Preflop and flop c-bet are fine, but jamming over a flop check-raise with bare top pair massively overplays our hand at this SPR.
Flop Analysis
With top pair top kicker on this semi-wet texture, betting small or checking is preferred; going straight to a 50% pot c-bet leans a bit too hard into protection and bloats the pot unnecessarily.
**Ranges:** We have a slight value advantage as the 3-bettor, but CO is condensed around medium-strength hands (pocket pairs, suited Ax, some floats) that don’t love big pots yet aren’t folding much to a half-pot stab. A-Q without a draw sits in the upper-mid of our range, not in the pure-stack-off tier.
**Board:** Two-tone, Ace-high and fairly static means equities won’t shift dramatically on most turns; we don’t need a big immediate protection bet. Small bets work well: they extract from worse Ax, pairs, and heart draws while keeping our checking range strong when we do check.
**Sizing:** Solver wants a small ~33% pot bet or check with this combo; the mid-size we chose exists but at much lower frequency. Smaller keeps villain’s dominated hands in and preserves maneuverability if we face a raise.
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> **Takeaway:** On Ace-high two-tone boards as 3-bettor, lean on small bets or checks with top pair rather than auto-using a chunky c-bet size.
Note: C-betting is fine, but using a 50% pot size with AQ instead of the preferred small bet/check line slightly overinflates the pot and tightens villain’s continuing range.
Flop Analysis
Facing the check-raise, AQ should almost always just call; shoving over the raise with bare top pair turns a strong but non-nut bluff-catcher into a punt at this SPR.
**Ranges:** After CO check-raises in a 3-bet pot on this Ace-high, two-tone board, their range is heavily weighted to strong value and strong draws: sets, A7s, some A3s, plus big heart draws and maybe a few bluff combos. Our AQ with no draw is well ahead of draws and bluffs but in poor shape versus the value slice, so it functions as a bluff-catcher, not a hand that wants to jam for stacks.
**Math:** We’re getting about 2:1 on a call and need ~33.5% equity; solver has this combo calling ~96% of the time and essentially never raising. Calling realizes our equity against bricked draws and keeps in bluffs; jamming massively overbets the pot and folds out those worse hands, isolating us versus the strongest part of CO’s range.
**SPR:** After calling, SPR drops below 1 on the turn, so we’re effectively committed versus reasonable sizing anyway — but we let villain continue bluffing and misplaying their draws rather than handing them a clean decision now.
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> **Takeaway:** In 3-bet pots, top pair without a draw facing a flop check-raise is a call, not a stack-off hand — let villain keep their bluffs and draws in instead of jamming into their value.
Note: Jamming over the flop check-raise with AQ on A73hh in a 3-bet pot is a large overplay; solver wants a near-pure call and treats AQ as a bluff-catcher, not a hand to pile 100BB in with.