Ace Queen (AKA little slick)

 

Admittedly ace queen is often a trouble hand.  You are in deep doo doo versus the following hands:

AA
KK
QQ
AK

You are also in coin flip situations against JJ to 22.  You fare well against KQ, QJ, Q10,etc.  Domination is good, and having 3 outs is very bad.  The ATC (any two cards) player is only a 3 to 1 dog and we all know how that sometimes turns out.

In Sunday's tournament I saw 1 big chip swing and two eliminations with ace queen.

The first one, I raised with AQ in late position and a very healthy stack.  A short stack reraised me out of the big blind, but not all-in.  I commented, "this is clearly a raise or fold situation".  Due to the inflated pot size I elected to re-raise him all-in.  Clearly not a good decision when he tabled AA.  The flop was Q/9/9.  Well, at least I now have a two outer which courteously showed up on the turn.  Player down, AQ rules!!!!  Someone said, they all would have gone in anyway after the flop if you had just called.  True.

Second hand, the big stack at the final table raised big with AQ and is re-raised all-in by a large stack  holding KK.  The kings hold up and we have a new chip leader.

Third matchup, I am desperately short stacked and on the bubble with one big blind and button position.  I awake with KK.  I go all in, small blind completes and big blind re-raises all in with AQ.  Great!  I am soooooo happy.  At least until he flops an ace to eliminate me. on. the. freaking. bubble.

Analysis?  My raise and re-raise in scenario one was entirely proper.  I was not crippled if I lost, it was a $5 bounty tournament, and he could have had many hands that would have been a coin flip or worse.

Second one?  Horrible call of a shove with AQ.  You do not want to get into a coin flip or dominated hand scenario against a big stack.  Plus, he was not "playing the player" who happened to be my age, very conservative and a good player.  Easy fold if it was me.

Third hand.  Very poor play by the AQ.  Gang up on the bubble boy when you can.  It was a small pot and pointless to isolate.