$55: AJs - Play a TPTK Hand That's a Disaster with a Non-Master

Preflop, I would raise. you obviously couldnt know that the 4 people to act after you were all going to limp into the hand...but who wouldnt with so many limpers, the odds give you no choice. Your hand is solid, not great, but worth an investment of a raise to 150 imo. but, more importantly, it would go a long way in defining your hand and help you find out who is serious and who is prospecting. investing an extra 100 chips at this stage does so much more for you than waiting until after the flop. moreover, if someone pushes over the top of my raise here, i have no problems laying this hand down and losing my 150 chips.

tough call on the rest of the hand. TPTK has taken down many people in here i am sure...tough hand. But, because you did not protect it by raising preflop, i personally would play TPTK very cautiously...i think i would be in teh same position as you if i played this hand without the preflop raise. i hope TPTK was good!

Why would you say limp obviously?

Just asking because I think limping is a mistake...but am definitely open to my opinion being wrong. i realize AJs is a marginal hand, but with so many limpers in the pot, you gotta figure either CO and/or button will at least call, and that will force SB to complete and BB to check, if not raise. The odds are just too good to pass if everyone limps. I like to take the action to them and reduce the number in the hand while better defining the hands. Plus, that raise could force out the CO and button, giving you position on the table...if the hand was raised preflop, i pity the players facing the bet you will make post flop...i think you take it down there or have all ur chips in with TPTK praying it holds up

[FlyWf]

Well, I'm an idiot. A weak-tight idiot, at that.
But...
Because if you get called you are going to end up allin more or less no matter what flops. You're putting ~1/4 of your stack in with a decent raise, and I don't think you're taking it down before the flop, and with one caller the pot is going to be like 70% of your stack.

You can't spend chips paying for information when you've got <20BB.

i agree with you to an extent...but, i think a 150 raise isnt crippling you and it gives you so much more chance at winning the hand than limping. i would rather push after raising preflop with the flop we saw than to limp and try to see where i stand by investing more chips into the hand...at the 55s, im willing to test the water and allow myself to get a little shortstacked while makign stabs at the pot...all those here should be pretty good at pushing preflop in +EV situations...

[tigerite]

A raise to 150 does absolutely nothing here, except get everyone to call and give you a massive pot on the flop.

[patrick dicaprio]

i dont like the limp here. you stack is just the wrong size to limp hoping to get the flush and if you are hoping to get an A or J then you should have raised preflop. the problem with this line of course is that you may be commiting yourself if you get reraised. with the right crowd i can agree with calling.

on the flop i think if you are going to go all in on the turn you may as well just push on the flop. there are a whole lot of draws out there on the flop that you may still have the best hand and your turn bet is way too small to do anything so you have no fold equity. by just calling here preflop i think you got yourself into a tough situation especially if this is a tough crowd.

Pat