DECISION POINT: In a Tournament, a Middle Position player limps and you raise with A♦Q♣. The Hijack Folds, the Cutoff and Button call, the Blinds fold, and the MP player calls. The flop comes 6♦6♥2♠. The Middle Position player checks. Action is on you, what do you do here? 

PRO ANSWER: After a single player limped into the pot in front of us, we raised holding a premium hand (AQ). Our raise failed to thin the field and we got two more callers in addition to the limper, creating a 4-way pot going to the flop.

This flop is relatively dry due to the fact that it’s a paired board. Paired boards are more difficult to connect with compared to unpaired boards. The presence of two 6s on the board reduces the number of starting hand combinations our opponents could have that contain a 6.

However, after it checks to us, our continuation betting strategy must take into account the number of players that saw the flop. A continuation bet will fail to take down the pot uncontested often enough to show a long term profit against 3 opponents in this spot.

Therefore, we should check and be willing to fold this hand. We cannot profitably fight the multiway nature of this pot. Checking and being willing to fold is the best play.

Too many players let the preflop hand strength of hands like AQ affect their assessment of its profitability postflop. In this case, due to the fact that we didn’t connect with the flop and because of the number of opponents, we should simply check and be willing to get away from this hand.

Checking is the best play.