A-Q tournament hand

[Ciso_B]

Ok , heres situation. It's a $55 tournament, its the first hour, I've been lucky to chip up alot already, playing most of my hands with a somewhat agressive style.
I've raised it up with A-Q , been re raised by a player who's been mostly calling raises with hands liek 89off. Anyway, the bb has called, and its like 170 for me to call, so I go ahead and call simply cos the pot is like 700 now, and I have over 8,000 behind.
Flop comes Q rag rag 2 spades, I juggle between leading out and checking here but ended up checking, he pretty much pot bets, and I am left with the decision.Here it is....Give me your thoughts Guys.

PokerStars Game #21068501263: Tournament #112085644, $50+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2008/10/09 22:00:39 ET
Table '112085644 7' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: WalterLOVale (2989 in chips)
Seat 2: jbladerunner (2721 in chips)
Seat 3: revirjohn (1325 in chips)
Seat 4: Neab (8796 in chips)
Seat 5: getdaragzout (4030 in chips)
Seat 6: tvladxx (3307 in chips)
Seat 7: Supra1988T (2634 in chips)
Seat 8: Predator283 (2845 in chips)
Seat 9: stevvp (2568 in chips)
Supra1988T: posts small blind 25
Predator283: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Neab [Ad Qh]
stevvp: folds
WalterLOVale: folds
jbladerunner: folds
revirjohn: folds
Neab: raises 81 to 131
getdaragzout: folds
tvladxx: raises 169 to 300
Supra1988T: folds
Predator283: calls 250
Neab: calls 169
*** FLOP *** [Qs 4s 3h]
Predator283: checks
Neab: checks
tvladxx: bets 1000
Predator283: folds
Neab: raises 2007 to 3007

[jimmer]

I don't think this is particularly poorly played, but I don't think it is the right play. (But I don't play many tourneys, so what do I know!).

You are playing someone that doesn't have a problem calling your pfr, however this time he actually raises you. It's a small raise so this could potentially mean a high pocket pair, of course if he has a history of seeing a lot of flops, his calling range could also suggest he has a medium pair or two high cards. You've only been sat at the table an hour, is this long enough to suggest he is holding AA, KK or QQ only? Probably not.

If you check-raise and they push all-in (assuming the BB folds) you've got to call. So by checking now, you are probably risking 3,000 chips.

But there is an up side with checking. There are three players in the hand. I'm not too concerned about the BB, but what happens if you check, tvladxx makes a pot sized bet, and the BB calls or pushes all-in? Looking at this now, you are probably beat and can get out the hand cheaply.

Looking at option of leading out, you've already been playing aggressive and have won a few lucky pots. For that reason alone, the other players will expect you to lead out here and may be suspicious if you check. By leading out, the value of your hand is disguisted. We have already established tvladxx calling range is probably wider than average (if there is such a thing) and it will hopefully remove the BB from the equation. Also, if tvladxx re-raised preflop with something like KQ, QJ, or even JJ, you may get him coming along for the ride. The last point to make is if one of the others raises your bet, you can still get away from the hand.

I think this is a difficult decision and I don't think neither option is particually poor or wrong, but I'm edging towards leading out for 600-800 here.

[Ciso_B]

The only case I was thinking was, I felt like IF I lead I am committed to calling a shove imo. Since I would be repping something like 9s. So what went through my mind is, I can lose nothing (possibly), If I check to the bettor and see what he does, if he leads and bb raises, I might very well just fold it...in true phil hellmuthian fashion. However, if the bb folds, because of my frequent pf raising and my post flop check, I am obliged to stay in the hand bearing in mind the only hand I feel like im beat by is Kings,(aces being unlikely since i have one).

The only other thing is , it took me as a surprise when he lead so strong on the flop, like 1k into 900. He did kinda give me a chance to make a great fold. Finally what it comes down to is, I have TPTK on an unthreatening board with my image being poor.

I guess it fell perfectly for him on this hand, Q hi with 2 rags...shouldnt happen too much, but still left scratching my head if I donked it off a bit..eh eh eh.

[miaowmiaowchowface]

pretty std, tho i dno dyamix

[jimmer]

The only case I was thinking was, I felt like IF I lead I am committed to calling a shove imo.

But surely the only reason you are checking is to raise him when he bets? Therefore this limits his options and proabably means he needs to put the remainder of his money in the middle anyway.

By betting first, it makes his decsion easier and puts you in control.

Let's put it another way. Let's say you check, tvladxx bets small and Predator283 pushes all-in, what do you do now? You get the difficult decision and put someone else in control.

If it was just the two of you, I would see the value of check raising more. In this case, I'm not quite sure.

[miaowmiaowchowface]

in donkaments i think TPTK is the nuts for 10bb

[gumbie]

The mini 3-bet from loose passive should be an instafold with AQ, but I know I can't do it.