast that games switch from good to bad, then back to good all the time, and if you constantly put yourself on waiting lists of good games, you will never play in them, since by the time you get in the fish will have left. . .

[cero_z]

Hi ike,
Yes, it is a question of limit. I would never play in a 5-10 game where I couldn't play AQo UTG, because there are undoubtedly many other 5-10s to choose from that are much better games. But, if you don't live in California, Vegas, Minneapolis, or AC, you don't always have the pleasure of playing in a live 20-40+ game where everyone is way too loose pre-flop. In a typical 5-10 game, I can profitably play any pocket pair, JTs, ATo, and everything better UTG, because I will outplay the field post-flop. But the question was regarding tough games, and I stand by my comment that against several tough players, AQo is not good enough (or easy enough to play) to be profitable from that position. Someone out there must agree with me, right?