AQo on Q♠ 6♦ 2♣ facing a check-raise — fold, call or raise?
The answer
Call
flat, keep them bluffing
The math: you're ahead of the worse queens, the bluffs and the floats — raising just chases them all out.
Why
A check-raise looks scary, but on a dry queen-high board your ace-queen is ahead of most of it — worse queens, bluffs, floats and the odd draw. Fold and you throw away the best hand. Raise and you fold out everything you beat, leaving only sets and two pair to keep playing. So just call. You keep the bluffs bluffing, let worse queens pay you off, and lose the minimum on the rare hand that has you beaten.
The spot
- Your seat
- BTN
- Stakes and stacks
- $1 / $2 · 100bb
- Your hand
- A♣ Q♥
- Board
- Q♠ 6♦ 2♣
- Pot
- POT · $30
- Action on you
- BB check-raises to $40
Every option
Foldlet it go
Why not: Folding top pair, top kicker to one check-raise is far too tight. You beat every worse queen plus all the bluffs and floats, and there's barely a draw on this board — there's no version of this hand where ace-queen is a fold.
Callflat, keep them bluffingCorrect
Raisere-raise for value
2.5x · $100 · all-in
Why not: Raising only folds out the hands you already beat. Worse queens, bluffs and floats give up; the hands that call or come over the top — sets and two pair — have you crushed. You grow the pot mostly when you're behind.
The idea behind it
Top pair, top kicker is strong, but it isn't a monster. Raising for value only pays when worse hands call — and here they fold while better hands continue. When the only hands that keep going beat you, raising turns a clear call into a costly bluff. Flat, keep weaker hands in, and let them keep firing.
Concept: Facing a raise
Terms in this spot
Play it instead of reading it
The trainer deals this hand with hints, grading and spaced repetition — and randomized variations of it once you have seen it.