12- 9-05, LearnTexasHoldem:
AQ In NL Holdem Cash Games
Love your site at learn texas holdem, i think it offers some solid strategy for a ring no limit player like myself unlike a lot of books I read that mainly offer strategy for pro tournament play.
My question for you is about AQ. I've been contemplating about this hand for a while. How would you play AQ in early position? In a 100 no limit game, I've tried raising 15 preflop, and also tried limping in as well as a mini raise (6-10 preflop raise). So far, I've not found an effective way to play AQ preflop.
When I raise 15, if I get one or two callers, and an ace drops, I can't be sure my queen kicker is good, and if the flop misses me, I'm first to act and not sure if I should bet regardless to try to win it there with ace high and assume both players missed as well.
When I don't raise and the flop hits an ace, it's difficult to tell if somebody flopped two pair on you or is on a draw when they call you bet. Same case with a mini-raise. If i held AQ in late position, this seems like a much better time for me to raise, but the problem lies when I hold in early position.
What are your thoughts on this?
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Answer:
First of all, if you are going to play a hand like this, it is important to raise preflop. The main reason is you want to purify the other hands so that you are against cards that your hand will fair well against. Also, the information you get back from the opponents after you raise preflop is much more clear than if you just limp.
For example, say you just limp in with the hand, then someone raises from behind. What does that mean? It could mean anything. He could have a suited connector, AA, AT, or even a small pocket pair. But if you raise first yourself and someone reraises you, the strength of their hand is more clear. AQ is a solid hand if played well. AQ will do well against most weaker players. The players who you want to avoid with it are the rocks.
If you know that the only way someone will reraise you is if they have AA, KK, AK or QQ, then you probably should just lay the hand down after they reraise. That doesn't cost you much, certainly not enough to deter you from playing it. You mentioned that if you raise with the hand preflop and get two callers behind you when you flop an Ace, you don't know if your kicker is good or if the opponents have two pair.
Most players would reraise with AK preflop if they had it. It is your job to pay attention to which players might just cold call your raise. Also, you shouldn't be worried about someone calling you with a smaller Ace and hitting two pair, just as you wouldn't worry about someone doing that with AK. Next, if you are in early position and have raised preflop and you miss the flop, it is correct to bet into the flop if you only have one or two opponents. You'll win the pot there enough of the time to make it worthwhile.
Also, you can't just check when you have nothing and bet when you have something or that becomes too easy to read. Lead out and bet once. After the flop bet, you can get an idea of where you stand and play it from there. The more opponents and the more connected the flop, the less likely you are to lead out and try to buy the pot after raising preflop; against one opponent it is mandatory.
Part of the problem with hands like this is the fact that after you raise, it is difficult to get action. Who is going to call you on an Ace high flop if they don't have an Ace? One of the traits that professional players have that less experienced players don't is the ability to get other players to play badly against them. You want to develop a style that gives your opponents an opportunity to play a worse hand than yours.
This is kind of analogous to a business. For a business to make a sale, it needs to do some advertising. Sales alone are pure profit, but you can't have many sales unless you incur the cost of advertising. The end result by advertising is you end up making more money. Advertising in poker is mixing up your play enough to keep your opponents off balance. When they look at your preflop raise then, they know you have something, but have no idea what. It could mean you have 33, AK, AA, or even some rags (occasionally).
The key is moderation. Going overboard will be too much of a risk and you'll lose. Try to tune into how the table feels. When you raise are you getting any action? Are the opponents starting to change their game to try and gun for you? A sign that things are going in the right direction is when a typically solid player now reraises you with some less than premium hand to try and isolate you. Now that AQ may be just the right hand to bust him.
Try to get into his head. Is he trying to punish you with a weak hand since he has seen you raise so many other times? If so, you don't need to worry as much about running into one of the big three. See, you've enabled the players to play worse hands than this. If you only had a very tight strategy, the only action you would get with the AQ is the kind of hand you don't want to be up against. Lastly, no limit holdem is flexible. If you don't feel comfortable adopting a certain style, or playing a hand like AQ in early position, no problem. Stick to your game and slowly flesh it out.
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