Unfortunately I don't have a hand history for this, so I'm just going to have to wing it. Here's the situation:

I'm in a .10/.25 NLHE game on Full Tilt. The table is a full 9 players and I've just been dealt pocket queens.

Our cast:

The Hero: I'm in middle position with a little under $16. I've been trying to play tight aggressive, but I know I'm not always as aggressive as I should be and I allow the action to be taken away from me at times.

Donk 1: He is in the small blind with $2.75. I've seen him put his money in several times with pretty weak cards. Pre-flop, post-flop, it doesn't matter.

Donk 2: He is in mid-late position, two seats to my left with a little over $10. Also very loose, willing to back any two cards with his money.

Mystery Man: In late position with over $30. I don't have a very good read on him, but he's been fairly quiet so far which leads me to believe he is relatively tight.

Everybody else folds.


The Action:

A player to my right raises to .75.
It folds to me and I reraise it to $1.75.
It folds to Donk1 who goes all in, making it $10 and change.
Mystery Man insta-calls.
It folds to the small blind, who calls all-in for $2.65.
It folds to me.
I sit and ponder.


Ok, I know what I did and how it turned out. What would you do? I'll post what actually happened after I get a few responses.

As in most poker decisions, you can make a good argument here for foldiing, calling or going all in. although I don't like the all in play much, better to save the money if either an ace or king hits the flop.

Here is the dilemma, Mystery man knows the same information that you know (donk1 is a donkey), so the mystery man could have a lot of hands here like, any of the pocket pairs 88-JJ, or AK, probably not AQ based on your description of him. Donk1 could easily have any pocket pair from deuces on up or even a hand like AK, AQ, AJ, or maybe even A10suited, or if he is real donkey any two cards

Unless your read on the mystery man is perfect, I think calling is the best option, if an ace or king hits the board you can think about folding, but you may be pot committed. The reason I like to save the last $4 instead of going all in preflop is now you can bet the remaining $4 and maybe mystery man will fold.

purely a guess but I would put the donkey on a hand like 66 or 77, and the mystery man on tens or jacks, maybe AK.

I can't see folding QQ in low limit hold'em games.

just my two centavos

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I'm Not Lucky, I Have Good Karma !

What is your bankroll like? Me i only play 5-10% of my bankroll at a time and would have no problem stacking off in this situation...If i am beet i would jump back in the game and try to get it back

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Kickboyswoop

No case for (flat) calling here - to me this is a straight up put 'em on ranges and see if the (all-in) bet will win more over time than the fold or vice versa... I snap call here in a lower level cash game (and think about it, then call anyway in an MTT!!) - but let us see if the math makes this correct.

Igoring the cents... by the time it gets back to you I make it $25 ish, assuming your last 14 is in the pot and called (in one place) we are looking at $14 to call $29 - you need to win more than 1/3rd of the time to give this one a + nest to the $ sign...

Of course, having separate pots for the short-stack and a big stack with a few bucks in each complicates things a little... but keeping it simple the only real question is:

What ranges do we give Donk 1 and Mystery Man - and can we call here?

Using GKKs ranges of 66+ for donk1 and 10-10+ for M-Man... I would get to the following

DOnk1:

66+ A8s+ A10o+ KQs

Mystery Man

1010+ AQ+

So, time to fire up the pokerstove!

QQ wins more than 43%... thats a nice enough edge for me, shove in those chips... with the chances of the tiny stack sharing some outs with the others this is call is even easier.

Good call (I'm assuming you made it!) and UL to see that ace on the river when they both had Ace-King?

Cheers, Mark

My bankroll is not very big. It's about $50 currently. I'm still learning so I know that I'm going to take losses and I'm trying to keep them to a relative minimum. I wouldn't say I'm playing with scared money, but I still tend to be cautious since I'd rather not wipe myself out. I try to play at 10% of my stack, but lately I've been closer to 20%.

I just feel with the wild man mentality that the micro limtis have it i very difficult to get off of queens....Even with the higher limits that I play when I get queens and have feeling I am beet I try to manipulate the pot by keeping it small even though i did limp in with queens last nite in first position and won a nice size pot

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Kickboyswoop

I'd probably just go all-in, run off to make a coffee and see if I have to reload when I get back...

Generally speaking, although taking shots can be fine, making sure you're bankrolled correctly for your games gives you that extra ability to make the "correct" plays and not worry about the results.

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Still Trying to Learn the Science & Discover the Art

Well, I'd love to tell everybody that I made the call and won a nice healthy pot for myself. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

I figured I had Donks 1 and 2 beat. Again, they liked to play fast and hard, but not that smart. Mystery Man had me worried though. Since I read him as relatively tight, I figured there was a good chance he had AA or KK, putting me at about 4 to 1. (Is that right?) I knew that my odds were worse than that since I wasn't just up against him but against Donk1 and Donk2, to a lesser extent.

I decided since I was only getting slightly less than 3 to 1 I should fold. So what happened?

Donk1 had AK.
Donk2 had A7.
Mystery Man had A10.

Nobody connected. Dang.

I guess my read on MMan was pretty far off. Seems the consensus is pretty much a call or an all-in. I was waffling between all-in and fold. Live and learn, I suppose.

Thats what you get for overthinking a hand in micro limits lol jk good luck at the tables

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Kickboyswoop

While it does get discouraging when there are several people in the pot preflop and you have a large pair other than AA, a lot of times at low limits the donkeys are pushing some sort of ace, so their money in the middle means that aces are on the table rather than in the deck. If they don't have an ace, they probably have a pp worse than yours, so call or all in. If mystery man takes it you are sunk, but even if one of the smallies connects you could still win a side pot and come out ahead for the hand.