100NL : AQ top pair min raised

[cbloom]

Villain is a pretty average player. I seem to post this every day. I just have no idea what to do here. After he min raises, I'd love to call and get a show down, but am afraid of calling and having to play a big pot. Maybe I should just unplug the cable modem and use my DP /images/graemlins/wink.gif (just kidding).

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (10 handed)

UTG+2 ($95)
Hero ($93.50)
MP2 ($68.80)
MP3 :#A500AF(Villain)/ ($86.30)
CO ($73.65)
Button ($97.50)
SB ($113.25)
BB ($113.45)
UTG ($238.63)
UTG+1 ($120.90)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with Q/images/graemlins/club.gif, A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif. SB posts a blind of $0.50.
<font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $4</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP3 :#A500AF(Villain)/ calls $4, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>.

Flop: ($9.50) 2/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 9/images/graemlins/club.gif, A/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets $8</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Villain raises to $16</font>, Hero ??

[ajmargarine]

This hand would be a fine hand to call and check the turn because it has no draws. Reevaluate based upon what he bets. That's a very weird raise there from villian.

[2Paul2]

without a read i usually call an lead turn for around half pot on boards like this. if i get raised again im done. if i get called usually 1/3 pot on river. this usually works pretty well against AJ an lower an will often freeze AK too and let you off slightly cheaper.

on a sidenote do you not have pt/pahud. i find the stats extremely useful for this common situation especially without much of a read/facing an unknown. even 50 or so hands on a guy can give you a good idea of how loose/aggro a guy is.

also you say you find these situations hard. well you dont give any reads other than average which doesnt tell us much, an these situations often come down to your read on a player. there are some guys in the 100 full i would turbo muck this too on the flop and there are also some i would check call off my stack too.

paul