Ace Queen

gidders

I think this hand deserves a thread. How strong is it?? Am I allowed to fold it preflop and still feel good about myself when my opponent is forced to show his A9o to an all in'er??? Should I feel bad about laying down this hand???

Example:
I'm on the button with AQo in level 4 of a Paradise mini

Raised 4xBB UTG

MP - call
MP2 -call
LP - call
B - ????

What the f is going on here, four guys call 4xBB before action gets to me??

I folded and A9s takes the hand down. Should I have been more aggressive and reraised? Take a flop? Hand pissed me off because I was just clueless.

Share your thoughts.

Chugs

AQ i find is a really delicate hand to play ... now against people playing A-rag it's a monster but calling a raise against a person with decent raising standards high pairs, AK ... you can get in lots of trouble with AQ, it's hard to know when you're good. Still i like it alot more than KQ, which is a hand i find can get you into so much trouble, it's not funny.

ConfusedONE

level 4...how much is that? i don't play at paradise

Anton81

i will only play AQ for no raise or one small raise for a call in late position and the button. anywhere else i'd fold it

settings

Without knowing anything about the other three callers, or the raising habits of the original raiser, I'd say lay it down. There are a lot of cards that you wouldn't want to see turned over against you...AA, KK, QQ, AK, high pairs, or even AQs. With that many people calling a 4x raise, someone's bound to be slow-playing one of these.
Live another day.

(I see that A9s took the pot; I'm just demonstrating my thinking before the flop)

JuiceMan

by the way were u soooted? Id say online that way to many ppl play ace rag and bet it huge. Also online i hardly ever see any one simply call a raise with any pocket pair over jj's. Id prob call and hope to hit my ace and see how everybody bets. ( this is if i were sooted) Amd of course u are late position soo...

Tigerscott

sootedness is a call
offsuit throw that sucka away

garro

I find AQ to be a devil hand (much like JJ). It is a hand I love to play, (after all is it almost AK).

I will always raise with and and pretty much call a re-raise with it, however if I am in a situation where there is another re-raise after the first, I generally will fold it, especially in early position.

When I see the flop and hit the Ace I then will bet very aggressively (I almost never slow play AQ after the flop).

The funny thing about AQ is I am am almost always hoping for a Queen on the flop over an Ace most of the time. I find the thing about flopping the Q with rags, is that you are almost guaranteed to have the best hand at that point (only fearing the dreaded AA, KK). A pair of Queens with an Ace kicker is a fantastic hand.

Ideally you want to play AQ against players who play Ace-Rag (un/sooted), or player who are type who love to raise and call with KQ, QJ from early position. i find this is the real power of AQ.

However just like AK it is important that if AQ misses the flop you folded it, after all without a favourable flop all you have is Ace high.

Chugs

In the face of certain raisers i won't even consider calling out of the SB partially invested with AQ ... because i know they're starting hand requirements and i can find 100s of better spots, but as always it depends on the player.