AJo 8 Handed
 

Whilst I welcome comments about what i might have done better here I am interested in what you think my opponent could have done differently to play this better and with less risk.

Stars 18 Seater low limit, 8 left, blinds are 100/200, ante 25

I am in 3rd position and no one has entered the pot yet....

Important stacks Mackthefork 2850 SB 3100

I have A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and i make it 450 to go

(I know this is small but I wanted calls from weaker aces, that was my thinking anyways)

All fold to SB who calls, BB folds also (pot is now 1300 and I have it heads up)

Flop is 2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 6 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

SB Checks, I push in my remaining 2400, he calls immediately and shows A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Pot is now 6100

Two blanks come next and i go (very quietly, in thoughtfulness not in anger).

Looking back there is not much I would do differently, I have good reason to believe I am ahead and that I have the best draw. What does anyone think.

Regards and thanks in advance Mack

Re: AJo 8 Handed
 

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Important stacks Mackthefork 2850 SB 3100

I have A J and i make it 450 to go

(I know this is small but I wanted calls from weaker aces, that was my thinking anyways)


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You don't want callers here. You should go for the T600 and try and take it down right there. Or some would say you should fold, I wouldn't be willing to argue against them without being at the table.

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All fold to SB who calls, BB folds also (pot is now 1300 and I have it heads up)


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The SB should have bet before the flop, and considering stack sizes, he should probably have pushed.

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SB Checks, I push in my remaining 2400, he calls immediately and shows A K


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Why not take the free card here? There is really no need to push. This was a leak I used to have. Under FTOP he is making a mistake if he gives you the free card, but that means you have to take it!
You are *not* ahead when you push, in fact you are quite a long way behind (u win 40%).

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So in all I think you need to check your own game a bit. There are a fair few mistakes on both sides. But to answer your question I think he could have defended his hand in the obvious way - bet it.

Just my thoughts

Tim

Re: AJo 8 Handed
 

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Under FTOP he is making a mistake if he gives you the free card ... you are *not* ahead when you push, in fact you are quite a long way behind (u win 40%).

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I think these points are both irrelevant. He doesn't know what the opponent had when he pushed, and the opponent didn't know what he had when he checked on the flop.

Re: AJo 8 Handed
 

I hear what you are saying and you are certainly correct in many ways, however i feel certain if he bet half the pot on the flop or put in a decent raise i would have folded, in the reverse situation i would have tried to close this down on the flop, even with AK i would not be wanting all the money to go in there. I think it certainly looked good for me on the flop and his check call for nearly all his chips with a draw shocked me, I was very surprised he wanted to get all his money in.

Regards Mack

PS I would have pushed the TT, and probably got called by JQs hehe [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img].

Re: AJo 8 Handed
 

he said:

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I have good reason to believe I am ahead


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Why did he think he was ahead? all he has is over cards. The strength of his hand comes from drawing either a spade, A or J.

Anybody with a pair is giving you more EV by allowing you to draw for free.

I am not saying that the push is a terrible move, but I don't think it is as good as checking.

just some thoughts

Tim

Re: AJo 8 Handed
 

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Why did he think he was ahead? all he has is over cards. The strength of his hand comes from drawing either a spade, A or J.

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It was because
a) he never reraised preflop
b) he checked the flop

I believed he would do both these things with AQ AJ AT A9 KQ AA KK maybe even some weaker Aces and Kings. I did not think he would check if he paired up with the board rags in some way, I also thought he would bet the flop with an overpair less than KK. I felt I had many outs if called which i felt was unlikely. Those were the things I was thinking, I basically was already scraping in that small pot, but I got burnt.

I take your point about checking behind, I know I rarely do this and maybe this is a big fault. I know I lose a lot of chips in the 12-10 handed stages of these things and I tend to make a lot of this up when it goes full table again often with this sorts of aggresive (stupid) moves. Once again thanks for your comments.

Regards Mack