AJo, early position

Without a doubt, I can stand here and tell you that my least favorite hand of all time is AJo. Or pocket jacks. But let's look at AJo, or at least this hand.


The game is 9-18 at the Bike last night. The game has about 4.5 people seeing each flop, and is loosening up with time.


UTG limps. He is a weak, loose player. (BTW, this game only has one big blind). I limp with AJo, two other limpers, and the BB checks his option.


Flop comes: A 8 2, complete rainbow.


BB checks, UTG checks, I bet, both other limpers and UTG calls.


Hmmmm, four people in the pot, but at most 3 have aces (two other than me). A quick bio on the three people:


The first limper other than myself (L1) is bad. He is waaaay too loose. He could easily be calling here with like JTs. Seriously. He's bad. Really bad. I think he'd raise with an ace. He may have K2s, and be calling here. Putting him on a hand is tricky.


The second limper (L2) is also bad. He plays any suited cards, but never raises top pair. He doesn't chase second pair that often. My guess is he has an ace, but he could have any kicker.


UTG: He's loose. He would have bet out if he hit much of the flop. He called, so my guess is he just has an 8, or he may even be taking one off with something like 77.


So, I think to myself "what cards are scare cards?". My answer was: any 7, 8, or 9, thinking that an 8 would make somebody trips, and a 7 or 9 would likely make somebody two pair, or quite possibly hit L2's kicker.


Turn, 9.


Board is A 8 2 9; complete rainbow.


UTG checks, I check, L1 checks, L2 bets.


Again, I had previously put L2 on an ace, and he'd bet here even if he hadn't hit his kicker. He was on the buttong, and he may or may not raise on the button with AJ, but he'd raise with AQ or AK. In short, his bet doesn't concern me too much. UTG calls, and I'm stumped. UTG wouldn't just call with a naked 8 now, I didn't think.


Do I dump my hand now? One of the cards that I had identified as a scare card just came, so should I pay off?


Well, I call (was this a mistake?). L1 mucks.


river is a 5.


Board = A 8 2 9 5, rainbow.


UTG bets??????


Does he have A5, and was he checking because he didn't like his kicker?. He'd limp UTG with 67s, but would he call the flop? (if this was his holding, he'd easily call the turn).


I have L2 to act behind me. . . Do I call? Or do I throw it away?


Results to follow.


Thanks in advance for comments.


Worm

I called with my AJ, L2 called. UTG showed 8h9h for twopair on the turn, L2 also had AJ. Comments?

I can see why you don't like AJ...you didn't play it right.

Before the flop, it looks to me like you are UTG+1.

With AJo you have only two choices here that I can see.

Throw the trash away in the muck, or raise if you want to play it.

On the turn, I don't see why you checked other than to maybe induce a bet that you could raise. You should either have bet again, or raised that bet when it came back to you.

On the river, UTG bets. He's been quiet and calling, now he bets. You've got L2 behind you and he bet the turn (could have been positional, but you don't know since you just called him).

I'd probably think about mucking this.

On the turn the board is A829r and you're checking AJ? If you're not betting because you're afraid that someone may have made two pair, you're just playing scared.

I bet the turn, maybe even checkraise it, representing aces over and a better kicker. Assuming your opponents could read that.


Anyway, just calling, you don't know where anybody is.

"Without a doubt, I can stand here and tell you that my least favorite hand of all time is AJo."


I've seen players who hate pocket kings because "an ace always flops." When the ace DOES flop, it's like they go out of their way to lose the most (by paying off an obvious ace) or win the least (by checking on the turn and river when it looks like no ace is out) so that they can bemoan their ill-fate once again.


Looks to me like you are similarly psyched out by AJ and until that changes, mucking it every time might be a good plan.


Tommy

Your logic is flawed. Assuming a Seven, Eight, or Nine are bads

cards for you is impossible for you to safely conclude. You

are up against players who are capable of holding anything and

yes I do try to put them on a range of hands, but concluding that

these are bad cards, well Houdini couldn't figure this out.

You have top pair good kicker and keep on betting until you are

shown the wrongs of your way and then play accordingly. Had you

bet on the turn than you could have folded knowing you were beat or needed to improve than guessing where you are if raised.


Bruce

Thanks for the responses. . .


I agree that I butchered the play of this hand. Usually, if i'm the first one in, I raise or muck, but after UTG limped, I decided to limp, as well.


I greatly agree with Tommy, that I do get myself psyched out with this hand...or rather I used to. Now, whenever I get dealt it, I just tear one of the cards in half, claim its marked, and ask for a redeal.


The turn is definitely where this hand went bad. I'm not sure I agree with Bruce, that I should have fired out. I will say that this is one of the two acceptable responses, though. The other is to check and fold (this would require trusting my paper-thin read that a 9 was a scare card)...but now that I think about it, that's not feasible, because even if UTG had 89, I still had 8 known outs (7, if I can place an ace in the Button's hand), and could justify calling with hopes of spiking a better two pair, or trip aces, on the river.


Man, I butchered this hand.


Worm

What was the board here? A-8-2-9? And you saw the 9 as a scare card and think you could have conceivable mucked? I may start a new thread on this but that play is just not in my arsenal to muck top pair to a single bet after you checked. Should it be? In my games, if I would have played it the way you did, they would bet ANTHING to protect their hand. I'd like to hear a bit more about this. When can you safely muck top pair? I always pay off.

I'm late to answer this one. The river is the most interesting part of this hand to me. Certainly your an underdog when the UTG player bets out on the river. If it is heads up it's an easy call even if your an underdog IMO. However, with a player behind you in the situation you describe it becomes a little dicy because:


a) Your UTG opponent is much more likely to be betting a hand that beats yours because he is betting into two players.


b) Your chances of beating both players is much less than beating one player.


It's the parlay phenomona that has been discussed here before and in this case a laydown was probably right given the above circumstances on the river IMO.