AQo on the button, 5-5 NL

[ArtVandelay]

I'm playing in a pretty wild 5-5 NL game with lots of staddles and sleepers. Average hand is 5 people to the flop for a raise. After the flop it's much more loose-passive, with lots of underbets and calls; but there's still quite a lot of raising. Pretty wide skil range, including some ultra-mega fish and some pretty tough players. Average stack is 1k, and I have 650. My image is tight-aggressive, both pre- and post-flop. My opponent in this hand is UTG. He has about 2k in his stack and is a fairly solid player. He's loose-aggressive pre-flop and just agressive post-flop (neither loose nor tight). He seems fairly unimaginative, but he is generally aware of other players. Here's the hand...

UTG straddles for 10 (he does this maybe 30% of the time). 4 callers to me, and I have AQo on the button. So far there hasn't been a single limp-reraise. I think SB would reraise me with AQs+ or TT+, but the BB is only likely to re-raise with QQ+. If I raise I expect 0-3 callers, depending on how much I raise. What would you do in this situation and why? What other factors might you consider that I didn't mention?

I decide to raise to 75. UTG and two MP players call.

Flop comes A62r. UTG leads 100 (about one third of pot), and it's folded to me. I have 600 left.

Folding is out of the question, but I think calling, raising small, and pushing all-in are all valid options. Which would you do and why? Again, what other factors would you consider in making this decision?

thanks,
Art Vandelay

[B1GF1SHY]

Is this the type of player who would go for a check-raise out of position with a strong hand? I'd raise it up to $300 and end up all-in by the turn unless you're positive you're beat.

[limon]

one of the first things you need to do in a big bet game is figure out what significant underbets mean from different players. he knows this is either the type of flop that hit a raiser or that scares a raiser. some WEAK players make this underbet with a small ace in the hopes youll fold or make a bad call w/ kk/qq etc...some stronger do it with a monster hoping to get raised..im guessing hes strong given your description.

[Matt Flynn]

after you figure out limon's question, and assuming you decide to play on, which usually you would do, consider you have the perfect board for giving up a free card. pause a good while, make it look good, call. check behind him on the turn if he checks; call if he bets. call his river bet if he bets and go all in really quick if he checks the river.

matt

[fsuplayer]

it looks like he is hoping that the ace scared the hell out of you. like matt said, take a while and call, the board is picture perfect for you right now. if you are ahead, its by a ways.

[limon]

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