Shorthanded at Foxwoods.

[Tim W.]

This is a 5/10 with kill game that just dwindled down to a shorthanded game around 3 am. It's 5 handed.

I'm dealt A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif5 /images/graemlins/heart.gif in the small blind. Folded to the button who raises. I re-raise. Big blind calls. Button re-raises, we all call.

Flop: QAQ. Rainbow. I bet. We loose the big blind. Button calls.

Turn: 6. I bet. Button calls.

River: 8. I bet. Button calls.

Comments?

[Ginogino]

Tim:
Re-raising pre-flop out of the small blind with AXo is a profitable play in your situation provided the Button is raising with a wide range of stuff (like J9o or 75s as well as AA or AJo) and provided that you can count on the big blind to fold the large majority of the time before the turn. And I'd expect to see both conditions met most of the time.

What does your opponent hold? If he held an Ace and a big kicker, you'd probably have heard a raise from him at some point postflop. He could hold a hand like yours (Ace-small) and you'll split. He could well hold a pocket pair (small or medium), and you'll win. I've even seen players stay to the showdown on KJ (missed the gutshot, but have nut "no-pair"). You played it just fine, in my opinion.

This is not to say that you'll never run up against someone who has made a set and has no idea how to play the game. Bless them.

Gino

[Tim W.]

Gino,
Thanks for your comments.

In this case, the button held 77, which was something I expected to see. I don't play short handed all that much and after getting some weird looks at the table, was wondering if I played it as well as I thought I did.

[Ikke]

It depends a lot on your opponents if your approach is preferable. For instance, in the games I play in, you will often get raised on the turn (or flop, often prompting you to get into check-call mode) by a vast range of hands (including hands you can beat). So, you'll have to pay of the raise and you're pretty much guessing where you are. Basically you've put yourself in a spot to get outplayed. In this case, your betting out approach would have been less than optimal.

But, if your opponents play worse hands than an ace passively and will often call down with a pair of aces (fearing a queen for instance) than you're play has merits, because you will often get called by lesser hands and better aces will not likely raise you.

So, depends on your opposition. I wouldnt like the approach in the Paradise 20/40. Maybe I would in the Foxwood 5/10.

Regards

[Jason Pohl]

I'd say the weird looks were for your preflop reraise with AXo. I don't believe this hand is profitable except in the absolute rarest scenarios. Too often, you'll find yourself against a bigger Ace or a pocket pair like 77, where you are now drawing to 3 outs and then hoping they didn't hit a set. When an ace does flop, most opponents will fold or not pay off much, unless they're beating your ace. Then, you'll pay them off for sure with your second best hand, often drawing to 3 outs or less. I think the 77 played very poorly here. About as badly as they could. But that doesn't make AXo profitable. Many would argue it is not profitable from any position, let alone small blind. Against reasonable opposition, I'd agree.

--Jason