Is this too weak tight?

[Ironman]

This problem seems to come up a lot. And I know a lot of it is going to be player and game specific, but I haven't come up with a good way of handling a situation like this:

Playing lower limits 1/2 O8, 6 people see a flop, I'm in middle to late position.

My hand is A 2 5 10 rainbow.

I limp when it comes to me.

Flop is A 5 J

So, my low is ruined, but 2 of the early position people fold.

I'm probably ahead at the moment with my two pair, but I struggle with this.

I would say I usually lay this hand down.

Any thoughts to the contrary?

[gergery]

I'd usually fold here. There will very often be a low you can't win, and while your two pair look pretty now, there are no prizes for "Hand leading after the flop". What turn river cards do you want to see here?

-g

[Ironman]

Yeah, the only really strong cards on the turn and river would have an A or 5. I suppose there are a couple "miracle" cards that would give me a low straight or high straight, but I would definatly be playing defensively right through the river.

Would anyone raise here? Trying to knock out those drawing to a straight? I've never played it that way, but it seems to me a raise would be better than a call...but I keep leaning to the fold.

[Tom Bayes]

I used to try raising in situations like this, but you rarely get what you want to happen (i.e. get people to fold) in th low limits. Almost anyone with a low draw (nut or not) or straight draw is staying and lots of people are going to stick around to the river with bad low draws, top pair, and all kinds of dreck that might end up sucking out.

[GooperMC]

Sorry for the possible thread hijack but this is somewhat relevant.

What would everyone do if were playing AJ instead of A5. Let’s say you just sat down and posted blinds with AJ94. Still a fold?

[gergery]

I would probably try to raise aggressively to limit competition.

Top two pair where the second pair (J) is a fairly high card is reasonable for high. You also have runner-runner now for a weak low that’s worth ~2-3 outs or so that might be good if a 2 or 3 hits to counterfeit someone else’s low.

I would also expect with the Ace on the board that you will get someone else with an Ace to chase and you are ahead of them, while a possible 23xx could carve them up, so the likelihood of a someone else having a good second best hand here is higher.

And if you can limit competition then the chance of one particular opponent making their low is significantly less than if two opponents are both in with low cards.

But I would definitely be willing to fold top two pair to strong pressure, particularly if a 4 hit which would make 23xx have a wheel, or if a K/Q hit making someone a better two pair. You are really looking for J/T/9 here with 8/7/6 also being good cards. But that’s better than A3 where you have no low and there are no good cards except 3’s and maybe A’s.

--Greg