Hand Quiz #8

[Matt]

You are on the button with A:diamonds:Q:diamonds:. Everyone folds to the cutoff who raises. You three-bet. The big blind and the cutoff call. The flop comes 7:clubs: A:hearts: A:spades:. Both opponents check. You decide to check along with them. The turn is 2:clubs:. Both opponents check again. You bet. The first opponent calls and the second opponent raises. What's your move?

[Matt]

I think re-raising is the correct play. The only hands you fear are A-K, A-2, A-7, 7-7, and 2-2. Those are all possibilities, but your opponent could have raised pre-flop with a wide range of hands. He is in the cutoff position and could have been trying to steal with just about any ace-rag combination. Your hand is strong, so you might as well build the pot.

You might just flat-call to encourage the big blind to call as well. You could then raise when your opponent bets on the river. However, the big blind may still fold whether or not you decide to three-bet. The big blind's hand is probably not that strong; otherwise, he would've check-raised your turn bet. It is probably best to extract as many bets as you can from your other opponent.