What to do after the flop...and before!?!?

[WyattErb]

Holdem 1/2, no limit, 5 players, almost no preflop raises!
I hold ATo...UTG...is a call here ok? i called, sb calls, no rasie! the flop was T93...rainbow...i bet 2$, sb folds bb calls...next card A...so i got 2pairs, i bet 5$ and the bb goes all in with about 30$...do i call?

2. Hand...same table, 6 players...nothing has changed so far! i hold A9o on the button, everybody folds, sb calls so 3 of us see the flop!
flop comes AJ9 rainbow again, the blinds check, i bet 5$ sb folds, bb raises me 10$...what do i do now? hes got about 90$ left and i about 110$!

[Paul2432]

On the first hand, I think you should only call if you think you can outplay your opponents after the flop, which is difficult to do out of position. The fact that you don't know what to do here seems to indicate that you probably should have folded pre-flop. That said, I think you should call the all-in bet. You have not shown much strength so your opponent could easily be bluffing. Even if he is not bluffing, you can beat many legitemate hands he may hold (e.g. T9,A9, AK, AQ).

On the second hand, I would open raise here before the flop. You are first in so try and win the pot uncontested. Your hand is weak enough that I think this is always better then seeing the flop. On this hand I think you should put in a big re-raise to perhaps $30 or so. I think you want to win this one right away. If a K Q T 8 or 7 comes next and your opponent bets out you will have a tough decision. I am curious what happened here.

Paul

[crockpot]

pre-flop: fold or raise, don't limp. this is not a very strong hand and you are out of position. on the flop, when you are raised, i would certainly fold at a full table, but if the game was being played aggressively enough because it's shorthanded, you can definitely call.

hand 2: what are you doing limping preflop? this should be an automatic raise unless you fold. on the flop, your decision is really player dependent. if this is the type of player who will raise you with QT but not push in with it if you reraise, then reraising and folding to an all in is a definite consideration.

[WyattErb]

1. hand....well, i called his 30$, and he turned over a pair of 3's..making him 3 of a kind! but i guess i just had to make that call!

2. hand...well, raised him with another 20$, then he went all-in....with AQo....i called...of course, the river was a Q...but i think the call was correct, wasnt it??

[JP789]

On the first one. I like your preflop call here as I do it often in the shorthanded situation. I also like you call of the bb on the turn. I find that you are often the winner with top two here vs any reraise esp the bb.

The second hand this is not that bad limping here. His small raise on the flop indicates weakness even though I have seen players hold the goods here. When he reraises all-in you made a correct decision. I would have mucked there. He got lucky on that one.


Better luck next time, JP

[Ignatius]

1) 5-handed, ATo is a raising hand, so make it $7 (pot) and give yourself a chance to take down the blinds. On turn, you have top twopair and an easy call.
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2) Again, with A9 on the button, you probably have the best hand, so raise and don't give the BB a free ride. On the flop, a case can be made for calling: The BB could easily checkraise a small ace here (as you didn't raise preflop) and might be willing to fire another barrel on turn. Also, it's very unlikely that he would check-raise a str8 draw and has more than 3 outs when behind.

[WyattErb]

Thanks for the replies!