wrong shortcoming overcome?

[petsei]

I'm a first-time poster and long-time lurker and suffer from a lack of agressiveness in my game.
My second shortcoming is a tendency of calling to much.
I'm working on my game.
10/20 in a cardroom, where I don't know any player.
I'm on the button and have been dealt Ac Qh .
UTG raises, the rest of the field (full table) fold, I call and the BB calls too.
The flop comes Qs 9s 7c.
UTG bets, I raise and both call.
River 9d.
Both players check, I bet, BB raises, UTG folds and I fold too.

All comments welcome

[Ginogino]

Petsei:
There seems to be a round of betting missing (you tell us what the flop cards are and proceed from there to the 9d on the river). I'm guessing (and assuming this for purpose of my reply) that the 9d was the turn card, but let me know if I've got it wrong.

When BB check-raises you on the turn, it most likely means that he has made either two pair or three 9's, but that isn't certain. If it's two pair, you are still ahead.

I've run into players who will raise the turn with any pocket pair when the turn card puts a pair on the board. These players figure that having a pair on board decreases the chances that an opponent has made a two-pair hand.

In your shoes, when the second 9 comes on the turn, I'd be inclined to call the BB down, unless I had some reason to think that he was so tight that he wouldn't check-raise here without trips. And against certain opponents, I'd re-raise.

The truth is that this is a situation where you've got to base your play on the kind of opponent you face. There is no substitution for knowing the playing style of the opposition -- none.

Gino

[petsei]

Sorry, of course I meant that I folded to the raise on the turn.
In regard of your answer, Ginogino:
I didn't think for moment along the lines you mentioned, i.e. that he had raised me with two lesser pair. I can honestly say - disregarding the texture of the flop for the moment - that 19 out of 20 times, when I got raised and I called in similar situations, I was shown a set. (or is it trips?). No, what in retrospect was bothering me, was
a) that I had overlooked the fact that there were two spades in the flop, so that the raise could have been a semibluff with a spadedraw
b) that I could have avoided the situation, had I threebet BTF.
Thank you for answering

[Manzanita]

Assuming that your opponents are reasonable players then I like how you played your hand.

Preflop, against an UTG raiser, I usually decide how to play AQo based on the blinds. If they are typical or tight then I like your call. If they are very loose then it's a choice between calling and folding.

Your flop raise is obviously good as you want to pressure the BB to get out by forcing him to call 2 bets cold.

In general I like the way that you played the turn. The BB should have your 2-pair beat as your holding is pretty obvious given how you played your hand. I don't think that the BB is drawing since (1) he is out of position; and (2) there is a pair on the board. The exception would be if the BB has exactly J [img]/forums/images/icons/spade.gif[/img] T [img]/forums/images/icons/spade.gif[/img]

-- Manzanita