It has been a little while since I did one of these, and this odd hand felt like a good one to review. Here is the hand:
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HAND 1
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$0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold’em Cash Game, 7 Players
SB: $97 (194 bb)
Hero (BB): $52.70 (105.4 bb)
MP1: $51.20 (102.4 bb)
MP2: $57.85 (115.7 bb)
MP3: $50.75 (101.5 bb)
CO: $41.30 (82.6 bb)
BTN: $69.35 (138.7 bb)
Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with A
Q
MP1 raises to $2, 2 folds, CO calls $2, BTN calls $2, SB folds, Hero raises to $7.65, MP1 calls $5.65, CO folds, BTN calls $5.65
Flop: ($25.20) 5
A 2 (3 players)
Hero bets $14.35
So let me first give you the needed details. MP1 is a very reggy player. Usually plays 100NL, is well known on the forums, etc, and runs 13/9 over my 6K sample. He opens around 8% of hands from EP…he also has some pretty big leaks in his game (betsizing leaks like woah), and seems to be very face-up at any and all times. CO is an idiot, 23/2 over 70 hands and seems to be a little spewy. BUT is another reg player at 15/10 over 500 hands…again, nothing special. Which brings us to HERO…who like usual, is running a springy 19/17 with an aggro 3b%.
With the early raise, and then 2 callers, I think I can squeeze this out almost always. MP1 opens 8% of hands from EP which will look like 55+/AK give or take. If I fold out 55-TT and AK sometimes, then I am doing very well here. Also, I make CO or BUT play with their hands face-up in a bloated pot (so my CB will work often and fold out their pairs). There is also $6.75 in dead money in the pot, and flatting with AQ OOP in a 4way pot is a recipe for making amplified mistakes. So I squeeze here to $7.65, a pinch smaller than I would normally squeeze to. This size means it only has to work ~53% of the time outright to work, not even including the times I am called and pick it up with a CB. It also applies a lot of pressure, and the size of it allows me to play perfectly against MP1, who if he shoves, he obvi beats me and I lose the least amount I could.
The plan doesn’t quite go as planned as I get 2 callers, though luckily for me, from the 2 people that now have their hands face-up. MP1 really only has JJ/QQ/KK, and sometimes AA (he most likely shoves AK as a 4b…though being he has leaks, he COULD make a huge mistake and flat it here…but I will assume he is good enough to shove it and discount it from his range). And BUT has 22-JJ and is over setmining (btw, greeeeeeeeeeat job putting in ~15bb to setmine preflop!).
The flop is a very interesting Ad5d2d, and I lead out for $14.35. In retrospect I think this bet should have been smaller, about $12.85 or so…but I am a betsizing nit =) My lead here is as a semi-bluff. I want to pick up the pot now (that would be lovely), but don’t mind a flatcall from MP1. If I get any action from BUT HU, I will have to feel it out very carefully (meaning I bet, MP1 folds, BUT calls). My plan is to stack it in against MP1 (if he raises (1 combo of AA, 6 combos of KK with a diamond, say a discounted 3 combos of QQ with a diamond, etc) , and BUT folds) now…to fold if I bet, MP1 folds, and BUT shoves…to feel it if I bet, MP1 folds, BUT calls…and fold if I bet, MP1 calls, BUT shoves/raises. All of these are very logical and come from how these players would react to the other’s action. And notice my betsize carefully, I open myself up for nothing…I do not trap myself to the pot, I do not bet so little I offer a cheap bluff against me…I threaten stacks with minimal investment.
As played MP1 calls, and BUT comes over the top. My line was to bet/fold if that happened, and thus I did. I think I played the hand very well, applied a ton of pressure during the entire hand, and risked very little to create a very mistake rich environment.
MP1 calls $14.35, BTN raises to $61.70 and is all-in, Hero folds, MP1 calls $29.20 and is all-in
Turn: ($126.65) 9 (2 players, 2 are all-in)
River: ($126.65) 8
(2 players, 2 are all-in)
Results:
*SS*
Wow.. I’m not a big fan of this hand.
To me, it all goes down to what we try to achieve while squeezing. Maybe you and I haven’t different purposes.
First off, I will say that I have no problems with squeezing with AQ; but my goal is to take the pot NOW… especially from the blinds as we all know AQ OOP is no fun to play. I feel you have to raise higher than that (again if the purpose is to take it down right now). The smaller raise can potentially make people make bad calls as with the case with the button.
So let’s talk about the button, he is getting almost 3.5 to call with 8 more in implied odds giving him almost 12 – 1. While I still think this is wrong and truly a thin call, had you squeezed for a higher amount, you can probably drive out mid to lower set mining hands. Against this guy.. who knows.
Post flop, I have no problems with bet sizing. Does a smaller bet give you the same information. Maybe, Mabye not. A smaller bet potentially puts pressure on you as you can more easily be raised.
Nice hand to post though. This is the same reason why I post hands everyday on my blog to get constructive feedback.
We probably have slightly different goals. Mine is to:
1.) minimize loss when behind MP1 (I only fold out 60% of his range, and about 18% of it shoves…and the other 22% will call and be odd to play against). No reason to bloat when OOP against that
2.) if i get a HU pot with one of the through callers my life is cake. I will get folds about 70% against the CB (risking ~1/2PSB which needs to work 33% of the time, so i make about 40% equity on that bet which is sick sauce)
3.) math. risking ~7.5 to win $6.75 needs to work less often than $9.5 would
4.) apply pressure without overexerting or overexposing myself
*SS*
interesting… i don’t feel i’m anywhere near good enough to be squeezing with AQo against a raiser and two flatters. i’d much rather do it with air – which is what i would be turning AQ into.
certainly, preflop the two flatters are of little concern as the actions of the original raiser are what we’re more interested in.
post flop, with two calling our squeeze, i’m chalking this up to an attempt to take it down which failed, and then waffling on whether to continue or not.
as a rule of thumb, reads/history aside, do you advocate cbetting most squeezes against 2+ callers?
generally I would advise against it. A big part of bluffing is knowing when to cut the loss and not amplify it. FR is full of one shot stabs because there such an ingrained threshold of commitment
*SS*