A 5/10 live preflop decision I've been pondering for a while

[Aces McGee]

5/10 several months back at a full table at the Taj Mahal. It's my last orbit. My friend (who I drove up with) is UTG, and announces that he's going to raise blind (no live straddles at the Taj). He's a good player. 2+2 lurker, winner at online small stakes. Maybe plays a little too timidly for my tastes, but he's good. True to his word, he raises blind.

Two to his left is a somewhat fishy player who has been on a heater for quite a while. He plays too many hands, and tends to stick around too long post flop, sucking out two pair hands and sets on the big bet streets. He's fully capable, however, of raising any ace or pocket pair of two big cards in an effort to isolate my friend who, after all, hasn't looked at his cards yet. He's not completely clueless, and he's not insanely aggressive post flop, but not passive either. He 3-bets.

The player directly to his left is a clown. He raises any ace and any pocket pair, and his 3betting and capping standards aren't any different than his raising standards. He's a calling station postflop. He'll call to the river with as little as a single overcard. He caps.

One fold to me, and I hold the A /images/graemlins/spade.gif 9 /images/graemlins/spade.gif. Call or fold?

Does your answer change if there was a five-bet cap? What does it change to?

-McGee

[JinX11]

With no money invested, I fold. Bad players can get good hands, too - you're quite possibly dominated. I try to find a better hand.

[Aces McGee]

If you fold As9s in this situation, what hands are you playing in this spot?

-McGee

[JinX11]

With no money invested, it seems like AJs is right on the border for me. ATs - no, AQx - absolutely, AJs is probably a yes, AJo is a no.

So, A9s is probably not terribly unprofitable here, if indeed it is at all. 4 bets just seems to be a lot to pay, but you do have some dead money (your buddy) to compensate. So, yeah, AJs is a call for me.

[TheHip41]

[ QUOTE ]
5/10 several months back at a full table at the Taj Mahal. It's my last orbit. My friend (who I drove up with) is UTG, and announces that he's going to raise blind (no live straddles at the Taj). He's a good player. 2+2 lurker, winner at online small stakes. Maybe plays a little too timidly for my tastes, but he's good. True to his word, he raises blind.

Two to his left is a somewhat fishy player who has been on a heater for quite a while. He plays too many hands, and tends to stick around too long post flop, sucking out two pair hands and sets on the big bet streets. He's fully capable, however, of raising any ace or pocket pair of two big cards in an effort to isolate my friend who, after all, hasn't looked at his cards yet. He's not completely clueless, and he's not insanely aggressive post flop, but not passive either. He 3-bets.

The player directly to his left is a clown. He raises any ace and any pocket pair, and his 3betting and capping standards aren't any different than his raising standards. He's a calling station postflop. He'll call to the river with as little as a single overcard. He caps.

One fold to me, and I hold the A /images/graemlins/spade.gif 9 /images/graemlins/spade.gif. Call or fold?

Does your answer change if there was a five-bet cap? What does it change to?

-McGee

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the easiest fold ever.

[W. Deranged]

I think you can open up your range to include AJs and possibly KQs here, but A9s is not enough hand to handle that much heat, even if much of it's likely to be "fake."

Think of the raises in front of you as 2.5 sb. In other words, your range should be somewhere between what you'd play for two bets and what you'd play for three bets.