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• Three-bet or simply call with AQ-suited in position against a player we do not know anything about?

• When reraising before the flop, plan what you'll do should your opponent respond with an all-in push.

Covering live poker tournaments for a living affords me the chance to peer countless thousands of hands played out, lots of which give interesting and potentially valuable insights into how players — both amateurs and professionals — play the sport. On this ongoing series, I'll highlight hands I've seen on the tournaments I've covered and notice if we will be able to glean anything useful from them.

The Scene

After the deep run within the $365 reentry on the World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Council Bluffs — where I had a large stack late but fizzled out and finished 20th — the following big opportunity for a score was the $1,675 Main Event.

It was Day 1b of the principle Event, and after busting out on Day 1a, this was my last chance to position some chips in a bag and provides myself a sweat for Day 2.

I had managed to work up a tight stack of about 50,000 with blinds and antes at 300/600/75. One player who had just sat down two seats to my right and had played just a hand or two was Scott Stanko, who had won this same event in 2012 and has collected about $369,000 in tournament cashes. (That's Stanko pictured above, betting at a WSOP event.)

The Action

Stanko was in middle position, and when it folded to him he opened for 1,200. I looked down at within the cutoff and reraised to 2,800, and the players behind me got out of how. Stanko thought for just a little after which said he was all in for slightly below the starting stack of 20,000.

After thinking myself for some time and studying Stanko in a futile effort to get some form of read, I DETERMINED to fold.

Concept and Analysis

Three-bet or simply call with a powerful but not nutted hand in a fair position against a player we do not know anything about? That is the essential question on this hand, and one for which I probably came up with the inaccurate answer.

The first consideration is stack depth. Stanko was somewhat greater than 30 big blinds deep. -suited is a smart hand, and one you'll comfortably get that many blinds in with in certain situations — say, when facing an aggressive opponent in a button vs. blind battle. (Recall, here he was middle position and that i was within the cutoff.)

Then there's the potential strength or weakness of my opponent's hand. I HAVE NOT really seen my opponent play a hand yet, so I'VE no idea if he's opening light or not. Furthermore, he isn't necessarily ready just like the button or cutoff where you are expecting numerous players to be playing wide ranges.

However, it is a player whom I USED TO BE aware has submit some decent results and people players have a tendency to be more at the aggressive side. And it isn't like he was under the gun. All in all, I just do not need that much information on how he plays.

Finally, there's the mental, intangible side of items. One factor that at first made me need to three-bet here's that this was the primary hand my opponent had played. I figured since he hadn't seen me do anything yet, he'd be likely to give me credit. Plus, I expected him to just be shoving super-strong hands as most players aren't going to need to head bust right after buying in to a tournament.

Then again, some players don't mind that at all, and there is a very decent chance Stanko may well be in that category. After all, he had banked a six-figure score when winning this event in 2012 and had another similarly-sized score from a WSOP final table. He likely wouldn't be too bothered if he went bust.

Overall, this was only a conundrum that resulted from an absence of planning. -suited is a hand with a whole lot postflop playability, and person who may also be played aggressively preflop. You have to have a mental map of what branches at the decision tree you will be faced with when choosing a definite path, and that i must have been ready for the potential for a shove.

The undeniable fact that I USED TO BE caught off guard and faced with either calling off 30-plus big blinds or dumping a robust hand and wasting the equity it had in position means I probably wouldn't have been three-betting within the first place.

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