I would appreciate some comments about playing the turn in a big pot. The following hand was from a live 1/2 NL game in Atlantic City.

I was seated next to the CO and started the hand with about $220. Three early players limped to me, and I had . While I would normally raise here, I decided to limp as well because I felt that it was necessary to mix up my play.

The CO (an average player) raised to $15. The Button called, as did two of the limpers. I called, too, and 5 players saw the flop with $80 in the pot.

The flop was .

Everyone checked to me, and I led out with $40. Only the Button called. He was a very aggressive player who would make big bets at unopened pots and signs of weakness.

There was now $160 in the pot, and I had about $165 left in front of me.

The turn was .

What play would you make next?

Push.

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KRE8R probably has about seventy college funds in his NL5 roll.

QFT

The straight just hit, but the clubs missed. Personally, I check-raise the flop. I'd let the Button bet at it and pick up a read there. No way he's laying down a club and if he checks behind, you can check any river. Aggressive players can't let people get away with 2 checks. No club, he bets, you call, you win the pot.

I don't think the pot size is all that important. The tone that you set on the flop was a $40 bet. He's not betting more than $60 on the turn or river. If so, you'll know he has shit. Yeah, he's a big bettor, but come on- let's be real for a minute that this is a monstrous pot.

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What does this mean?

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KRE8R probably has about seventy college funds in his NL5 roll.

Quoted For Truth

Thanks.

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Lots of good rakeback options at http://www.raketherake.com/?refer=RTR25126

KRE8R probably has about seventy college funds in his NL5 roll.

OK... here's how the hand worked out:

On the flop, the issue for me wasn't the button, but the preflop raiser from the CO. I bet $40 (1/2 the pot) to see what he'd do. If he re-raised, I'd strongly suspect that I was up against AK or a set, and depending on the amount of the raise, I might dump the hand.

The CO folded, but now the Button just called. Given his aggressive nature, I was sure I was ahead of him at this point. However, I only considered that he was on a flush draw, and I made up my mind that I was pushing with any non-club on the turn. The Js fit that description. He called with AhJc, made two-pair with his 3-outer, and stacked me.

I can live with being unlucky, but if played the hand poorly because I should have taken into consideration that AJ was in the range of hands he could be playing, then I need to hear that.

What makes this hand difficult is the combination of the size of the pot, the size of my remaining stack, and the Button's profile. If I had considered him being on AJ as a possibility, what bet could I have made that would prevent me from getting stacked? Let's say I bet only $50 into the $160 pot as sort of probe bet. This player would have read that bet as weakness, raised me, and likely put me all in. He had played several hands exactly like that; the other player always folded, and so I never got to see the strength of the hand that he was actually playing.

In any event, if he raised a probe bet by me, there would be over $300 in the pot at that point, and I would have only $105 left in my stack. I don't think that I could have laid down the hand with those pot odds.

If that analysis is correct, then my push is probably correct, too, even though it worked out poorly. Does anyone disagree?

dude.. i dont think u should ever be limping in with the AQs here.. ever...
if u wanna mix up ur play, then throw in some pf raises with suited connectors/low pp's every now and then... that should be enough to keep ur opponents guessing whenever u raise pf..

but limping in with AQs is just baaaddd...

i also hate the pf flat call, as ur just setting urself up to play a big pot with multiple oppoonents on the flop, where you have not established urself as the Pf raiser.. And if u hit TP, and get action, ur going to be very confused about ur hand on whether u are ahead or behind. And chances are, majority of the time u do make TP in these types of hands and get action, ur gonna be behind.

I agree that limping with AQ is pretty bad here. If I limp behind limpers for big hand value, I'll give up to pot to stay out of trouble and this is only if I've been very active and I want to settle down.

I can't remember the last the last time I limped an unraised pot with AQ in a cash game, though.

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