AQ in the SB on the final table bubble

This hand has decisions on two different streets. I'm not sure if I played it wrong or not but I'll start with preflop and once we're done discussing that I'll talk about the flop.

11 left, I'm 4th in chips behind Button, BB, and a guy on the other table. This is the early morning 11+R that pays something like 5.5K for first, and on down to $250 for 10th-18th.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t16000 (5 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

BB (t371230)
UTG (t644628)
MP (t164183)
Button (t1140699)
Hero (t242793)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, Q.
2 folds, Button calls t16000, Hero?

The button is a calling station that got his stack with two big suckouts in a row. He's bullying everyone around, calling people's preflop raises and moving in on the flop. If I raise preflop he's definitely going to call, and I'm afraid that he'll limp-reraise me all-in, or put me in an awkward position if I miss the flop. Should I complete or raise?

Originally Posted by mcatdog

This hand has decisions on two different streets. I'm not sure if I played it wrong or not but I'll start with preflop and once we're done discussing that I'll talk about the flop.

11 left, I'm 4th in chips behind Button, BB, and a guy on the other table. This is the early morning 11+R that pays something like 5.5K for first, and on down to $250 for 10th-18th.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t16000 (5 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

BB (t371230)
UTG (t644628)
MP (t164183)
Button (t1140699)
Hero (t242793)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, Q.
2 folds, Button calls t16000, Hero?

The button is a calling station that got his stack with two big suckouts in a row. He's bullying everyone around, calling people's preflop raises and moving in on the flop. If I raise preflop he's definitely going to call, and I'm afraid that he'll limp-reraise me all-in, or put me in an awkward position if I miss the flop. Should I complete or raise?

raise it up

then put rest in on flop

is he showing down weak hands or what? If he's doing it with any two you have to play AQ against him 5 handed. If he moves in pre flop, you call. If you make it 60k to go, he calls and you miss the flop, no shame in giving up.

I guess you meant 5th in chips? You're 4th at the table. And your stack sucks, so I hope you aren't looking to limp to the FT.

I think a raise here is my play. If you have noticed that he likes to limp big hands and the pop you back, check but from your statement about his suck-outs i doubt this is the play he made. Pop him with like 4x, you want him to call with a hand less then yours, or if you don't want to deal with the flop decision push pre-flop. If he is a post flop player, take that option from him just cause hes a lucky player doesn't mean he has to suck out on you. At a minimum you are 3.5x here, so say you raise and he calls. You miss the flop FINE, let him take it your stack is getting low (not terrible) and wait for a better oppertunity to double up. You could always hit and then let him bluff his way up to your new 400k stack!

Originally Posted by drmcboy

is he showing down weak hands or what? If he's doing it with any two you have to play AQ against him 5 handed. If he moves in pre flop, you call. If you make it 60k to go, he calls and you miss the flop, no shame in giving up.

Yes he's showing down weak hands. Two blind levels ago he limped in for 8K, someone raised to 32K and he called with A5 suited. Then he called a pot-sized bet on the flop with just a flush draw and ended up busting KK.

I guess you meant 5th in chips? You're 4th at the table. And your stack sucks, so I hope you aren't looking to limp to the FT.

You're right I meant 5th or whatever, the point is the other table had like 4 microstacks so the final table was bound to start within a few hands. Of course I'm not trying to limp to the final table. I mentioned the fact that the final table is about to start, because the button knows that and thinks he can push the entire table around because of it. I'm trying to figure out how to get the most value out of the hand. If I raise it up to 60K and fold 2/3 of flops, that seems like it will cost me money. If I limp in and hit top pair I might be able to double through the aggressive donkey anyway.

if you think he'll call a push with any two, you should push. I'm struggling to understand the read here. Is he just never folding pre flop and always leading the flop? If that's the case, and you think BB will check, I suppose you could try limping in, which seems to be the reply you want.

You seem to want to give him no advantage here - he has the chips, you don't. It's his right and ability to play like a donkey and not go broke. You can't magincally beat him just because you have AQ and he's an idiot. If he's calling with any two here, it costs HIM chips. You may not collect them this time, though. Think long term.

Raise to 64k - you don't want this hand 3 way, a limp is horrible. AQ is a monster hand 5 handed.

You have position on the chip leader, use it. Limping gives you absolutely no idea where you stand in the hand.

Play the hand post-flop as you see fit.

If I thought he would call a push I would have pushed for sure. I didn't think he would but I did think he'd call a smaller raise.

I don't "want to hear" anything. If I was confident in what the right play was, I wouldn't be posting it here. This is something I do a lot against aggressive douchebags, I try to see flops cheaply with hands that have good top pair potential, and let them hang themselves if I hit. I'm not sure if it's a good strategy or not.

I guess my stack was too short to fool around though. I'm missing the flop 2/3 of the time and I have to pretty damn sure I'll double through him when I hit, for limping to be better than just pushing and nabbing the 45K dead chips in the pot.

One more thing, if I'm going to raise I want to set up the stack sizes so that I can push any flop for a pot-sized bet. So I would be raising to about 75K if I raised. I think raising to 64K puts me in an awkward spot out of position.

OK, flop time. I complete, BB checks, and the flop is 2 7 8 giving me the nut flush draw. I'm first to act. Your play?

Since you just completed, I fire a standard 2/3 pot bet. Willing to push against reraise with what I would give myself as 12 outs minimum.

lead and hope to take it down, call if raised. If it was just you and the big donkey I might say CR since it seems like he'll call with anything anyway, but I want the BB to fold Q7.

I just stared at this for 5 minutes

OK so the flop is totally standard, just making sure. I bet 50K, the BB insta-pushed and I called. He had 72o.

which he prolly would've folded to you absolutely obligatory raise