I can't solve anything definitively because as usual it depends :-).


A few thoughts anyway : AQ is a lot better than AJ (and AK is miles better than both). It's quite common for me to play, even raise, with AQ and fold AJ in the same position. What you actually do really depends how likely it is for your opponents to call with AJ (when you have AQ), AT, KQ, KJ etc. If people do tend to call a raise with this kind of hand you can often go ahead and raise.


I don't like to put in small raises with any hand unless I have a specific reason for doing so, and these are not good hands to raise small with. Don't worry about giving away the strength of your hand, if anything a raise is deceptive because you really don't have very much until you see the flop !


Post flop is just too dependent on your opponents to say. Betting and everyone folds is better than checking and letting someone beat you, and in the smaller UK tournaments you will usually get some customers, but it depends.


Hope this helps,


Andy.