[NL5 SH] AQs tricky PreF spot

Hey Th334,

In most situations I'd advise you to either fold your AQs or cold 4bet. It's true you may even be slightly ahead of BU's range but you suffer from reverse implied odds and may get put into difficult situations when you flop TPTK type hands. There is the chance CO may re-raise too, you are not closing the action.

Seeing as you are slightly deep and your Ace is suited the call is just about doable.

On the turn the main opponent to be worried about is the CO. BU could easily be light, and would have cbet a strong hand. The question is whether the CO is going to fold any pocket pair when the board pairs. CO could also have checked a strong made hand to the preflop raiser. I possibly would not bluff in this spot: I don't think it's necessarily a mistake, but I don't know if it will show much profit either.

Originally posted by w34z3l
Hey Th334,

In most situations I'd advise you to either fold your AQs or cold 4bet. It's true you may even be slightly ahead of BU's range but you suffer from reverse implied odds and may get put into difficult situations when you flop TPTK type hands. There is the chance CO may re-raise too, you are not closing the action.

Seeing as you are slightly deep and your Ace is suited the call is just about doable.

On the turn the main opponent to be worried about is the CO. BU could easily be light, and would have cbet a strong hand. The question is whether the CO is going to fold any pocket pair when the board pairs. CO could also have checked a strong made hand to the preflop raiser. I possibly would not bluff in this spot: I don't think it's necessarily a mistake, but I don't know if it will show much profit either.

Hey w34z3l, (we both love 3&4, don't we?)

Thanks for an awesome evaluation.

Re PF: so 4b is kinda on the safer side, yup? I make it like $1.20 and fold on any action [well, obv. fold is safer, but compared to calling].

I think if I were to construct a cold 4b range, in such CO vs BU spots AQs seems definitely good enough for a bluff (given that I muck all weaker hands, my cold 4b range should not be exploitable).

I see though how my call is doable, but still...cold-calling 3b from a SB and play multiway OOP is not really a spot I dream about at night. Like we saw here, even if I have some edge on NL5, I still make many questionable moves

Re Turn: Yeah, I see what you mean -- CO could just check pocket JJ or QQ to the PFA. So we can't be sure that the money is dead, right? On the other hand, it might be the best [the only] spot to take the pot down, representing some lucky Jx.

Originally posted by Th334
Hey w34z3l, (we both love 3&4, don't we?)

lol y34h

Originally posted by Th334

Re PF: so 4b is kinda on the safer side, yup? I make it like $1.20 and fold on any action [well, obv. fold is safer, but compared to calling].

It doesn't need to be big at all, even $1.10 would do it. I don't think it matters too much if your cold 4bet range is exploitable. If you have 100% bluffs it will be fine. The line looks so strong at these stakes that sometimes it doesn't make sense to do it with AA/KK unless you are trying to avoid a multiway pot.

Originally posted by Th334
CO could just check pocket JJ or QQ to the PFA. So we can't be sure that the money is dead, right? On the other hand, it might be the best [the only] spot to take the pot down, representing some lucky Jx.

Yeah, exactly. In reality though you are going to need to bet twice very often to represent a Jx because you will get floated with a lot of pairs at least once. Most of the hands you fold out will actually be hands you beat anyway, aside from perhaps a few lower pocket pairs.