Poker Coaching Hand Quiz: Top Pair Facing A Lot Of Aggression

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Key Concept: Top Pair Facing A Lot Of Aggression

You are eight-handed early on in a $5,000 buy-in online tournament and the blinds are 150-300. You are in the cutoff with a stack of 49,965 chips. It folds around to you with A Q. 

Question 1: Should you fold, call, raise to 600, or raise to 900?

Answer: While a two-big blind raise would be fine, if you instead raise a bit larger, you get to play larger pots. Since you are deep stacked early in the tournament, you may want to get a lot of chips in on a favorable board, so raising a little larger makes sense.

You raise it to 900 and the loose, aggressive player in the big blind calls. The flop comes Q 5 3 and your opponent checks.

Question 2: Should you check, bet 900, bet 1,800, or bet 2,700?

Answer: If you make a large bet on this uncoordinated board, it will force your opponent to play straightforwardly, which is not what you want. You want to put your opponent in tough spots and allow them to stay in the pot with their junk. Whenever the board is uncoordinated, it is fine to bet with the entirety of your range because your opponent is unlikely to have anything.

You bet 900, and your opponent raises to 2,765.

Question 3: Should you fold, call, reraise to 5,200, or go all-in?

Answer: If you reraise, your opponent is going to get it all-in with hands like 5-5, 3-3, Q-5, and Q-3, which are all in their big blind calling range. While you are still likely have the best hand at the moment, when you reraise and are then put all-in, you almost certainly don’t have the best hand anymore and fail to keep your opponent’s range as wide as possible. Calling keeps your opponent in with whatever draws they have and allows you to control the size of the pot.

You call, the turn is the 8, and your opponent bets 5,820 for 75% pot.

Question 4: Should you fold, call, raise to 12,600, or go all-in?

Answer: While you could easily be crushed, most of the time your opponent will be holding a straight draw or a pair that is drawing between four and eight outs. If you raise and your opponent sticks around though, you will usually be in bad shape. A raise can cause your opponent to fold out their worse made hands and draws that are drawing thin. The best option is to call and see the river.

You call, the river is the 9, and your opponent bets 14,400 for 75% pot.

Question 5: Should you fold, call, or go all-in?

Answer: If you think your opponent is extremely tight and unlikely to bluff, folding is not entirely out of the question. However, you know this opponent is loose and aggressive. It is important to realize that good players are capable of bluffing early in tournaments and if you think they are bluffing too often, you must make this call.

While the 9 improves hands like J-10 and 7-6, you have to know for certain your opponent is not capable of bluffing in order to fold your hand. This is an easy call with top pair, top kicker.

You make the call and your opponent reveals the K 6, missing the fifth diamond and rewarding you with a sizeable pot early in the tournament. 

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