Party 15/30 preflop question -- another AJo one

[PuffsNutz]

Maybe Im missing something, but I dont think it's
"likely" that your AJ is best here.

I really like your explanation of balancing your play,
but for this particular situation that would
be a good play in a short game or in blind stealing
situations, but the range
of hands a typical player on party will 3 bet an UTG raiser with in
a full game, it is still very unlikely they will
check turn (and if they have AQ, the most common
hand they will check turn with, your still in trouble).

The key is this game is full, and even if you
are getting some random 3 bets against you
with worse hands, its still "unlikely".

Which brings me to my point, that instead
of playing guessing games in a game like poster
describes then your better play may be to fold the AJ offsuit UTG. And IMO its the better play to fold
preflop if you intend on calling any Q rag rag or K rag
rag flop if you get 3 bet.


As I side note I would actually guess the AJ off is profitable UTG overall on party.
But I wouldnt describe the games like original poster.

[The WET BEAVER]

Fold. You don't need to fall for Fancy Play Syndrome. Some people on 2+2 want you to make a move every chance you get, but you should pick your spots wisely. In UTG you have the worst position with a marginal hand.

There are 7 players behind you left to act. Someone who calls you is likely to have a pair or have you dominated.

[The WET BEAVER]

[ QUOTE ]
The last two hands, you have raised preflop and won a small pot without a showdown.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you just did that twice in a row, players will get suspicious and start calling you.

[Nate tha' Great]

[ QUOTE ]
your default line of play with this "i just raised and i look kinda like i'm a maniac" context, right?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yah. I'm sometimes inclined to put in a gratuitous cap when I suspect that my opponent might be taking shots at me and I have a reasonably strong hand.

[Senor Choppy]

[ QUOTE ]
The real answer isn't about just this hand. Its about all your hands. It's about a balanced approach to your game that leaves them always guessing.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can balance your game pretty well without taking a mediocre hand like AJ and calling down the guy that 3 bet you after the flop misses you in the worst possible way, when you're out of position. Save the call down for a Q high board or when you have AQ here, or whatever. The only thing to like here is that the hero raised 2 consecutive hands before this, which increases the likelihood of his opponent holding crap, but probably not by much.

8-1 here isn't that great given everything working against the hero here. The default play should be check-fold, exceptions to this should be far less than 50% of the time. I like capping it preflop if I'm going to put in more money with a flop this bad.