Heads up with ace high

I have Ac8c on the button in a 6-handed 20-40 game. Folded to me, I make the obligatory steal raise, and the aggressive player in the BB calls. The flop comes JJ6 with 2 spades: BB bets, I raise, he reraises, and I call. The turn and river are blanks, and I call both his bets. Routine or not?

I often play it that way, and I think it's a reasonable play, although there are some variation plays IMO. Sometimes I might raise the turn if he will only 3-bet the turn with a jack, and is capable of laying down a six or a good ace high (what many people will do at my limit). I don't know about the level of players in 20/40 (fairly) shorthanded, but against the players at my level (3/6 5 max online) I think you nearly always have to bet the river (if you raised the turn) (unless an flushcard hit maybe) if he just calls the turn raise because too many people there make too many river laydowns, such as a better ace high or a missed flushdraw that paired their low card on the river.


But ofcourse your opponents habits are very important here. For instance is he capable of laying down a 6? If he never lays down a pair in situations like this (and he probably shouldnt) then I think your play is the default play. Do you also raise the flop here with a jack BTW (or do you do it sometimes?).


Regards

Coilean,

I don't like your 8. When he reraised on the flop, I would be worried that my only chance to win is in fact to hit an 8 while he has a lower pair or something like Ax of spades. I am intrigued by your calls on turn and end. Can you share with us your reasons for acting in this way.

Thanks.

JI

This hand is hard pissing. You can't get away with his type of play in a full game, because people aren't three betting no pair out of position, if you are lucky, you might get a low spade draw.

BB had KsQs, so I won the pot. After BB reraised the flop, I thought either a medium to small pocket pair or a spade draw were his most likely hands as it would be unusual for most players to fastplay the trip J's heads up here (although I would sometimes do it myself). With 4.5BB already in the pot after the reraise on the flop, I figured I had enough of a chance at the best hand to go the distance for 2.5BB more (meaning I need to win upwards of 26% of the time I call down in order to show a profit).


Upon further reflection, I like Ikke's suggestion to raise on the turn since it might get a better ace (or maybe even a small pocket pair) to lay down, and doesn't necessarily increase my cost to showdown as I can still excercise my option to check the river if called on the turn (depending mostly on how likely I think he is to call the turn raise with a better ace or small pair, and then to fold the river without improvement). Raising the turn and then betting the river is superior to calling down as long as it increases the chance to win by at least 7% (since you will now need to win at least 33% of the time, as you are risking 3.5BB to win the same 7BB as you would by calling down).


Anyway, I guess a broader question here is when do you decide to lay down your ace high in a heads up situation? Against an aggressive opponent, the odds should often be there to call down and see if you either improve or had the best hand all along. This case seems unusually clear cut, since I can easily fold if a spade falls (as that negates my only read where I can win a showdown), but usually you are going to find yourself in a more murky situation with more draws available on the board.

Coilean,


These are the hands I dislike the most, because you're either way ahead or way behind. These are also the hands where you can make decent money -- anyone can play the Nut hand, but how you play in these situations shows what you're made of. If I calculate correctly, you're making $180 off your opponent plus whatever was in the SB. Nice hand to win.


I think the key here is your opponents only calling your pre-Flop raise. The Enemy as I'll now call him, bets out on the Flop. You raise, and I think the Enemy gets miffed here, so he re-raises to show that he won't be pushed around. But if the Enemy had a pair, I think he would have re-raised pre-Flop. Could he have A,J on the Flop? Maybe.


I think the Enemy woke up on the Flop and realized, hey, Hero is trying to steal from the Button! The Turn and River are fine to Call because at this point it's "Okay, let's see what you've got." Since the Enemy got a little pissy on the Flop, I wouldn't raise either of these bets because he might re-raise you and since it's not exactly clear where you're at, you could lose a couple of extra bets. This might seem wimpy to most as the idea is to win money, but you've got a nice pot -- the Enemy will either go on tilt or tighten up. I prefer to keep it civil and then pay attention to everyone's comments on how you played. Someone might say, "You should have raised on the Turn!" -- Congrats -- You just got some new information!


Well done.


Shawn