AQ Line Check

[Oracle]

Vill is like 50/15/4.3. Standarrrrrrd?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (4 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: 2+2 Forums)

Hero ($47.35)
UTG ($40.75)
Button ($54.30)
SB ($28.20)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#CC3333">UTG raises to $0.75</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $2.25</font>, UTG calls $1.50.

Flop: ($4.60) A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets $2.75</font>, <font color="#CC3333">UTG raises to $5.5</font>, Hero calls $2.75.

Turn: ($15.60) J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="#CC3333">UTG bets $1.25</font>, Hero calls $1.25.

River: ($18.10) Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets $12</font>,

[Pokey]

I don't like the preflop reraise. Villain is loose preflop but not overly aggressive, and AQo heads-up and OOP plays badly postflop. Your chances of domination and RIO are non-trivial, and if you're called you'll have a looooong and unpleasant journey to the river. I'd usually smooth-call this raise with the intention of letting him aggro himself to death postflop if I hit well.

Given your preflop play, I like the flop bet. The minraise is fishy, but given this guy's aggression it looks more like a resteal than a monster. On a board this dry, my usual response is going to be to smooth-call and check-raise any turn card.

The turn blanks, you check to induce a bluff, villain bet -- but it's an uberweak bet. Why does he do this? What is he telling us? Either that he's weak and scared or that he's trying to sucker us into making a strong raise. I'm willing to accept that he's a tool and overplaying junk, so I raise this bet to about $12. At that point the cat's out of the bag -- if he three-bets me all-in I probably fold, since I've just flipped my ace face-up, and if he's willing to three-bet after the power I've shown in this hand he's probably got TP2K beaten. If he smooth-calls me, I'm intending to play it by ear on the river, bet-calling a blank, check-calling a scare card, and either bet-calling or open-pushing an improvement. Even if my opponent folds to this turn bet, I'm not unhappy -- that pot is big enough to be worth scooping, and I can think of a whole slew of cards I'd rather not see on the river. OOP with a weak-but-made hand, I'm happy to drag down the pot uncontested before this train derails.

Note that this entire hand plays out totally differently if you don't reraise preflop. Personally, I think it will usually play out better for you, but your mileage may vary.

[Oracle]

Pokey-

Thank you for you thoughtful and detailed response. I'm generally in the habit of reraising hands like AQ preflop against viertually all opponents simply because it makes it easier for me to play postflop- I hate check/folding to a cbet on a dry board. If we're in position do you reraise this? Your turn line is something to think about I just feel like it folds out weaker hands and commits us if we're behind. I just ended up calling because he seemed very strong and I decided to go into WA/WB mode and keep the pot small without any further improvement.

EDIT: I should also add that the jack did scare me to some extent. My original plan was to c/r the turn but I just couldn't see a hand that he played this way I was ahead of that a turn c/r got value out of now that we're reverse dominated by hands such as AJ and A9 (and AK is a possible holding).

[Oracle]

bump

[Oracle]

...anyone?

[Leviathan101]

What's your question? I think it looks fine on all streets.