Big stack goes all in against my QQ

[MRBAA]

Live $1-2 n/l UTG folds, reasonable preflop raiser makes it $12 to go, next player folds, big stack an overly aggro but experienced and not bad player makes it $30. I'm playing my usual short-stack strategy and have built from $60 to $180. Two folds to me, and I make it $60 to go. All fold, including initial raiser. Big stack goes into the tank. We've played before and he knows I'm tight. I'm looking down, maintaining my poker face, but I look up briefly and we make eye contact. He then goes all in immediately. I've got $120 left and I think for a bit and then I...

[amoeba]

in a vaccuum this really can't be answered.

and I really hate the raise to 60. hes not folding KK.

just fold to the reraise to 30 or call and get it all in on non A non K flop.

[MRBAA]

Big stack by no means needs a huge hand to try to isolate the initial raiser -- I think he might well do it with as little as 99 or AKo

[MINETZ]

if this statement is true, get ur chips in there as fast as you can! You just answered your own question.
Noah

[wdeadwyler]

Call, and expect to race against ak, and dominate a shitload of other hands.

[MRBAA]

But once I make it $60, he knows I have a big hand. My first reaction was exactly what both of you guys said. But then I thought it over, and I thought his all in there could be either a bully move to get me to lay down 99-QQ or a bet that wants to get called, because he's holding AA or KK.

[Ghazban]

From your description, it looks like he has what he considers to be a big hand (based on my live experience in 1/2 games). If he thinks 99 and AJs are big hands, this is an easy call. If he only thinks AA and KK are big hands, its an easy fold. I would call against 99% of the people I've seen in the game and only fold with a great read vs. the other 1%.

[Randy Burgess]

Knowing this player, and having in fact witnessed the particular hand, I now think the following:

He doesn't have AA, because with that hand he would rather have trapped you on the flop than take the chance you would fold preflop.

So at most he has KK or AK. And I don't think he has KK because he wouldn't have needed to go into the tank for so long - he would have either smooth-called pretty quick or reraised pretty quick. AK or a lesser hand is much, much more likely, because then he would have had a real dilemma - "making a move" would have been much more on his mind.

The only other possibility would be that he's got AA and is stalling here to seem weak. But I don't get the impression he bothers to do a lot of acting.

[MRBAA]

I think you are correct, after discussing the hand with you further. At the time, I thought he might have AA or KK and be pondering how to take my entire stack. I still think that is possible, but much less likely than a lesser hand. And since QQ does so well against almost anything else he has, and the pot is laying about 2-1, I think I had a call here.