When to play a hand like A9 or ATo

[Rulnick]

I find myself more often than not staying away from playing A9 and ATo from the majority of positions. For those who do play the hand consistently, what are the ideal circumstances in which it plays well?

[bisonbison]

You'll get better responses to this question in micro or SS.

[Analyst]

[ QUOTE ]
I find myself more often than not staying away from playing A9 and ATo from the majority of positions. For those who do play the hand consistently, what are the ideal circumstances in which it plays well?

[/ QUOTE ]

Staying away from AT-xo is good play under most circumstances. They tend to make seductive second-best hands - if you flop an A, you could be out-kicked, flop top pair and there are a large number of higher cards you could see on the turn or river. Also, on those times that your flopped Ace is good, you tend to not get much action.

In typical games, I'll only open them (with a raise) from the button, perhaps ATo in the CO or CO-1 as well if I'm pretty sure that most of the following players will muck.

[Fiery Jack]

If you are playing with people who have to see a flop with any Ace then I think getting the first raise in with AT can be good. But I am wary of any tight players yet to act, a re-raise is probably bad news. I'm less keen on A9 because it has fewer straight chances. I muck A9 a fair bit more than AT.

[3rdCheckRaise]

Try to stay away from them in the begining of the session but later on ( after developing somewhat tight table image)you actualy should open raise with them in MP2 , CO or button.

[mmcd]

This depends a lot on your opponents and the type of game you are playing in:

If you are in a game with a few decent players (who play tight preflop) and a few bad (loose) players than ATo, A9o are virtually unplayable outside of certain blind steal/defense scenarios.

They are virtually unplayable (I'm assuming offsuit) in games that feature numerous loose players w/o too many decent players.

ATo, and A9o can be playable in games where there is a maniac/semi-maniac and other players are playing relatively weak-tight. Here almost always 3-bet the maniacs open raise unless you are in early position. (if there are loose players in the blinds don't be as inclined to do this)
If in your opponents are the type that would throw away hands like TT, 99, 88, or AQ for 3-bets than you can 3-bet in any position.

**Just a note here depending on how well the maniac plays post-flop and how you match-up with him in post-flop play, it may be better to just call a maniacs open-raise in the bb**

If you are in a game that features tight decent players that respect your play, but also has one or 2 bad loose players, than A-10 or A-9 can be used to isolate one of the bad players after they limp (as can many other hands that are ordinarily not playable).


In all cases, If you do not think you play very well post-flop hands like ATo and A9o should routinely be folded

[SA125]

With marginal or easily dominated hands, it's game and player dependent.

You don't want to be out of position, get rasied PF, hit your A and forced to ch call it down. That's weak and you want to avoid that. Play it strong with position in the right spots and be willing to give it up sometimes.