Q♣Q♠ vs a River All-In, what do you do here?

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DECISION POINT:
In a Tournament, multiple players limp into the pot and you raise Q♣Q♠ from the Big Blind thinning the field to one opponent. On the J♦9♦8♣ Flop you check, Villain bets, you call. The 4♥ Turn is checked down. You check the 7♠ River and Villain moves all-in. Action is on you, what do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: One key factor to understanding this hand is the stack to pot ratio (SPR). With 3625 in the pot and only 6575 left to play in the effective stack, the SPR on the flop was less than 2. We should typically not take lines that include folding overpairs with such a low SPR.

In this specific hand, we chose to check the flop in a situation where we should be c-betting with a very high frequency. Given that we chose to take this bluff catching line, we should not fold to the river all-in that is less than a pot sized bet.

Continued below...

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Our passive line will have induced bluffs a decent percentage of the time. Since Villain will now have bluffs as decent part of their range, we should not fold QQ.

In general, we should typically bet the flop with this hand. However, once we deviate from a standard line and take a passive bluff catching line, we should not fold when our opponent takes the opportunity to potentially bluff.

Calling is the best play.

How would you play it?
Share your answer in the comments below!



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