AJo - Two pair

[Ljungis]

Hi, I am new to this forum, even though i have been a frequent reader for a while. Anyway I just played this hand and I am not satisfied with my way to handle it.

It is 50$NL and BB is 0.5$.

Paradise Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

saw flop|<font color="#C00000">saw showdown</font>

UTG+1 ($19.25)
<font color="#C00000">MP1 ($98.50)</font>
MP2 ($59.25)
MP3 ($38.75)
CO ($53.50)
Button ($31.25)
<font color="#C00000">Hero ($71.50)</font>
BB ($64.75)
UTG ($121.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with J/images/graemlins/heart.gif, A/images/graemlins/club.gif. Hero posts a blind of $0.25.
UTG calls $0.50, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP1 raises to $1</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP3 calls $1, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, Hero (poster) calls $0.75, BB calls $0.50, UTG calls $0.50.

Flop: ($5) 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, J/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, A/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(5 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="#CC3333">BB bets $2</font>, UTG folds, <font color="#CC3333">MP1 raises to $4</font>, MP3 folds, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $15</font>, BB folds, MP1 calls $11.

Turn: ($37) T/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets $20</font>, MP1 calls $20.

River: ($77) K/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, MP1 checks.

Final Pot: $77

He had AK and won.

Ok, my problem is that i just recently started to take my game more seriously and feel that I often act week and/or without proper logic. The fact that he rivered and won with a higher two pair is not my reason for posting. During the hand I thought that I played strong but without knowing how much to bet and when the turn and river card came I did not really know what to do.

With my check on the flop I was going for a check-raise. Thought that someone should bet on that flop and I wanted to make a strong raise. My re-raise was 15$ Good? I thougt about the pot, right?

When MP1 first re-raised I thougt he should at least have an ace. When he called my raise I was thinkin maby he had AJ or perhaps a set. Because of his mini-raise pre-flop I put him on AJ thinking he would have made a real raise with JJ and AA. 55 would still be possible i guess.

Anyway, when the 10 came on the turn my thoughts went to KQ, this is me when I am scared. I see monsters everywhere.
Well I can´t see that player call my re-raise trying to hit a ten and I feel strong about he having AJ as well. Now to the betting, I do not know what to bet. The pot? I do not feel comfortable with that ( as I fear a set) so I make it 20$. Good/Ok?

River is a K and now Ak,AQ,AA,JJ,55 beats me - all possible hands that I might be up against. Thoughts? Would he play AQ like this? Well I check and want the hand to end.

Well if anyone feels like it I would like to get some thougts about my play in the hand. Particulary on how much to bet on the turn and what to do on the the river.

[tbach24]

Fold pre-flop but the rest of the hand is played perfectly. Except perhaps the turn where I would've bet more. Probably a blocking bet on the river but I don't see what you beat other than a busted /images/graemlins/diamond.gif draw and they won't call the river like that. So yeah blocking bet is bad. Check/fold (busted /images/graemlins/diamond.gif draw could have a Q) might be good.

Don't post results next time BTW. Some people might have that influence their desicions.

[Ljungis]

Thanks for the quick reply.

AJ is a hand that I often find myself not knowing how to play but I thought I got in cheep. Maby should stay away from hands I dont know how to play.

Ok, thats why you all post results in white...

[rmewett01]

Why fold pre-flop?

[tbach24]

Marginal hand + bad position. Ehh maybe I'll take a flop.

[theben]

personally, i prefer to lead out and bet with 2pair. but there are a few things to consider. first of all, if you lead out and bet the pot, a draw will probably call you. as long as a blank falls off on the next card, you can bring down the hammer on the turn. if you checkraise and bet a lot, you nearly committ yourself to the hand and if the opponent calls and a draw card hits on 4th, you have a big problem (lots of your money is in the pot and you have a good hand but the board is very scary).

by leading at the flop, you put less money in on the flop if the scare card hits than if you checkraise. it wont commit you to the hand out of position and put you into a bad spot on the turn like a checkraise will.

checkraise: heres a play i sometimes use when i make 2 pair(mostly with aces up) i make a huge bet when i checkraise---a big overbet so nobody will call on a draw, and then i just ignore the next card pretty much. this risk is the bet is very large and may only get me called by a set. however, at small stakes games this isnt the case. so try it.

[kurto]

Frankly, I think he played it well. One detail I would have been curious was what were the suits of the AK. Were they suited in diamonds?

Hero made the correct play. If MP1 isn't a total idiot, then he should have realized that the checkraise by the hero showed that he had a very strong hand... better then TPTK. So if MP1 realized that, then he was making a bad call. He was making a bad gamble.

If he had AK suited, and he could put hero on 2 pair, MP1 12 outs.

On the turn, he gained 3 more outs. With AK suited, villains turn call is now justified. (though he should have never made it this far)

If it WASN'T AK suited, villains play was horrific.

Of course, its possible the villain isn't bright enough to realize that his AK was beat.

I think the Hero played it well. His opponent wasn't very bright but got lucky.

[fimbulwinter]

the problem here is preflop. calling raises with AJ is very bad business unless you have a very explicit goal. doing so when out of position is doubly bad.

the interesting thing to ponder is this:

consider what would have happened had you been at least in position when you called the raise; you'd have been all-in on the turn no problem which is far superior EV wise. even so, realize that you played a dominated hand against a raise - you sucked out on him just as much as he did you.

fim

[greg nice]

the preflop raise is only a minraise. so calling here is not as bad as some are making it out to be, depending on what minraises represent in this game. if this was a real raise its an easy fold.

[fimbulwinter]

unless the player making the minraise is a chronic minraiser, i'll still fold OOP. weak/loose players (the ones we love so much in SSNL games) see doubling the big blind as the best avenue with a big ace in my experience.

i mean geez, it gets more money in when you're likely ahead and folds out the crap like K9o that always flops two pair on you; what's not to like?

/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

fim

[Ljungis]

MP1 had AK of spades so he did not have outs for the flush.

MP1 was a decent player, not playing to many pots. I do view him as a player that sometimes have difficulties laying a hand down, which maby should have made me think about AK when he called me on the flop. However I was uncertain about what he could play and thougth that he would easaly get away from hands that I could beat here.

As the hand went down I guess I charged him for playing that hand and that all is fine. As mentioned earlier maby bet more on the turn but in these games a 20$ bet on the turn doesn´t get called whithout unless he has something and in that case my hand isn´t all that strong.

[nrinker]

with your raise being as big as it was on the flop, why not bet the pot on the turn? With the villain calling your raise on the flop it seems you can snake him for a pot sized/almost pot sized bet on the turn.

[pollyson]

you bet wayyy too little on the turn here...i would have bet at least 2/3rds of the pot if not more..you want the pot right there when the 10 comes off after all its like 50 bucks or so