AQ UTG 7-handed and 12x the BB

[ThePhoenix78]

Read this post elsewhere and it's a tricky situation I often find myself in as well. So I'd love to hear how others would play this hand...

"the blinds were 50 100 and 7 players were left in the sitngo. With 1200 chips left i got AQ under the gun and raised 250. Another stack pushed in for 750 more. Think I should call or fold to the re-raise?

In general, how do you play AQ here? Do you limp in? Do you make the same bet but fold the hand when the other stack pushs? Thoughts?"

I wish the original poster provided information on the styles of the other players, what sorts of stacks they had, and his own image. In general, though, I was thinking an all-in push to begin with, rather than the 2.5x BB raise, is a viable option. If you're going to play it cautiously, I'd rather fold right off the bat, or maybe limp. What do others think?

Given how he played it, should he fold to the re-raise or call? Should he have played this hand differently from the get-go (i.e., push, fold, or limp instead of the small raise)?

[J-P]

Yeah, just go ahead and push it right off the bat. Raising 2.5x-3x just forces you to make a tougher decision down the road by calling a push or gives you no room to maneuver on the flop if/when you whiff it (other than pushing of course).

In a way though it could work in your favor because people might push weaker Ax type hands over the top preflop who wouldn't call if you had pushed but I still prefer to push it pf especially in lower stakes sngs.

[ThePhoenix78]

Any other opinions? The AQ, AJ hands and PP like 77-TT here I always find hard to play in these spots. Feel like I should push, but figure I'm likely only going to be in a race at best if called, and will often be behind too. But seems like the stack is too short to just limp or make a small raise. Any other thoughts on the best play with AQ here?

[vers]

I think shoving at particular tables 7 handed might be slightly neg ev depending on calling ranges w/ 12x. I would probably make it 250 and shove if I had 1000.

[AMT]

open pushing is often the best option in this situation, it creates the most FE vs reasonable players and induces loose and bad calls from really weak players. It also basically costs you the chips that you'll [usually] have to surrender when you c/f flops.


as played in a low-mid buy in sng readless, I find it hard to fold here getting btw 1.5 and 2:1 when most pp's and AJ/AT is in a lot of villains ranges, but I guess it depends on table/reads and future stacks etc