There've been interesting debates on big pairs, which situations are push situations and what aren't. My play here was mindless, but different people think differently and I'm interested to hear what people have to say.

About 320 left out of 1700+ and my Q's about 1.25, I'm guessing off the top of my head. top 180 pay.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (10 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

CO (t15214)
Button (t4348)
SB (t8172)
dbl_gutted (t18392)
UTG (t2755)
UTG+1 (t11666)
UTG+2 (t22536)
MP1 (t10454)
MP2 (t28809)
MP3 (t11050)

Preflop: dbl_gutted is BB with Q, Q.
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t1200, 4 folds, CO calls t1200, 1 fold, SB calls t900, [color=#CC3333]dbl_gutted _________________?

UTG+1's been min-raising a lot. He just got to the table and people have been respecting it. Not PF, but on the flop, they're giving him credit for hands. I'm not. I'll tell you that. When I was in the BB, he did it and everyone folded. I popped it up to 4k and he folded. My cards weren't important. I had shit. He had the luxury of not having to show his cards and I wanted to see how he'd react to me before I got my button because if I didn't lose it then, I'd lose something close to it there.

The CO's been taking a lot of flops, but he isn't raising PF at all. He's obviously taking flops in late position on purpose to steal when it's checked to him.

The SB's been really tight. He cold called a min. raise with Aces and 4 people to act behind him. He lost to someone who flopped 2 pair. This was about an orbit ago. He hasn't showed signs of tilt by playing too much. He's been crafty and I've liked his play outside of that hand. He definitely is prone to FPS and against these donks so early, it's worked up to now.

I can't tell you the last time I showed down a hand. I think it was about an hour ago with Kings.

I should add that my raises at this level have been t1666 (I'm listening to Slayer right now on my iPod.) and remember that I haven't showed anyone at this table my cards once, but I've been here building my stack for about half an hour-40 minutes.

I'm not responding to Beavis in this post. Just adding and clarifying.

These are the types of moments that could propel you to the next level in a tourney or break you . . .

So UTG+1 could be raising with a wide range of hands, CO could be calling with that wide range, and SB is a very tight player.

Calling: Well, I hate calling, but it's certainly the safest move. If an A or K flops, you could fire a 1/2 pot bet out and see what happens . . . it will certainly be cheaper than reraising PF.

If you get an undercard flop, you really have to be careful your opponent didn't make a set against you (any of the 3 could be calling with a pair, perhaps all of them . . .). If I get an undercard flop, I'm leading the pot rather than check-raising so I'll know if I'm beat a lot cheaper. So you're going to need to be careful if you flat call PF.

Reraising: I really like reraising 2/3 of the pot (including your call of the UTG+1 bet). A raise in the neighborhood of 4400 should do it. It forces your opponents to define their hands, limits the field, makes calling to hit a set an -EV play, and puts you in control of the action. If you get called and an A or K flops, you can get away with an M of about 15-16 and still be very much alive. If you get a set flop or undercards against TPTK (AJ-A9), you're going to be sitting pretty.

If you get reraised PF by SB, then you need to make a decision on whether or not you're ready to make a stand with your QQ. That part is up to you . . .

Pushing: As for pushing, you've got too many chips to push QQ here. If UTG+1 and CO really are that loose-weak PF and SB is that tight, you're probably looking at a +chipEV play but I think a -$EV play. Most of the time you'll pick up the pot, but when you're called you'll be no better than a coinflip (overall about 40% to win against range of AA, KK, AK).

We've got enough chips to take control of the hand, get some info, and see a flop while still able to get away from it if SB goes all in (putting him on AA/KK/AK).

I think the best play is to reraise to 4400.

Originally Posted by Beavis68

4400, if you get called (and you will)

the pot will be 11200, and you will have 14000, you just lost control of the hand, congrats. Calling is better than raising to that amount.

Uh, Beav, did you even look at the stack sizes against us?

SB has only 8K, CO is sitting at around 15K, and UTG+1 has less than 12K.

You've sandwiched 2 players against a short opponent who could go all in. But the reality is that SB didn't need much of a hand to call, so you've created a huge amount of fold equity here.

If CO & UTG fold (which seems likely given the read) and SB goes all in, then we have a decision (admittedly not a terribly tough one).

Of course, facing 3 opponents and given their stack sizes, there's so many possibilities it's tough to say what's going to happen. But suffice it to say, everyone is going to have to make a decision as to whether or not they want to make this their last hand.

The much more likely result is that anyone who is trying to trap PF will likely launch that trap. If we get reraised, we'll need to make a decision, but I'm willing to put it all in against a single opponent if that's the way one of them is going to play it. If 2 opponents jump all in, then maybe we need to re-evaluate.

The reason I thought we have too many chips to go all in is that we'll likely scare away the action from weaker hands most of the time with this raise (of course, AA/KK/AK are likely calling). We want action when we've got QQ . . . . at least I do!

For the record, I "felt" as I was at the top of my game today meaning that I'm in satisfactory shape right here, right now with 11k at the least, if you wanna take that angle. Basically, I'm not committed unless the pot commits me AND I have 10k or less. IF I were to check, bet 1/2-3/5 the pot to unders, and have someone come over the top with a min. rase, I could lay this down.

Originally Posted by the alex

For the record, I "felt" as I was at the top of my game today meaning that I'm in satisfactory shape right here, right now with 11k at the least, if you wanna take that angle. Basically, I'm not committed unless the pot commits me AND I have 10k or less. IF I were to check, bet 1/2-3/5 the pot to unders, and have someone come over the top with a min. rase, I could lay this down.

Then that's the way I think you should play it . . . . .

When the stacks get down in this range, I like to peck, peck, peck, then BAM. I use that raising every friggin' pot image to lure people into confrontations with me when I have a hand. With a hand like AA/KK/QQ, I'm looking to get all my chips in the pot if I can with an M of just under 20 against a stack I have covered and who has seen me raise pot after pot (hopefully putting me on a much weaker hand).

If this were the final table where big swings in $ occur between 6th and 5th place, I would probably play this much tighter to the vest by flat calling in the BB and taking a flop.