AQo Under the gun..

[Revolver123]

I'm thinking about tightening my range to include this in my insta muck in UTG range. AQ is currently the hand I lose the most money with and what tends to happen is if I raise UTG with AQo, against a 3 bet I have to toss it since ill be OOP. Also, I feel that AQ plays terrible OOP in almost all spots.

This is all dependant on the table of course.. some tables it might be appropriate to raise AQo UTG.

But right now I think I'm going to start folding it.

[Airles™]

I raise it up at nearly every table at FR. If I get 3bet from a tight player, I'll probably fold if the raise is substantial. Of course if I get 3bet from a 60/40 maniac, I might 4bet him, but that's pretty rare.

[Revolver123]

But what if you get a caller? or multiple callers? Then you're stuck with AQo OOP.

Or even worse, a 3 bet. How many hands that will 3 bet can AQo beat? (Of course it can beat any hand but we're talking equity here)

[bigspenda73]

All depends on the level you're playing. At lower stakes it should certainly be +EV to open this hand UTG because your opponents calling ranges will certainly include dominated hands (AJ/AT KQ QJ etc) making it easier to get multiple streets of value from worse hands. The higher the stakes get players will stop coldcalling EP opens with these types of hands and start playing a different range against your EP opens.

[Outlaw]

Whether AQ is in your range or not doesn't matter... what matters is what opponent is calling/3betting you with.

Try to control the pot and keep it small with marginal hands oop.. sometimes we do this by checking, sometimes by betting.. depends on the read.

Typically you don't want to call 3bets oops with AQ though.. getting callers is fine as you will most of the time be ahead of their range.

[LawDude]

I would deal with this situation by thinking about the calling and raising ranges of the other players at the table. First, what Airles says is right-- if a good player with a tight range 3-bets you, you know you are behind and out of position. If a loose player 3-bets you, you might consider trying to isolate him or her as you may be a coinflip or better (though bear in mind that AQ is much worse than AK for this sort of play, so you really have to put the loose player on a pretty broad range).

If you get callers, then you need to estimate what they will call a pre-flop raise and not 3-bet with. You will see the flop, and there are some common scenarios:

1. Ace on the board, and a couple of rag connectors or suited cards. You then need to analyze the betting to determine whether someone hit 2 pair or a straight draw with their connectors or a flush draw with their suited cards or a set with their low pocket pair. But you are often ahead in this scenario.

2. Ace on the board, with some other broadway cards up there. Then you need to analyze whether someone hit his range calling you with two broadway cards and whether he or she now has a straight or 2 pair. Perhaps an Ace-Queen hit and you have 2 pair and have to price out the draws.

3. No ace on the board, flop unlikely to hit anyone's range. Now you are thinking in terms of a c-bet and what you will do if you get raised or called.

4. No ace on the board, flop likely to have hit someone's range. Watch the betting, but this is often a check-fold.

[daven]

AQ is currently the hand I lose the most money with and.

then play it differently. Nothing wrong with folding AQ utg if you get lost post-flop, maybe open AQs and dump the rest?
Also, don't cold-call with AQ for a while...

[Robb]

I'm pretty nitty UTG, but I open AQo for a raise. It still has TPTK value when it hits the flop, but you probably don't wanna get in a whole stack battle with it.