New member- Issue on AQ hitting TPTK against 3 opponents.

Hey guys!

Let me give a background about myself. I am a semi-pro playing @ 3-6 NLH 6 max at partypoker or 25-50 NLH full ring at my local casino somewhere here in Asia. I play about 10 to 15 hrs a week live and prolly 6 hours max a week online.

I'am currently at a 9 buy in downswing in my local casino and last night was one of the most brutal. AA got cracked by KK, got it all in w/ mid set against TPTK and got runnered and got it all in with top set against OESFD and well, you guessed it; flush hit the river. Well I am not here to talk about my DS but I wanted to hear your opinions on a certain hand last night that could have gotten me off my nice downswing. ( I was pretty much in control last night and in the zone until this one hit me) Here is the hand history:

Game: NLH 25-50

ME: CO w/ Ad Qd with 13k stack (2nd at the table)
3 limpers ahead of me so i raised 3xBB + 1 for every limper so i jacked it up to 300. Blinds call, limpers fold.

I will show the hands of the callers in the end, but here are the stacks of the SB and BB and the effective stacks and playing style as well.

SB: 5k stack (kinda loose-passive ATM)
BB: 14k stack (std tight aggressive- Biggest stack) Got me covered.
Effective stacks got me covered.
I am a LAG who just goes crazy in position with any two cards but well whatever, I do have a premium hand in AQ (my favorite hand.. LOL)

Preflop Pot: 1050

Flop is:
Qc-9s-7h
SB checks, BB donk-bets 350 I call, SB calls.

Pot after the flop is 2100

Turn is
6s
SB donk-bets 1500 BB calls, i call.

Pot after the turn is 6600
River is 2s (completing back door flush)
SB checks, BB value bets 1750, i call then SB shoves for the rest of his 2800. BB calls. I call since i only need to put in another 1050 to win a 15k pot which is really standard I guess.

Final board of Qc-9s-7h-6s-2s.
SB holds 10s-5s for a rivered back door flush
BB holds Qh-8h for top pair 8-kicker.

I lost exactly 5000 (100 BB).

So here are the issues of this hand.
1) BB had been on a sick heater and had been hitting the deck. I did not want to get into a war for stacks with her with just TPTK so i decided to play my hand passively.

The third guy was really a loose-lucky donk who plays Sh*t like 4-2o or 7-3o out of position and hits his straights or one-card flushes. He also bought in for the 1K minimum and got his stack to that level.

I told myself that I' am willing to lose to him if he gets lucky but not stacking-off to the 240 BB stack of the SB.

QUESTION: Should i have raised the flop with my TPTK to take the pot right there or is my pot control the right play?
the BB told me afterwards that if i 3bet her she would've 4bet me and I would not know what to do if I get 4bet. SB would have folded if i raised the flop though.

2) Am I playing TPTK the right way? I used to play at the 10-20 lower limits with a buy in of 75BB and I usually play TPTK profitably by raising and re-raising with it. But now that I am playing at a deepstacked ring game, I tend to keep the pot small with TPTK and have been losing or getting outdrawn on the river. There was a time when I tried playing TPTK aggressively in the deepstacked game but ended up stacking off to my opponent's bottom set.

3) I thought of raising the turn but the BB said that he would not have folded because he had a GUTSHOT and a spade draw and would have moved all in on me. SB also said that she would have not folded because she does have a gutshot to the 10 on the turn and would have shoved on me as well.

4) Should I have folded the river?

5) Could you give me suggestions on how I should've played the hand on the FLOP- TURN and RIVER? I do not have any poker tracking software, i wanted to see if I was ahead in G-bucks if we got in a hypothetical shoving war on the flop or turn. (I love the Gbucks concept but it's not funny to lose a buy in or so and justifying it that I have positive GBucks on that hand, Phil Galfond is my favorite player obviously). I would appreciate it and hopefully, my story here added to a bit of poker knowledge for everyone.


Btw, I was on serious tilt the next hand few hands, i lost a big pot due to a hero call with middle pair and stacked off with TPTK (AJ this time) against bottom two pair (LOL). I bought in for another 10k, got it up to 20k and went down with the three hands i stated at the beginning of this post. Should have stood up when I reached 20k again I think.

PS Moderator: My live game is considered high-stakes right? Sorry for posting here, feel free to move it!
GL at the tables my friends.

1) I would usually raise the flop since he made it small.

3) Don't like a turn raise.

4) Call the donkbet, fold to the shove.

Originally Posted by pocketfours

1) I would usually raise the flop since he made it small.

3) Don't like a turn raise.

4) Call the donkbet, fold to the shove.

i'd definitely fold to the shove you are literally never good here. nobody is jamming KQ here for value on this river on this board after this line. you are good here probably 1/500 making your call at 14-1 pretty bad.

I feel like the turn is a fold, think you were forunate to be ahead unless you had a specific read.

the biggest mistake you made here was getting worried/bitching about a 9 bi downswing when you are a self-described 'crazy lag in position'. this shows me you dont understand the swings which your strategy entails and are likely to go broke.

postflop id fold the turn as well unless you have a read which says 1) that both players can be playing worse made hands/weak draws and 2) you will know when to call rivers. that seems quite difficult in this spot though.

Befriend the flush guy and ring him before you go to the casino, making sure he's gonna be there.