AJo in late position

How do you treat AJo - generally - in late position after an early position standard 3BB raise and a middle position call?
Cash game, FR, you're either in the cutoff or on the button. (Online or live).

Do you fold, flat or raise? I use the term "generally" here to mean minimal information on opponents, 100BB effective stack sizes, and you're playing with competent regs rather than maniacs or fish.

With minimal information i would probably flat call, And re access after the flop.

Yeah I get it, I mean a flat call can't seem wrong can it? But I wonder how often we are good when an A hits, over time? I usually prefer a J high flop in these situations to be honest.

I'm leaning more towards a fold or raise tbh.

I always prefer a entering with a 3bet but sometimes you have to mix it up. Hitting the Jack in this situation would be a good flop for us.

Flat call is reasonable, and if there is more agression before your act it is easy fold as well.

A-Jo is kind of a trouble hand.

I don't like it too much with a raise and a call. It just depends on what kind of opponents you are playing against.

Against better players, maybe raise or fold. Against fish, probably call. Fish will raise A-8o UTG, as better players know not to do this. Fish play bingo alot, they never fold when they should.

So if we raise we may scare the fish away. If we call, we keep their dominated ranges in.


I really am not that knowledgeable, so take this with a grain of salt. It is only my thoughts on the issue.

But in closing I really don't care much for A-Jo.

You know on second thought, not raising vs fish might be foolish because then we are playing MW pots with A-Jo.

I changed my mind. Either raise or fold I guess.

If this is FR, I'm more on the tighter side. Facing an UTG raise and a flat; with the odds and being IP I think it's "ok" to call but I think foldings fine too but don't get to invested on ace high flops if there's a lot of aggression. Raising doesn't make much sense to me, unless UTG is opening a lot of hands and MP is calling a lot it doesn't make a ton of sense. It's like; if he's raising wide, we want to keep those hands in, if we 3B, he's either folding or going to 4B AK+ and flat AQ so we've bloated a pot with a worse hand.

I think AJo is overplayed a lot, I tend to think what we would do with a hand like ATo here, I'd probably fold for sure if this was FR and given AJo isn't exactly much better than ATo facing those UTG raises it's one of those spots that could well turn into a reversed implied odds hand. Either the flop comes down Ace high and we win a small pot, or potentially lose a big one.

It depends on who EP is, but at least calling.

Beanfacekilla said:

A-Jo is kind of a trouble hand.

Against better players, maybe raise or fold. Against fish, probably call. Fish will raise A-8o UTG, as better players know not to do this.

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Thanks man, this is helping!

baudib1 said:

It depends on who EP is, but at least calling.

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Yeah EP def has a better range here than MP right?

ramdeebam said:

I tend to think what we would do with a hand like ATo here, I'd probably fold for sure if this was FR and given AJo isn't exactly much better than ATo facing those UTG raises it's one of those spots that could well turn into a reversed implied odds hand.

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I think you're right Ram. And I think I like it less than KQs.

6 max I occasionally raise, but folding is my default play with AJo vs a raise. In a full ring game I am almost always folding AJo. I might open late or defend my blind with it, but I do NOT want to get involved in a big 3bet pot with AJ: it is a good way to lose your stack.

Yeah, it's not bad hand, but an easily dominated hand.
If the pre-flop raiser have AKo, AQo , then you would be a 2:1 underdog.

With that said, I would just flat call. You are getting at least 2-to-1 odds to call(assuming anyone behind you folds). Then proceed with caution if an Ace come on the board. It's alright to check top pair, to avoid getting check-raised and be put in a tough spot.

Hope that helps

I the raiser is known to me to be a loose raiser, and the caller seems to suspect the same than the only time I'm re-raising is to squeeze out the caller. more often than not I'm using my gut feeling (perception of seated players) to either call or fold.

GWU73 said:

6 max I occasionally raise, but folding is my default play with AJo vs a raise. In a full ring game I am almost always folding AJo. I might open late or defend my blind with it, but I do NOT want to get involved in a big 3bet pot with AJ: it is a good way to lose your stack.

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Yeah opening late and blind defence is often looking good to me with AJo, agree with you about flatting having issues especially in FR. Saying that, I will flat with it if opponent is known to me, and I feel their range is weaker a decent amount of the time.

your flatting a lot (based on position) and folding sometimes (based on player profiles).

I would mostly flat here. Three betting is not so good because you do want to keep hands you have dominated in while any hand that has you dominated or you're flipping with will call or even 4-bet depending on the player.

I do not really like a flat. 3 bet or fold IMO

flat call and see what happens in the flop. AJ offsuit isnt that strong however the first player to raise could be having the same hand of even A10, and there is the possibility that he has a medium pair, probably tens or nines, or maybe he is taking advantage of the early position in order to make everyone believe he has a great hand. Some players seem to have a wide range preflop even in early positions, so calling in my opinion is the best choice here.

Calling is a somewhat weak option imo. AJo is only a so so hand when you're up against an early raiser and a caller. I think from there it depends on if you're a more aggressive player or a more conservative player. Conservative players should fold, aggressive players may want to attempt a squeeze play. At least with a 3b you will get some more information on your opponents.

I usually always flat AJo preflop unless were down to 4 people or less than i'm more likely to set out a 3 bet.