AJ sooooted kill - I made worst possible decision

[Zez]

This hand has been bothering me for two days. I think I know now what I should have done, but I want some opinions.

B&M 4-8, it's a kill pot so we're playing 8-16 this round. Killer has won 4 pots in a row and is loose aggressive.

UTG folds, killer at UTG+1 acts last, so action passes by him. All fold to late middle LAG who raises. Loose CO calls. Button folds. I look down in SB and see A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

What's your move and why? I think I know the what, but I wonder if I'm clear on the why.

[soweak.]

I think a call is not out of line in the slightest. We are getting about 3.2:1 (46:14) for the call, we have a strong hand, and the raise comes from someone who has loose raising standards. Downside is our sickly position and one cold caller.

In this situation I would take a call. with four callers minus the BB you will have 8.5 small bets, and 9 with 5 callers. plenty to draw to a flush should flop a draw. we also might have the best hand with an ace or a J high flop. Better yet if we dont think Jacks are good on a J high flop we will have odds to draw to our 5 outer.

I would call.

[hobbsmann]

I think this is an easy 3-bet IMO. Since there is a kill people will often times raise light because there is more dead money in the pot. By 3-betting here you can probably get this HU with what figures to be the best hand.

Edit: I didn't see CO cold-called. Now I think a call is fine, but 3-betting still is not a bad play.

[Blackjack]

I'd 3 bet that with position.

Blackjack

[Moneyline]

Raise. From LMP a loose raiser will open raise a lot of hands, so with AJs you can reraise feeling fairly confident you have the best hand. A big suited ace is a strong hand, so play it that way.

[Blackjack]

[ QUOTE ]
Raise. From LMP a loose raiser will open raise a lot of hands, so with AJs you can reraise feeling fairly confident you have the best hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Plus he has position on the maniac kill guy if he chooses to come along. If the maniac has been playing loose lately then I like the raise but if he's tightened up I like a flat call better to encourage the maniac to come play.

Blackjack

[Moneyline]

Unless this is a very odd kill game, Zez will be in worst position on all subsequent rounds. The kill button will be last to act on the first round, but then have to act in his normal position on subsequent rounds.

Regardless, this hand is so strong that you are missing out on a lot of +EV by not raising with it here. As for the kill button, many players will see the flop with any two cards when they have the kill button to keep the rush alive regardless of the number of bets, and if the kill player folds that's fine too because now there's a little dead money in the pot.

[Andy French]

I'd just call here. I'd rather see a flop for two bets than three or four with a possible dominated hand. After a raise and a coldcall, AJs can't be much of a favorite.

And kill button has won 4 pots in a row? With that kind of aggression, maybe he'll 3-bet it for you... Unless you think UTG+1 might fold to a 3-bet along with the BB, then a 3-bet could make sense.

[Zez]

Thanks for all the good responses. I agree with the majority here that I should have raised. With three loose players in, one of which was in blind, I very well may have had the best hand. If not the best now, its flush/straght and high card strength could put it in the lead on the flop.

Plus, these players had been respecting me as a tight player, so a raise from me would have kept them from getting out of line unless they had monster hands.

Unfortunately, I had an attack of weak/tightness and folded [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] What the hell?

The flop came down 7 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]6 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]2 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and the killer and LAG player went crazy capping the flop.

The K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] came on the turn. Killer bet and LAG folded showing pocket queens. The killer revealed 67off for two-pair.

I hate to be results oriented, but sometimes the results can serve to smack you on the side of the head when you make stupid decisions.

[W. Deranged]

Sweet, I get to flame a post by my good friend Hobbs!

Just kidding. Hobie corrected his error. The key point to this hand is that CO called. There is no way you are getting this hand to shorter than three-handed unless it gets capped pre-flop, and in that case you are playing the worst hand out of position (which sucks, by the way). AJs plays quite well in multi-way pots.

Another point, and this is a major reason I tend to be wary of raising AQ and AJ in many situations from the blinds is that by putting that much pressure on early, you lose your check-raise priveleges, to a great degree. If you flop J-high, you really would like to be able to check-raise a late position better to protect your hand. Three-betting pre-flop makes the pot bigger and more inviting and makes it much less likely you be able to check the flop and get a check-raise in.