First post - AJo hand, thanks

[decigam]

Hi all, I've been reading up alot lately and want to finally come out into the public. I have hands like this come up frequently and have a bunch of questions on it but I will keep them to myself untill I hear coments on it.

Thanks.

Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A/images/graemlins/club.gif, J/images/graemlins/heart.gif.
<font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 calls, CO calls, Button folds, SB folds, BB folds.

Flop: (7.50 SB) 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif, T/images/graemlins/club.gif, 4/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, MP3 calls, CO folds.

Turn: (4.75 BB) T/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, MP3 calls.

River: (6.75 BB) 9/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, MP3 checks.

Final Pot: 6.75 BB

[decigam]

Now that I look back at the hand It really does look pretty uneventful, so I'll just ask:

Preflop: I think if i'm going to play AJo UTG its best to raise. Is this thinking corract?

Flop: I think its fine but wouldn't know what to do if either of them fires back.

Turn: Did I push too much?

River: Did I miss a bet?

Thanks.

[Entity]

I don't think any worse hands call you on that river (though I've been surprised before). The turn bet is debatable, but I think it's OK when you think your opponent may fold (which, given a board like that, is often). My guess is he missed some sort of weird draw (A3? A5?) when he checks behind, or he has a A2o or A4o, or possibly a low PP (3's?), giving him a weak two pair, and he doesn't know how to deal with the aggression.

So: PFR is fine. Sometimes I muck AJo preflop in UTG, depending on the game's texture, but often I raise it. I rarely limp with it. Flop bet is fine, turn bet is OK, and river check is fine.

Rob

[MicroBob]

I think you played this hand fine.

Some around here will poo-poo on the idea of raising AJo UTG. But I think it is warranted on 1/2 and know that many others agree.
Limping or folding with this is just too tight imo.


By the river it looks like you aren't going to scare him away so I think checking it through is okay.


Welcome to the forums....this wasn't the most eventful hand in the world, but is still okay to post imo.

Sure is a lot better than posting "Look at how my monster got busted" type of hands (which I've been guilty of posting in the past).

The AJo missing the flop type hands are the kind that you want to make sure you are doing correctly (or, in the very least, aren't screwing up too badly).

[DeathDonkey]

This is good. The only questionable thing would be what do you do if he bets the river? I think you won but if he has a passively played little pair or something just be glad he called your raise preflop and missed a river bet.

-DeathDonkey

[decigam]

Thanks to all for the comments, I hope I get more involved in activelly posting, there is so much valuable info here.

Thanks,
Ed

[ugadawg]

Welcome!! Keep posting - - there is soooo much to learn here.

I'm curious what MP called you down with. Please share?

[decigam]

Entity was right, A3o and I took it.

[btspider]

standard hand, well played. a river bet is troublesome, but you'll catch a missed draw or weaker hand bluffing on occasion.

[TheHip41]

Looks good to me.

[scotnt73]

welcome to the forums. nice hand. that table is too tight for 1/2 at party for me to stay. if alot of players show an utg raise respect then there are much softer tables that im going to look for at 1/2.

[decigam]

Thanks, I think you're right and I actually moved away from that table three hands later.

I have recently moved to 1/2 and find it to be MUCH tighter than the .5/1. Of course I expected it to be tighter but not by so much. Do you see the same at these tables? I always look for those with avg. pots of at least 9BB but they are very uncommon compared to .5/1, any thoughts?


Thanks,
Ed