05-23-08, Clark Jensen:
AJ in mid position
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The player to my right limped in. I was in 4th position and had AJ off. Normally I chuck this, but on this night most of the table had been playing me very weakly (ie folding preflop to my raise or on the flop to a bet) and I had won several hands in a row, building my stack from a $160 buy in to approx $450. So I came in for a raise to $12. A player who I know very well to be an extremely loose player raises me the minimum to $22. Then the player to my right who had limped calls the 22. I had just taken a rather large pot (approx $150 off of him and I thought he might be steaming, or possibly have a small pocket pair. I called the extra $10.
The flop came A,9,3 rainbow. the guy to my right leads out and bets $50 (he had about $150 left.) I though about it for about 5 mins and decided that he limped originally with a weak ace. I didn't think he would lead out if he had flopped trips. So I raised him to $150. The other player folded and the guy to my right moved all in. It was only another $25 or so to call so I called him thinking I was beat and I was. He had AK.
What are your thoughts on how I played the hand? He surprised me when he bet out after hitting the ace, I would have been more inclined to check and reraise with two players left to act behind me.
What do you think of my raise in that situation?
I lost a rather big pot but still managed to leave up several hundered at the end of the night. I left thinking that the guy just played his AK very well, but am I missing something? Do you think I should have been able to get away from the hand?
Other than saying the obvious (don't play AJ in mid-early position..lol) I would really appreciate your imput.
Many thanks!
Dustin
Answer:
Hi Dustin,
thanks for an interesting question. Let's take a closer look at your hand. You can definitely raise with AJ in mid position with one limper in front of you. Especially when you said that the table was passive, it's never wrong to try to pick up the blinds in a game like that. Raising also often gives you control over the pot, even when other players call.
You have an extremely loose player mini-raise behind, which don't say hardly anything about the strength of his hand (I am guessing that he makes moves like that with a wide variety of hands and to try to use his position advantage.)
The question is what kind of hand the player to your right will have in order to call a raise and a re-raise in early position. Many players will limp here with hands like AK, AQ etc. because they know that their position makes them vulnerable, and that they usually need to hit the flop in order to win the pot. Some players will make the same play with small pocket pairs (as you said), hoping to flop a set.
The fact that your opponent might be steaming makes it extra hard to narrow down his possible holdings.
You should off course call the mini-raise whatever your opponents might be holding. But when the player to your right bets out on the flop you have a very tough decision to make. I my self will often come out betting both with a strong ace and trips on a flop like this. The reason is that I hope that someone that has hit a weaker ace (or something similar) will raise in an attempt to protect his/her hand. The beauty here is that the raise often makes them pot committed and I get all their money. If I go for a check raise here, there is a much greater chance that they will get a way from their hand. Another reason to bet with a hand like AK here is that even though you have top pair, top kicker you still only have a pair, which is a very vulnerable hand with two more players in the pot.
With all this in mind I would say that you have a very tough decision to make here on the flop. I think that raising, as you did, is a better option than just calling here. Even if you just call you might have a hard time getting away from the hand when your opponent only has $175 left and there are over $150 in the pot after your call. If your stacks were larger I would often just call here with a hand like AJ, in order to keep the pot size down.
But in this situation you basically have to choose if you want to play for your opponent's entire stack or fold. It's easy to say what you should have done when we know the answer, but the decision comes down entirely to the read of your opponent. It is troublesome that he cold called a raise and a re-raise pre-flop in early position. Against a loose player like the guy behind you I would usually re-raise in this situation, but against tighter players I would sometimes fold.
Good luck at the tables!
Clark
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