The A-Q Test, Revisted

"Don't you draw the queen of diamonds, boy ."

Back in 2000, a fellow named John Feeney wrote a very good poker book called Inside the Poker Mind . John is a psychologist (with a Ph.D. in his craft), so I guess they thought the title went well with his profession. Anyway, before I tell you about the book, I want to tell you about John. After he wrote this book, he largely disappeared from the poker scene. I bumped into him on an Internet poker forum, and we ended up exchanging a few e-mails. It turns out he had pretty much left the poker business, and was moving to the Midwest with his family. I remember him saying something like, "I doubt I've played my last hand of poker, but if it turns out that way, that's OK, too." Anyway, John, if you read this, drop me a note – it would be good to hear from you.

One of the more interesting chapters in his book is a little section called "Do you pass the ace-queen test?" The idea is that if people are fundamentally following the set of raising guidelines expressed in Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players (the Sklansky and Malmuth classic), their A-Q (offsuit) rates to be below average against the hands with which their opponent is raising preflop. This was a fairly controversial point, and it led to many animated discussions among serious midlimit hold'em players. After all, they'd all read HPFAP , and could point to many players who lived and died by that book. I never did completely buy into John's assertion about A-Q, but I did start leaning in the direction of three-betting or dumping it. And I'm pretty sure that's improved my game.

Now, let's fast-forward four years to 2004. The Internet has gone from basically nothing to a huge influence in the poker world. And, well, there are lots of folks out there playing midlimit hold'em (let's say $10-$20 up to $30-$60) who think Sklansky and Malmuth is a movie remake of a '70s TV detective show. Here's one of the things I've learned: A-Q, even offsuit, is often a healthy favorite over the hands with which your opponents are raising, even in fairly early position.

So, does this mean you should call a raise with your A-Q? Well, it depends on the texture of the game. If three-betting runs a good chance of isolating the hand to you and the raiser, I'd say you should three-bet almost all the time. Of course, you need to review what your player notes say about the raiser. Presumably, you have notes either in your head or on those little windows that you can edit for each player in your online game. If the raiser is a guy who is indeed following the Sklansky and Malmuth raising standards, you probably are better off just dumping your A-Q. If not, you have two choices: call the raise and see how you like the flop, or three-bet and try to isolate the original raiser; hopefully, he has some dominated hand, such as A-J or K-Q.

The reraise/call decision depends on one crucial thing: What is the rest of the table going to do if you three-bet? If they're going to clear out of the way and let you play the pot heads up against the raiser, go for it. But, frankly, that's rarely the way of the world these days, particularly in online poker. You routinely see players jump in for three bets cold. I consider it almost always a terrible play (if you can't cap it in good conscience, get out of the pot), but it happens all the time. So, be honest with yourself; if you don't think you can get everybody out of the pot with a reraise, don't put a third bet in there with one of the weaker of the "good" hands. Call the raise, and plan to play an ace-high or queen-high flop as the best hand. The corollary to that, of course, is that you plan to bail on just about any other flop. I mean, sure, if you flop an inside-straight draw to the ace-high straight (and are getting the right price on the flop), or three of your ace's suit, fine – call a bet. Remember that you have a drawing hand, and don't fall in love with it unless it flops something.

Anyway, I encourage you to read John Feeney's book. I think the landscape has changed enough in the last four years that some of the advice is no longer valid. But, John is an intelligent poker player, and you will definitely learn a lot from him.

"You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet."