Constructive criticism required

[Horneris]

I think you played it fine. Pretty well actually and would sometimes do the same thing myself. I think youre push has fold equity and if youre called you could still have the best hand vx KQ, Ace high flush draw (so drawing solely to clubs as you have the aceeee).

[LuckyLloyd]

Yes, playing a 30BB stack should be really simple.

[AlexMartin]

I deffo raise preflop here. I want to test Nav's hand preflop and want to negate my positional disadvantage by taking the initiative with a premium hand. On flop i lead out. I just find it easier to bet (LL's gonna hate me for saying this) and gauge my opponents reactions rather than react to them. I guess for imformation.

[Longy]

Raise preflop for value, aq is strong enough for me to be happy playing a raised pot oop and to be happy increasing the pot size with the best hand. I cbet the majority of flops as well here.

As played i like the check raise given our read that someone is going to do the betting for us, with two draws out there i think shoving is fine.

[LuckyLloyd]

Alex[/url] Martin link=topic=29797.msg611549#msg611549 date=1198123169]
I deffo raise preflop here. I want to test Nav's hand preflop and want to negate my positional disadvantage by taking the initiative with a premium hand. On flop i lead out. I just find it easier to bet (LL's gonna hate me for saying this) and gauge my opponents reactions rather than react to them. I guess for imformation.

I'm not going to hate you for giving bad strat advice. If you reread the op you will see that betting to "see where we stand" is even more irrelevant and incorrect in this hand than it usually would be.

[byronkincaid]

I deffo raise preflop here.... On flop i lead out for value if you hit and as a bluff if you miss surely?

[boldie]

I don't like this play at all really. It's  a raise pre-flop and try to get this thing HU against Laggie. The only problem in this hand is the "clueless" one in the SB..would he be calling any raise here as well if you raise pre-flop?

As played there's no point in betting into Laggie..he will do that for you and I would much prefer the check raise. Now you bet out..laggie raises you (as you expected) and "clueless" guy insta-calls (which is the only thing that can have thrown you about the flop action after you decided to lead out) ..against one oppo you can push here and get them off the hand..here, against 2, you have no choice but to "push and pray" or just fold..and since you actually have a very decent hand..it's a push now. and pray clueless guy doesn't have Q6 or something like that.

[MANTIS01]

There are many different ways to play a hand out, we see that on the PHA Board all the time. If you have a tangible thought process that is at the heart of your strategy then this cannot be argued with. In this hand your pre-flop thoughts are workable.

The average stack is 24k and you have 12k...so you have to get busy. The important thing is that you have a plan to win a big pot. The merits of the plan can be debated...but I think it's ok.

I elect to check and if hit, trap the LAG

When running bad players have a habit of 2nd guessing themselves, of loosing confidence in themselves and their plan, and they crumble. If you did anything other than get the chips in on this flop you could ask yourself questions about your play. But you do stick to your guns.

When you slow play the others aren't aware of your strength. Your plan was to hit and trap a LAG and a "clueless" player. Most of the time you wont hit and you will be check folding. On the rare occasion that you DO hit on a good flop then folding will not be an option. It's now about executing the plan and getting the chips in...and this is what you successfully do. Betting out got the LAG coming over the top...good, and the clueless player injecting more chips in....good. This is good play. If you start dishing out undue credit to these players now that you are successfully trapping them this would be a sign of no confidence.

You don't have enough chips to be overly cautious here, you wanted to trap and win a big pot....and you can't do that if lots of chips aren't going in. You cannot fear the eventuality that you manufactured by slow-playing. So while the plan's merits can be debated the execution of it can't, you executed it perfectly and this is good play.

[TightEnd]

Thank you for all the comments

I find it very tricky to raise in these spots OOP with hands you'd raise without a second though in late position versus LAGs you know can't pass and then having to fire out and I feel I can be bluffed off with air. This may well though be a function of lack of confidence

As it happens Nav had  and stacked me, but at least I stuck to my plan 

[AlexMartin]

Alex[/url] Martin link=topic=29797.msg611549#msg611549 date=1198123169]
I deffo raise preflop here. I want to test Nav's hand preflop and want to negate my positional disadvantage by taking the initiative with a premium hand. On flop i lead out. I just find it easier to bet (LL's gonna hate me for saying this) and gauge my opponents reactions rather than react to them. I guess for imformation.

I'm not going to hate you for giving bad strat advice. If you reread the op you will see that betting to "see where we stand" is even more irrelevant and incorrect in this hand than it usually would be.

I guess coz i know villain i overlooked this point.

[MANTIS01]

You have A-Q, your oppo has 5-6 and the flop comes Q-5-6. This is how it goes when you run bad, but it is not necessarily a reflection of poor strategy...I think raising pre-flop gets us to the very same conclusion against our LAG opponent as it goes. He has more than twice your chips, is loose, and doesn't rate you. He's going nowhere with his premium hand.

[LuckyLloyd]

Btw folks, there is a difference between "LAG" and "SPEWMONSTER" when describing someones play. If you make it 4x BB oop from a 30BB stack and he would limp / call 65s and stuff then he isn't a "LAG". He's the absolute value. Particularly when hero in this hand seems to have a traditionally tight range judging from what I have been reading.

Some of the posts in this thread seem to be arguing that we should check pre because he isn't going to fold any two cards he limped with. That should just make us more inclined to raise it up!! There is only 30 BBs to go in, and if we can get a pot of 10 pre while holding a hand that is beating his range we should be delighted. Even if we will be oop and even if we won't really know what type of flops hit him hard, it doesn't matter - in the longrun we will be winning more chips out of this spot than he will be.

By the description of this guy, I would want him at my table every single time I played. Guys who are loose, spewy and make fundamental mistakes preflop are where your edge comes from in tournaments.

[TightEnd]

Clown had 45k post this, and didn't cash

Sigh

[boldie]

Some of the posts in this thread seem to be arguing that we should check pre because he isn't going to fold any two cards he limped with. That should just make us more inclined to raise it up!!

And this is the difference between playing bad and running bad. Just because you got unlucky in this hand and you know oppo won't fold his hand doesn't mean you played the hand well. The above point is the main reason why you played tihs hand poorly, Tighty.

[TightEnd]

which is why I put the thread up