a vegas single table hand

[locutus2002]

I think you have to check it and see what he does.

I might have c/r the flop. It's pretty obvious you have an ace after you call, so I'd raise to see where I'm at. I think you probably have the best hand.

[PrayingMantis]

[ QUOTE ]
but the call on the flop, and check on the turn don't seem too weak?


[/ QUOTE ]

They might seem weak, but not real weak. I think these move are probably making more money than other moves on flop and turn. On the river checking is weak in the sense that it probably loses value, or putting hero in a tougher spot than if he bets. But there might be good reasons to play flop/turn differently (especially turn, IMO).

[bruce]

If I didn't know who Dan was I would play the hand the way
Soss did.

I do think Dan is very capable of bluff raising on the river with nothing. I'm not sure how I react, knowing I'm up against Dan,
if I'm raised like Soss. Good question.

Bruce

[sdplayerb]

i'm just saying why does raising utg have anything to do with playing "weak" on the river?
really, it doesn't.

I do agree I would bet the turn. i can see either way on the flop.

but i am check calling the river.

if you bet just about no worse hands call you. AT, AQ maybe? but both aren't that likely to have been played that way.
You get raised, you have to fold. And some will raise a blocking bet as they will see the weakness.

If you check, some will bluff at you, which is a positive.
if they bet, you call, but the bet will be small enough to call. it may be a bit bigger than your blocking bet, but the other positives outweigh that..to me.

and you can fold if you read great strength to his river bet.

[HonchoOverload]

The way this was played, I don't understand how a check-fold is not in order. You're only into the pot for <300 and you didn't show any strength on either the flop or the turn (a mistake in my opinion), and caught a pretty big trouble card on the river. I don't see how you don't either check raise the flop or reverse the turn for at least the pot, make him make a decision right there and probably take down a good enough sized pot.

[fnord_too]

(Assuming your ace is not the [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img])

Two choices: Make a blocking bet or check call.

I think check calling is the way to go if you know he is a pro and he has no knowledge of you. If he has you beat, he will probably make a small bet. I cannot imagine him pushing here if checked to (unless he is getting uber tricky with the nuts, but if he does not know you he probably would not get uber tricky). I would be very worried about Dan having the flush (whether I know anything about him or not).

If you led with say 300-400, I don't think you get raised by anyone with a hand you beat except on a bluff (obviously). The only hand that a sane person can bluff you with here is the naked A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], but they would have showdown value so bluffing there seems pretty unlikely.

Considering you don't know your opponent, I would check and call a reasonable (up to pot size) bet. Probably it gets checked behind or you are faced with a 300-400 bet.

I'm not sure what I do on the flop and turn, which are much more interesting streets to me. I am inclined to lead this flop. Since I make so many continuation bets, I really feel good about continuing when I actually have a hand. Things get tricky after that, if either player raises you have a tough decision. If you get called, I think you need to follow through with a turn bet when the blank comes.

The whole problem with the above, though, is that you are building a big pot with a marginal hand out of position. Not a great spot.

So what about preflop? After playing a lot of NL ring games lately, I am inclined to fold this UTG pre flop against an unknown field. Against a weak field I like raising, but AJo is a great hand to stack off with if you are not careful. With stacks this deep, post flop play is where the money is, and AJ just is not going to be easy to get value out of post flop. Against a weak, predictable field, raising preflop and continuing on any flop is profitable, I think. Limping may be ok, but the more I think about it, the more I think this hand should just be dumped pre flop against most fields.

One general question, then I'll read the other responses:
When you have a blind structure like this, with sb=bb, is 3BB too small of a raise?

[kuro]

Your flop play really confuses me. Your raise utg means an unknown villain is going to put you on AA-JJ,AK/AQ and so isn't likely to bluff into you on later streets if you check/call the flop. So why not check-raise or simply bet out especially when you know you're going to have to play the rest of the streets out of position with a hand that can't really stand a big raise.

[SpeakEasy]

[ QUOTE ]

Your action?

[/ QUOTE ]

Before I read the thread, I thought bet 250 to 350.

This is what you did. I might even call the raise.

[PrayingMantis]

[ QUOTE ]
if they bet, you call, but the bet will be small enough to call. it may be a bit bigger than your blocking bet

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is an important advantage of a blocking bet in such a spot. There is some chance villain has some weak ace here or K, that he decided not to bet on the turn for some reason (fearing utg is slowplaying a bigger ace, maybe), and that he will call the river with. There's a big difference between paying t300 or t600-700 on the river here, IMO, if you're beat. And if you don't bet out you'll have a tough time not to call a t600-700 bet, while it's relaively easy to fold to pretty much any reasonable reraise, like in the real hand.

You are right about players who might sense the weakness in such a bet and can raise you regardless. But I think that such a player will prbably bet the turn, and not check behind in a spot like this.

About raising AJo utg and the weakness of checking the river, I think that AJ is (sometimes) not the easiest hand to put you on when you raise utg, since many players don't raise it utg, and so your 2p has some more power than other 2p (AQ, AK). But I agree it's not a very big consideration, especially since there's a K on flop.

Edit: also, with the hands villain will pay with, you forgot to mention KJ.

[durron597]

Am I the only one here who doesn't like playing AJo UTG?