AQ hand, what do you do?

POKERSTARS GAME #3005060224: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.25/$0.50) - 2005/11/08 - 13:22:26 (ET)
Table 'Leonid' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Goonman1 ($20.20 in chips)
Seat 2: SlickDawg62 ($10.80 in chips)
Seat 3: edudlive ($62.15 in chips)
Seat 4: lilvitti ($52.95 in chips)
Seat 5: FaIIen Hero ($117.20 in chips)
Seat 6: ArchG ($78.80 in chips)
lilvitti: posts small blind $0.25
FaIIen Hero: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to edudlive [Qs Ad]
ArchG: folds
Goonman1: folds
SlickDawg62: folds
edudlive: raises $1.50 to $2
lilvitti: calls $1.75
FaIIen Hero: folds
*** FLOP *** [3s 7h Ah]
lilvitti: bets $3.50
edudlive: calls $3.50
*** TURN *** [3s 7h Ah] [4d]
lilvitti: bets $5
edudlive: ??

Opp is 26.67% VPIP 0% PFR and break even over 45 hands. Hero is playing slightly laggy, cbetting often.

raise the flop.

That's what we call a action stopper, his goal behind this raise is to not get reraised.

Considering hero is playing laggy and raising on the butotn after everyone has layed down, his perspective on the whole situation is that you are attempting to steal and you are making a play.

Considering your image / position (button steal preflop) he may be defending a middle pair like 88-JJ or even 55-66. A more tricky play would be flat calling will most likley induce a bet on the river from him as well but if a 5 or 6 presents itself you may find it difficult when faced with a substantial raise, considering this will happen less than 4 outa 5 times. This is the play I would personally go with.

Originally Posted by TalentedTom

That's what we call a action stopper, his goal behind this raise is to not get reraised.

Considering hero is playing laggy and raising on the butotn after everyone has layed down, his perspective on the whole situation is that you are attempting to steal and you are making a play.

Considering your image / position (button steal preflop) he may be defending a middle pair like 88-JJ or even 55-66. A more tricky play would be flat calling will most likley induce a bet on the river from him as well but if a 5 or 6 presents itself you may find it difficult when faced with a substantial raise, considering this will happen less than 4 outa 5 times. This is the play I would personally go with.

So do you raise or call the turn? Considering your image.

With such a high kicker, it's not terrible to call down with your image. Good chance of holding up. If you had AT I would find out very early if I should continue to put money in.

Find the happy slowplay medium.

Playing laggy (and having a good hand), I came over the top of his bet figuring 40% of the time he'd fold and the 50% he did call he'd call me with a smaller ace because of my image (probably 10% having me beat), he called. The river was a Queen and I took it down with top two. He showed AK, something I really didn't put him on (as while he had 0% PFR he had shown aggression elsewhere. Was this misplayed (irregardless of my luck on the river), as this is a common play I would make at 25NL.

edudlive: raises $51.65 to $56.65 and is all-in
lilvitti: calls $42.45 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [3s 7h Ah 4d] [Qd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
lilvitti: shows [Ac Ks] (a pair of Aces)
edudlive: shows [Qs Ad] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
edudlive collected $103.40 from pot

Im not sure i would have reraised quite that much. maybe 25-30 or something. and then check behind on the river if he just calls or call his small bet.
(When the queen comes i think it turns into a river raise)
I dont think this is played too badly. You probably just got unlucky and hit your 10% when you arent beaten. The question is does he play AJ->Underpair the same way. It wouldnt surprise me if he played JJ sort of hands this way or weaker aces.

Originally Posted by Pelion

Im not sure i would have reraised quite that much. maybe 25-30 or something. and then check behind on the river if he just calls or call his small bet.
(When the queen comes i think it turns into a river raise)
I dont think this is played too badly. You probably just got unlucky and hit your 10% when you arent beaten. The question is does he play AJ->Underpair the same way. It wouldnt surprise me if he played JJ sort of hands this way or weaker aces.

He did overvalue some cards in other hands, I still think this line is correct here (as I have yet to see a decline in the calling of PFR with A8 A9 AT A5 A6 etc...meaning at this level not specifically this opp) but I wanted to see what some of the better players here had to say

Raise the flop to see where you stand. You dont want him C-betting with the flush draw if he is laggy he will. I raise the flop to around 7-9. The turn falls non heart i see what he bets and go from there.

That was quite a risky push there. I definitely would have put AKo as one of his probably holdings there, in which case a raise to 15-20 should've told you this without putting your entire stack at risk... Nice river/pot!!

Originally Posted by edudlive

but I wanted to see what some of the better players here had to say

sorry ill stay out of it next time

seriously though i think you are beaten here quite alot of the time. But i also think you are winning often enough to justify a call. I think the amount you pushed by was far too much though as i dont think many weaker aces would have called for all those chips. I bet, but alot smaller

pushing here is a great way to go broke. better hands call worse hands fold. i don't think ax is calling that more than 50% of the time.