AQs in the BB

AQs in the BB

Played this hand on GGPoker

UTG limps
LJ raises 4.5 BB
Folds around
BB(Hero) 3 bets to 16 BB
UTG folds
LJ calls

Flop: Jc Ts Qd
Pot: 33.5 BB

Hero: C-bets 11.1 BB
Villain: calls

Turn: Ah
Pot: 55.7 BB

Hero: checks
Villain: bets 55.7 BB
Hero: calls

River: 7d
Pot:167.1

Hero: checks
Villain: bets 29.45 BB
Hero: calls

First question: is this a 3! Preflop? I don’t have any charts unsure if it’s a call or raise or mixed.

Second question: is it a bad call? My reasoning was, given he didn’t 4! Preflop I thought his range was capped and he couldn’t have AA,KK,QQ, or AK. Also thought he’d 4! JJ or if not he would check back JJ on this board on the turn. Also thought he’d check back TT ott. Thought his range was some Kx, small pocket pairs as bluffs, suited connectors as bluffs and possibly turning a low 2 pair into a bluff. I essentially thought he was too bluff heavy given the flat call preflop. Is this a call or am I lighting money on fire?

21 October 2024 at 05:46 AM
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6 Replies



Preflop, i think its a good 3bet. Cbet on the flop is ok. Turn is weird sizing wise - are you ever folding when villain inevitably shoves for 30bb into the pot of 170? If not, maybe xr shoving is better. In terms of range, im looking at gto wizard (their preflop solutions are free at gtowizard.com) and the villain should have a pretty condensed range of suited broadway aces and kings and pocket pair, and A5s in the preflop flat range. Also AK and KK call some percent of the time in position, QQ and below are a call most of the time. Vs the entire range, even with all the sets, you are still slight favorite on the turn, but idk about the range that bets pot on the turn. Low 2 pairs are not even in his theoretical range most of the time. If i give him the range that you are talking about (QQ-88,KTs+,JTs,JTo) in pokerstove (also free), you are a slight favorite. If i add suited connectors, even more. I guess if your reads are correct, you are good enough to call. I would personally think hard about folding on the turn.


I would cryfold turn


Broadway/straight runouts underbluffed I think so ok to be exploitative with our folding range


He has to be turning 2 pair into a bluff for you to be good on that turn - meh its such a bad card for you that I prob fold against that size. If he bet the standard one third you can call because you have a chance to hit a boat on rvr or perhaps he checks and you win but against a potsize bet I think its a sighfold


He can absolutely have AK here. I call AK ip a lot vs 3bets to decrease variance. I dislike shipping it pre, especially if villain 3bets vs early positions. It's also easy to play postflop.
I agree that KK is super unlikely.

I'm a nit though - do you have proof that your opponent isn't? 😀

Oh and if he is bad he can have KQ here as well. I think it' s his most likely hand as AK would raise flop a lot to protect against sets turning into FH.


by Micros_Isildur k

He can absolutely have AK here. I call AK ip a lot vs 3bets to decrease variance. I dislike shipping it pre, especially if villain 3bets vs early positions. It's also easy to play postflop.
I agree that KK is super unlikely.

I'm a nit though - do you have proof that your opponent isn't? 😀

Oh and if he is bad he can have KQ here as well. I think it' s his most likely hand as AK would raise flop a lot to protect against sets turning into FH.

The wider villain 3bets vs EP, the more you have to 4bet. BB 3bets very tight vs UTG 2.5 BB open and the UTG does mix 4bets and calls with AK there. However, BTN vs BB 3bet AK calling is no longer even a thing. You're actually losing a couple of bb's of EV if you call instead of 4bet there with AK. Choosing a certain way to play a hand in order to reduce variance is a thing any coach would tell you not to do.

In this particular hand, the 4.5 bb iso sizing and range makes things a bit weird though. Their iso sizing is pretty standard for a reg, who will probably have only some KQs, maybe KJs and some trappy KK left here in their range. I'm almost certain most regs would just rip any AK combo pre against a 16 bb 3bet, makes life easy and it's probably what solver would do as well. Their turn sizing is garbage, which would make me think this probable fish can have a lot more K's here than they probably should, AK included. But if they look punty enough, they can be doing that with vluffs as well, which would probably make me call-call, but expect to lose 50-60% of the time, but that's still OK for us. No reads or stats at all? - fold turn. Just my take though.

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