Early on, what is your standard play here?

[BigDave]

I know that I butchered this hand, but I am curious to find what you guys normally do with this early on?

NL Hold'em $5 Buy-in + $1 Entry Fee Level:1 Blinds(10/15) -Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: HelpMeOutPlz ( $755 )
Seat 3: chisox_2005 ( $800 )
Seat 8: Finao ( $760 )
Seat 4: holla22970 ( $740 )
Seat 9: Hero ( $610 )
Seat 10: Best_Wood ( $785 )
Seat 6: dalberts ( $815 )
Seat 7: ROCKHARDY ( $710 )
Seat 2: Bosco60 ( $1250 )
Seat 5: boudainking ( $775 )
Trny:8416492 Level:1
Blinds(10/15)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to hero [ Jc Ac ]
HelpMeOutPlz raises [75].
Bosco60 folds.
chisox_2005 folds.
holla22970 calls [75].
boudainking folds.
dalberts folds.
ROCKHARDY calls [75].
Finao calls [75].
Hero calls [65]. <----I really do not mind calling here
Best_Wood folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Js, 7h, 2s ]
Hero checks.<------I am a pussy, how much to bet here?
HelpMeOutPlz bets [150].
holla22970 folds.
ROCKHARDY folds.
Finao calls [150].
Hero calls [150].<---Contemplated PUSH, pussied out again
** Dealing Turn ** [ Kc ]
Hero checks.<-------Didn't help me, check/fold time?
HelpMeOutPlz is all-In.
Finao calls [530].
Hero folds.

Regardless of results, the more I think about this, the right play is to check/push after the flop. At the $5 tables, I may not be able to take it right there, but more times then not I am ahead.

Thoughts?

[ilya]

Fold preflop.

Failing that, push or check-raise all-in on the flop. I lean towards pushing. Check-calling is terrible: your hand is too likely to be best right now, and too vulnerable.

[citanul]

Yes, fold preflop.

I find it interesting that you include both "what would you do here?" and "i'm fine with this," with an arrow pointing to your call, in the same post.

What is this, pre-emptive excuse making? Don't ask what people would do, unless you preface it exactly with "what would you do post flop, having gotten there through unknown means?"

citanul

[schwza]

this will be a pretty tough hand to play. if a J hits, you have to fear AA/KK/QQ/JJ, and if an A hits you have to fear AK/AQ. if you flop a flush draw, it will be the nut flush draw, but you'll be out of position, which is bad. but you will be to the immediate right of the raiser, which is good. but you don't have a lot of stack left, so you can't get paid off really nicely if you make a flush, which is bad.

i'd chuck it preflop, unless you had reason to believe that utg would raise with a hand like A8.

if i did call, i would check-push pre-flop. there's 375 chips in the pot before the flop, so if there's a bet, your push will be a reasonable raise. betting out is a little dicier because a) you won't get any $ from utg if he has a missed AK and b) you won't know where you stand on the turn if you get called and one of the many scare cards falls.

[Awesemo]

Calling here preflop is a mistake. In my personal experiences, if you play correctly preflop, most of your postflop decisions will be very easy. Calling a raise out of position with AJ is going to cause problems for you no matter what the flop is.

[oscar057]

I agree that this is a pre-flop fold especially since you have to play the hand out of position. However, given that you called pre-flop, you must be aggressive after the flop. This usually means a pot sized bet, but because you have so few chips left you must push.

I don't like the check/push option. First, you could give everyone a free card. Second, if someone else bets big into the pot they could be committed and forced to call rather than fold.

[stillnotking]

Definite fold preflop. Let the idiots bang their heads together in the early rounds. Don't try to mix it up with a mediocre hand.

[raptor517]

thats perfect. fold preflop. fold even AQ here. push on the flop with that. what kind of flop are you looking for other than that.