AJo level 3

[CheckFold]

$33 at level 3 25-50 blinds, 5 remaining, all spread between 1200-2000, me at the short end with 1200. I'm in bb and get AJo. 2 limpers, sb completes, what's the best way to proceed?

[lehighguy]

Tricky. Have any of the people shown they will limp with monsters?

[EverettKings]

I pop it to 250 here. 5 handed with only a 50 BB the limpers don't scare me, and there are 200 chips for the taking right now. Making a nice sized raised here will almost always win you the pot, and getting to a flop heads up won't kill you.

Checking it in is OK, but you'll likely either miss and forfeit the 200 chip pot, hit the flop and take it down with a bet (earning you the same as taking it preflop), or hit, bet, get called, and either win a few more chips or lose a LOT more.

Things are simpler and less dangerous if you take it down up front, but that's just me.

-Kings

[Voltron87]

Raising here is a bad play with so many players in. Check. If you check and take a flop this hand should be very easy to play. If you hit an A or J, you play it, if you don't, you fold. Raising from EP with a marginal raising hand like AJ is not easy to play right.

[EverettKings]

[ QUOTE ]
Raising here is a bad play with so many players in. Check. If you check and take a flop this hand should be very easy to play. If you hit an A or J, you play it, if you don't, you fold. Raising from EP with a marginal raising hand like AJ is not easy to play right.

[/ QUOTE ]

Checking here is a bad play IMO. Checking here and playing a flop out of position is not easy to play right. What do you do when the flop comes QJ8, two suited? AKK? KJ9? If it comes Axx or Jxx the most likely result is you taking it down with a bet (this yields the same result as taking it down preflop). Sometimes QJs gives you a few chips but sometimes set 6s or a JT two pair takes all of yours.

To check here is to allow worse hands a cheap shot to outflop you. There's 200 chips up for grabs. I want them and I want them now

-Kings

[CheckFold]

The check and see flop is how I played it. It just felt wrong because I thought there was a great chance that I had the best hand, but on the other hand the pot wasn't quite large enough and I wasn't quite desperate enough to commit to committing a lot of chips.

If I raised to 250 and get called I pretty much have to lead even a missed flop with either a push or another 250 that will cripple me if I don't get the fold.

These players hadn't necessarily shown the tendency to limp with monsters, but I definitely wouldn't put it past them, and AQ, mid pp would definitely be likely limp candidates.

[Voltron87]

if you raise and one of those bad flops come up then what?

You're out of position and AJ is not exactly the nuts.

[Raiser]

I used to check here until I read this POST. Now I like a raise here.

[Phil Van Sexton]

Check.

[Newt_Buggs]

I think its too early to make a play by raising with a marginal hand. If it were level 4 and there was 400 in the pot, I think this would be an easy push, but a raise right now will probably get you called and have you end up commiting a lot more chips than you want with AJ.