describe ATo

[blaze666]

never heard uch about what to do with this hand. so what should i do with it? how should i play it? what should i be expecting. im looking for an answer primarily for a full ring game with fish, but other places would be helpful. is this an instant fold? currently for me it is.

[W. Deranged]

For me, ATo is:

EP: A fold, pretty much regardless of any other criteria.

MP: I'll start open raising this in like MP2, maybe MP1 depending on the texture of the game. If there are fish behind me who I figure will call with worse hands I'm happy to get my money in. I'm never open-limping with this hand.

LP: Easy open-raise. Also I like to raise this behind 1 or 2 limpers, particularly in the hijack or cutoff, with an eye toward keeping the hand short-handed and buying position.

Blinds: I never call a legitimate raise with this hand out of the small blind. I'll call in the big blind if I have many opponents and am thus getting very good odds on a call (five-handed is the idea). This is an excellent hand with which to reraise a loose stealer opening from the button and the cutoff when I'm in the small blind.

Other thoughts: This hand plays well against very loose players and lags. I'm willing to three-bet lags with this to get the pot heads-up.

[Fat Nicky]

[ QUOTE ]
For me, ATo is:

EP: A fold, pretty much regardless of any other criteria.

MP: I'll start open raising this in like MP2, maybe MP1 depending on the texture of the game. If there are fish behind me who I figure will call with worse hands I'm happy to get my money in. I'm never open-limping with this hand.

LP: Easy open-raise. Also I like to raise this behind 1 or 2 limpers, particularly in the hijack or cutoff, with an eye toward keeping the hand short-handed and buying position.

Blinds: I never call a legitimate raise with this hand out of the small blind. I'll call in the big blind if I have many opponents and am thus getting very good odds on a call (five-handed is the idea). This is an excellent hand with which to reraise a loose stealer opening from the button and the cutoff when I'm in the small blind.

Other thoughts: This hand plays well against very loose players and lags. I'm willing to three-bet lags with this to get the pot heads-up.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the perfect analysis, IMO. I have nothing to add.

[SmileyEH]

Good with initiative and position, decent with initiave but out of position, bad with neither.

-SmileyEH