Daily Hand Quiz

All-in! You’re a Lag. You can’t play trappy. Especially not with QQ OOP.

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Reraise.
Have to assume we’re significantly ahead and I want more chips in the middle before a flop comes. I’m raising to at least 2000 and shoving any flop without an ace or queen.
I’d consider shoving now, but don’t want to fold out smaller PPs.

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I like the reraise to about 2000 or so. What to do if villain reraises all in preflop? Anyone calling? Folding?

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Pirate21 Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 9:16 am

Calling. If he has AA or KK, bummer.
If he has AK, cross your fingers.
Anything else we’re way ahead and he’s drawing to 2 or 3 outs so I love my chance of doubling up.
This is the benefit of a LAG image – when you get a big hand, you’re probably way ahead.

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Nelson Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 9:51 am

Yup – thats about what I’m thinking. Just out of curiousity – what would you do if there is a king on the flop? What about an ace? If either one of these hits the flop would you lead out – or check and then call a bet? Any chance you’d fold to a bet?…

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Pirate21 Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 10:28 am

I’m not worried about a king. Our betting should fold out all but AK (or *maybe* KQ).
Ace on the flop is my worst case scenario. I think V’s calling range is probably around 77+ and AT+. In the 18-25% of the time that an ace shows up, we have a problem.
If we check, V shoves most of the time and we’re probably ahead less than half the time.
If we shove, V calls when ahead and folds when behind. Sucks to be us.
Of course, there’s almost as good a chance that we hit another Q and then we’ll double up.

John Kugelman Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 11:27 am

Don’t 4-bet if you’re going to fold to a 5-bet. QQ is too good of a hand to turn into a bluff.

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Pirate21 Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 12:35 pm

So, basically shoving any (non-Q) flop then John?

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John Kugelman Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 12:57 pm

Actually, I might just flat call preflop and disguise our hand strength. As a LAG we might be flatting 3-bets more frequently than most players and flatting would give our flat calls more oomph than if we only flat weaker hands. We should probably be 4-betting some of the time and flat calling some of the time in this spot. Obviously how the hand plays out will change drastically depending on our preflop decision but both should be +EV plays.

If I 4-bet, yes, we’d be pot committed and should be getting it in on almost any flop, even if an ace or king flops. And since we’d be the preflop aggressor a shove would be in order, indeed.

R-R, I’d make it 2800. No need to get tricky imo. This is 6-handed and image is LAG, so hero’s hand is getting very little credit in this spot by open-raising. Call a shove.

Calling leaves us oop and vulnerable to overs. Besides, I don’t think we will be able to extract the max value if the v has a middle pr, and overs (to their pair) flop. More likely they will slow-down post-flop.

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H is OOP, re-raise and call a shove. If H calls then H is OOP and has not narrowed V’s range at all.
Only argument I can think of for shoving is it means you don’t have to play the flop OOP when a K or A hits but I still like the re-raise of 2750 or so anyway.

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My thoughts were to just flat-call. If a K or Ace hits slow it down. The key to me is that it is early in the tournament. I have been known to muck A A early in a tourny with a scary board…

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I would 4bet this, but I’m a pussy. I would really admire a flat call here, but have some questions:

If flop is all unders, do we lead(call shove)?
Can we assume a H check regardless of flop induces a c-bet from V?

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Additionally, can we read anything into the V 3bet to 800? It says he’s capable of making a move, but does he really want to 3bet w/ <77? And if so, wouldn’t one expect him to make it at least 1200 w/ such a holding?

Can we infer that his pop to 800 is more of an isolation bet with a moderately strong hand like ATs, AJ, KQ maybe KJs or 66-TT?

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Jeff Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 2:06 pm

Just curious what specifically 800 tells us. As opposed to say a standard 900, or 1100+.
Thoughts?

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Morat Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 3:54 pm

800 means:
“I know you’re rising loose. I want to take advantage of it. I will 3bet you night and day, with and without the goods. My 3betting range’s gonna be pretty wide as long as we play at the same table, so I don’t want to risk a lot of chips at these occasions. I may or may not have the goods now. It costs you 500 and a postflop play OOP to find out.”

900: just a standard 3bet
1100+: small-middle pair. I’m ready to flip, but pls don’t call.

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John Kugelman Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 2:59 pm

Doesn’t mean much to me. A good villain shouldn’t be sizing based on his hand, but on other factors. I generally 3-bet smaller IP and larger OOP so I’d be doing 800 as well with all of my 3-betting range.

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i agree with muck_miser, that its early and id like to play this slow. but then i did a bit of math. if you call the 3bet here…all it takes is a bet or two, a raise, etc, and ultimately all the moneys gonna go in anyway unless a truly scary board hits, and then maybe we’re just getting bluffed out. we’re oop, our strength is disguised, and v has a nice amount of chips to donate. all the signs point to our queens being good, and us being able to get more money in preflop, so we’re gonna have to play this faster than id like and reraise here. bout 2100 or so. gonna have to live with the idea of going broke vs kk or aa if thats what he has.

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Flat calling would be to slowplay our QQ and not give away our strength, not to leave ourself room to get away postflop. Whatever play I choose I’m trying to take the best line to get stacks in versus worse hands. I believe my comment about weak-tightness from the last quiz applies if you’re trying to minimize losses in this hand rather than maximize gains.

Only 4-bet if you think that’s the most profitable line. Certainly it’s not wrong, but is it the *best* option? Don’t do it merely because you’re uncomfortable playing OOP. Realize that once we re-raise our strength is no longer disguised.

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If you’re going to 4bet then stick it all-in obviously, as decent sized 4bet pot commits you anyway.

Calling seems like a good option as a way to maximise value from weaker hands, but then think about how many other hands you could profitably call a 3bet with oop. It’s not very many. This means flat-calling puts you on a very tight hand range and a good player will exploit that. This is why I would prefer to play my whole range aggressively and either shove or fold. Obviously QQ sits firmly in the shoving category.

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Pirate21 Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 11:32 pm

The point of raising smaller is to get more chips in the pot. Shove is likely to fold out a lot of V’s range – and ultimately leaves chips on the table more often than not.
The flip side is that we risk V hitting the flop but since we’re behind or getting outdrawn only about 1/3 of the time, this is a very profitable play.

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Pete Reply:
April 13th, 2010 at 2:45 am

If your opponent has the IQ of a diseased monkey this may work. Otherwise, splitting up your 4betting range into “tiny for value” and “shove for fold equity” will make you very exploitable and will in fact cause you to get less money in with big hands.

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Iffy stack sizes and position make it a shove for me, although I certainly can see the merits of flatting and going for the flop C/R.

I also agree with Pete — given the stacks, flatting a 3bet here doesn’t go very far in terms of disguising our hand.

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