Blind defense with A3s

[sweetjazz]

I'm the BB in a 6-handed home game with A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 3 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. It's folded around to the small blind who will play almost any two cards before the flop, but tends only to raise with decent hands. I've only played one hand with him so far in this situation, and he limped in with a nothing hand that time. This time he comes in for a raise.

(1) Do you raise, call, or fold here?

(2) Suppose the board comes down something like K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. What's your plan (a) if he leads out or (b) if he checks to you.

In my case, I chose to 3-bet him and then was 4-bet before the flop. The board came something like the one above, he led out and I folded. He's the kind of player that will occassionally make a crazy play with nothing, but I didn't think it was worth another 2.5 bets to find out. Anyway, this is obviously a disasterous way to play the hand as I ended up putting a lot of money in pre-flop and then ended up folding when there was still some chance that I had the best hand (but no way for me to tell).

I now believe that calling before the flop was right, and then check-folding when the flop absolutely misses me. This is especially so since my opponent is much more likely to overplay his hand to the river than fold if I play back at him, so I am inclined to see the flop for cheap and make him pay for overplaying a mediocre hand. If I do take my ace-high to the river (which I'm more inclined to do if there's a heart out there along with a wheel card when the flop misses me), then I'll normally try to raise the flop and look to check behind on the turn. I think this is right, as it does give a free card on the river (which will be beneficial to me a lot of the time) and induce a bluff on the river.

I try to look for spots to be aggressive, but I think mistakes like this hand are hurting me a bit. Any commentary/criticism is greatly appreciated.

[stripsqueez]

i dont think fold is an impossible choice - so much depends on what has occured previously that a correct answer isnt possible - the value of your cards is almost completely subservient to the history - that you look stupid on this hand means little - you will look stupid from time to time in heads up encounters

i wouldnt 3 bet pre-flop unless i thought it was going to be respected - if he is the sort of player who will now cap and lead out on the flop in order to retain the initiative then i wouldnt 3 bet with this hand - unfortunately good players will commonly cap and lead out on the flop - its usually that or go meekly

stripsqueez - chickenhawk

[Nate tha' Great]

Sweet,

I think you played it fine. He's representing a big hand here, but that flop rates something like a 2 or a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. Good fold, next hand.

Oh, and as for the preflop play, it's partly a matter of taste, but I generally prefer the 3-bet. A3s is a favorite against anything other than a pocket pair or a higher ace, so you'll usually have some value there, plus I think the 3-bet helps to ensure that you'll in fact win those hands when you're ace high is good. But against a chronic blind stealer I think it's also important to make some attempt to mix your calling and 3-betting hands.