early AJ hand

[schwza]

no reads as it's early.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (9 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

MP1 (t720)
Hero (t785)
MP3 (t705)
CO (t775)
Button (t210)
SB (t785)
BB (t2415)
UTG (t805)
UTG+1 (t800)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with J/images/graemlins/heart.gif, A/images/graemlins/club.gif.
<font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, MP1 calls t15, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t75</font>, <font color="#666666">5 folds</font>, MP1 calls t60.

Flop: (t175) T/images/graemlins/club.gif, 6/images/graemlins/club.gif, K/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
MP1 checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t120</font>, MP1 calls t120.

Turn: (t415) A/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">MP1 bets t150</font>, hero?

[mlagoo]

fold.

what do you put him on? he smoothcalls your flop CB, then leads out at you on the turn when a scarecard comes. there are very few hands he could have that you're ahead of here.

really easy fold. i feel like i must be missing something.

i don't really like the raise preflop. i don't like getting mixed up with these marginal hands. the only way i understand this line is if you're treating it like you have any two cards.

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
i don't really like the raise preflop.

[/ QUOTE ]

what do you prefer? fold? limp? this is a 33, btw.

[zambonidrivr]

i fold aj until mid position, where i call 40% of the time and raise 60% of the time, depending on my read at the table. in hoh vol 1 he says something about no other hands getting players in more trouble than: kq, aj, kj.... i tend to agree.

[mlagoo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
i don't really like the raise preflop.

[/ QUOTE ]

what do you prefer? fold? limp? this is a 33, btw.

[/ QUOTE ]

i typically (and this may be a leak) limp early with AJ, unless of course it folds to me in LP. I just don't want to be invested in a hand that, even if the flop hits me, I may be dominated by someone that calls my raise.

on that flop i'm willing to let it go. there's a good chance it hit someone else, and again, i just don't want to leak chips with this sort of a hand, especially when/if i'm going to have a hard time getting away from an ace-rag-rag flop.

[zambonidrivr]

if an ace hits and you are willing to let it go, i wonder why you're even in the hand? are you hoping for a jack to hit? odds are not good with that. i am not being a smart ass, but i have been through this enough and have had my ass taken out too many times with this hand. short handed, or in late position this hand becomes a lot more playable.

[mlagoo]

well i'm not automatically letting it go if I see an ace.

I'm going to show strength, and if someone else shows strength, I'm getting away.

Yeah, I guess ideally I'm looking for a jack high flop, or two pair. it's a speculative, marginal hand. but it's good enough that i'm willing to play it, and not operate under the assumption that there MUST BE an AQ or AK out.

However, this guy calls the flop bet, and leads the turn with a very callable bet... What do you have him on that an AJ beats?

[junkmail3]

I generally fold AJo in the first 2-3 levels. I'll limp AQo.

[mosdef]

[ QUOTE ]
I generally fold AJo in the first 2-3 levels. I'll limp AQo.

[/ QUOTE ]

this seems like an awfully broad statement. there are times to play AJ carefully and times to raise AQ, not just limp. this sort of blanket statement excludes way too many subtleties.

[junkmail3]

And all of those places you would do what you said would take way too much time to specifically type out.

Those who can play those hands better, know what those situations are anyway. And if you don't know what situations to look for and where to play those cards, then you're probably going to end up playing them too much in the wrong spots and would have been better off playing them in the blanket statement sort of way.

If that makes any sense.

[schwza]

honestly, i wasn't sure what to make of his line. check-call flop / lead turn is not very common. i thought it could be a play to get to a cheaper river with a flush draw or maybe something like QT/KQ/etc.

what would you put him on that you'd be afraid of? QJ is the most logical hand, or a strangly played AT / 66.

i decided that the first category was more likely than the 2nd, and that if i was behind i'd have 4 outs at the least and probably more. and there were a lot of cards i really didn't want to see, so i pushed.

villain has the surprising AK /images/graemlins/frown.gif