AQ hand, $475 sat. What are my options?

[PrayingMantis]

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leading out sucks sooooooo much, even worse so in a sat where you're marginal enough to need every chip.

c/something (probably call), push a blank or heart turn.

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adanthar, if I understand you correctly you are saying you'd push any turn? or that you'd decide whether to push a blank or a heart? In other words, what cards are you not pushing if you're c/calling flop?

I'm interested to know what should I see as my goals in this particular spot, knowing it's a satellite situation, very close to the money. Do you not think that by taking the line you're suggesting I'm basically "turning my AQ into 72"? Is there an option for me to not "turn my AQ into 72" in this spot?

[PrayingMantis]

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I personally think raising and folding are better options than calling preflop, but maybe that's just me. I think a good argument can be made for folding it.

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FWIW, I don't think that folding PF is paricularly bad in this sat situation. I considered it. However, I think that reraising is not so good, especially since UTG+1 raiser wasn't getting out of line in EP.

[blockafor]

I like what Brad said except I wouldn't reraise preflop.

If you think EP's preflop raising range is that tight, and you can visualize an A-high flop and not feel comfortable with it, then fold preflop.

[footnbaseball]

Why does leading out suck sooooo bad here? I wouldn't do it, but it doesn't seem to be a terrible option.

[Nez477]

What does it accomplish?

[adanthar]

Because you're turning your AQ into 72 by leading it out. Unless you have a good reason to think you'll be raised by 72, are you trying to fold KJ or make the other AQ shove? If he is decent and just calls, are you check/folding the turn? (this is the correct option btw, even though it sucks and you quite possibly are throwing away money by doing that)

You're trying to get a cbet out of somebody here and maybe stack AJ, which isn't happening if you telegraph what you have.

I don't push on an ace, two, queen, and probably not a ten.

[bestcellar]

I fold preflop with this sat structure. What are you hitting other than two queens or AQx that you are comfortable playing for your whole stack against a tight EP raiser?

As played, you've hit the flop about as well as you can expect and now you're sort of locked into this hand with no idea what to do. If you lead out and get any action you're almost certainly done with it, so I like a check/call better, and reevaluate the turn. I like the idea of pushing a turn scare card like a broadway/heart which you might pick up additional outs with.

[PrayingMantis]

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You're trying to get a cbet out of somebody here and maybe stack AJ, which isn't happening if you telegraph what you have.

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I see that of course, and that a check will win more out of worse cbetting hands that will fold to a lead.

However, if you c/call flop (assuming btn folds), why would you want to shut him down on the turn when a blank fall? If he has you beat on the flop, he will definitely call a push on a blank turn, but if he's drawing for 2 outs, for instance, on the flop, why not c/call again? What do you achieve by pushing? Are you worried about him checking behind? I can't see that as a good enough reason, but maybe it is. Do you think he'll be more willing to make a bad call on the turn, not seeing your line as an ace? I think that in this spot and this structure (and as was mentioned in this thread) good/solid players tend to make less marginal calls, and more marginal bets (i.e, be somewhat more aggressive than otherwise) than in a normal MTT at such point.

[Halo7]

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I would C/R all in on the flop and hope you aren't really unlucky with him having AK, AA or TT (or ATs maybe).

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You think he's calling my c/r with AJ (if it's in his range)? KK? Or folding AK? What do i achieve with this c/r? I'm not trying to be argumentative, just asking.

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With a C/R you accomplish the goal of getting more $$ in the pot when you have the best hand. If you lead out, you won't get any more money from anything that doesn't have you beat. If he calls with KK or QQ or AJ, then that is just a bonus. I originally thought it was heads up so lets go through the possible scenarios:

1. You check, PFR Bets, Button folds.
In this spot you just have to fear AK, AA, and TT from the PFR. If you are saying the PFR is tight enough that you don't like this flop, then you should be folding preflop. If not, then you should be happy getting it all in vs his range since he is c-betting with a lot of hands here that you can beat.

2. You check, PFR bets, Button calls.
This one is a little scarier since he could be flat calling with a monster like ATs or TT or AA, but he could be doing a lot of different things here. I still like the C/R all in against them both since they will both need a really strong hand to call.

3. You check, PFR checks, Button Bets. I still like the C/R on this one too since PFR is saying "I don't like this flop" and Button could bet with a ton of different hands hoping the A scared you both into folding.

4. You check, PFR bets, Button Raises all in. This is the tough one. It would depend a lot on your read on the button and if he is someone who can make a play here with less than AQ. If he is a semi tight who raises mainly when he has hands, I can see a fold here, but it depends a lot on the players.

I guess what it all boils down to for me here is if you don't like a flop like this one, then why are you calling the PFR at all?

Halo7

[adanthar]

After you call the flop, you have somewhat but not too much over a PSB left*, and nothing worse pays off any more** unless it hits some sort of dumb 3-5 outer, but AJ probably still calls a shove because lol donkaments. Occasionally you'll even get lucky and shut out KhQh or something like that.

*this means you generally can't check through the turn and v-bet the river - a vbet is half your stack anyway and will rarely get called by anything worse twice as often
**if villain is retarded, disregard this and check the turn again obv.