$2 NLHE 6-max: Totally Lost With AJo

E

EarnDAStack

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I played this hand a few days ago and It really bugged me.


888 Poker - $0.02 NL (6 max) FAST - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 42.5 BB
SB: 356 BB
Hero (BB): 102 BB
UTG: 103.5 BB
MP: 50.5 BB
CO: 148.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J♣ A♠

UTG raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 2 BB

Flop: (6.5 BB, 2 players) T♥ J♥ 8♠
Hero checks, UTG bets 3 BB, Hero raises to 10 BB, UTG calls 7 BB

Turn: (26.5 BB, 2 players) 4♠
Hero checks, UTG bets 11.5 BB, Hero raises to 24 BB, UTG calls 12.5 BB

River: (74.5 BB, 2 players) 9♣
Hero checks, UTG bets 32.5 BB, fold

UTG wins 70 BB


I think calling pre was probably a bad decision. I don't gain any information from it and I'll be out of position for the rest of the hand.

On the flop I don't mind my check raise, I have top pair top kicker, there's lots of draws I can represent and I still have 2 streets to hit an Ace if I'm up against a pocket pair.

The turn is where I think I got into trouble. I'm attempting to get him to fold here with my check raise but I think it was both too small of a re-raise to push any draw off the hand and I'm just fattening the pot up for a bigger pocket pair.

The river comes and my hand's strength fades away to nothing more than a bluff catcher. Villain's bet to me seems to be pure value, Half pot trying to entice me to call while not losing as much to rake if we do have the split.

I think my re-raise on the flop took this hand from standard poker hand to pretty large mistake. It didn't put enough pressure on hands if he was drawing and I could still be just completely crushed by this point.

Your thought's are much appreciated!
 
PaxMundi

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I think folding this pre is ok tbh although calling is ok , i dont think you need to raise the flop just call the cbet. And again with the turn you can just call although on the turn a pre-emptive blocker bet is ok as well so raise and check back most rivers if called. That kind of line can can give you control of the pot on the river as villain will check basically everything they call with unless they hit a draw. So it gets you to river showdowns cheaper vs better hands while charging the draws and worse hands on these boards. I think your flop line works in villains advantage by allowing them to shove draws with a ton of equity and you cant really call it off with tptk here.
 
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Sidetracked

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Honestly, if you're just learning the game, avoiding this kind of spot is best. Fold pf without very specific reads on villain.
 
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Gildog89

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I think the call pre is ok here, but you should probably just call the flop. I know its a draw heavy flop, but your not strong enough to build a big pot yet imo. You can go for the check raise on the turn. When you do decide to check raise the flop, the turn bricks. You took the lead on the flop, so bet the turn. I would put out a pot sized bet to make draws pay.
 
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maxi_j

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Fold pre if you would be in all other position and have no reads. call its OK because ju paying 2BB.

Anyway you might be in same spot with AJs



Call flop and be prepare to eazy fold on turn if comes Qh or 9h.
Even turn comes Kd you are behind against his whole range but you can call because of pot ods


This is very wet flop. X/R here is good with atlest 2P+ (maybee I would raise with top two pairat least) because you need extract value from draws and prepere to fold if comes 9h or Qh . And you should plan become passive (XF or XC depend on Vilains sizing) then in later street comes Q,9,K, heart.


BTW River play was good. but you should never find yourself it such spot in the future.
 
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rdpoker5

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Calling preflop is borderline. Check/call twice to keep the pot small and call blank rivers. If you plan to check/raise turn you should make in bigger and ship the river. Turning value hands into bluffs is in general a bad idea. You had good showdown value but did not get to showdown and lost too many bbs.
 
John A

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Calling pre depends on how wide UTG is opening. Post flop though, not sure why you're CR this kind of board... twice. Once was bad enough. :) Just call or lead, but don't over bloat the pot on a board you can't really improve on, but can be bluffed off or over run easily.
 
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AJ

AJ is a strong showable hand but you can be dominated by AQ and AK. With your deep of a stack I recommend a min raise then maybe a call.
 
eetenor

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Understanding Ranges

EarnDAStack said:
I played this hand a few days ago and It really bugged me.


888 Poker - $0.02 NL (6 max) FAST - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 42.5 BB
SB: 356 BB
Hero (BB): 102 BB
UTG: 103.5 BB
MP: 50.5 BB
CO: 148.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J♣ A♠

UTG raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 2 BB

Flop: (6.5 BB, 2 players) T♥ J♥ 8♠
Hero checks, UTG bets 3 BB, Hero raises to 10 BB, UTG calls 7 BB

Turn: (26.5 BB, 2 players) 4♠
Hero checks, UTG bets 11.5 BB, Hero raises to 24 BB, UTG calls 12.5 BB

River: (74.5 BB, 2 players) 9♣
Hero checks, UTG bets 32.5 BB, fold

UTG wins 70 BB


I think calling pre was probably a bad decision. I don't gain any information from it and I'll be out of position for the rest of the hand.

On the flop I don't mind my check raise, I have top pair top kicker, there's lots of draws I can represent and I still have 2 streets to hit an Ace if I'm up against a pocket pair.

The turn is where I think I got into trouble. I'm attempting to get him to fold here with my check raise but I think it was both too small of a re-raise to push any draw off the hand and I'm just fattening the pot up for a bigger pocket pair.

The river comes and my hand's strength fades away to nothing more than a bluff catcher. Villain's bet to me seems to be pure value, Half pot trying to entice me to call while not losing as much to rake if we do have the split.

I think my re-raise on the flop took this hand from standard poker hand to pretty large mistake. It didn't put enough pressure on hands if he was drawing and I could still be just completely crushed by this point.

Your thought's are much appreciated!
Click to expand...

Thank you for posting.

Understanding hand ranges allows us to correctly play these situations.
We build hand ranges by observing players and how they play in each position and how they respond to opponent actions.
When we are lacking direct observations we must use player pool observations.

6 Max utg raise what range?
Estimate AA-66 AK-A10 KQ KJ QJ suited

So on each street how would our villain react to the action with each of these hands? How would most of your player pool play these hands?
What range of hands does villain think we would check raise?
What range does the villain think we have when we check turn?
What range of hands does villain only call a turn check raise with?
What hand range does villain call turn and bet river with after two check raises?
Will villain fold enough of their range to make turning top pair into a bluff profitable?

Answer these questions and you will no longer be lost. You will be able to make the best choice available to you.

Hope this helps

:):)
 
Matt Vaughan

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Preflop is fine unless villain is a nit imo.

But x/r this board is truly bad. You represent some draws, yes, but if we're unsure about playing AJo pre, why are we suddenly stoked when this board comes out? Villain has AJ, JJ, TT, 88, QQ+ in their range. They may have KJ, but they likely don't have QJ.

They definitely have some draws, so check raising charges those draws a bit, but we are starting to immediately narrow villain's range to hands that crush us or have a lot of equity, and that's a pretty big issue.

On turn, we check, which I think makes sense since we've already sort of overplayed this hand... until we check raise again lol. What is this meant to accomplish exactly? As you say it basically just bloats the pot again vs a range that still either crushes or has plenty of equity.

I'd argue we have a bluff catcher from the turn on, if NOT from the flop onward. The river fold pretty much has to be good I think based on the action and the runout.
 
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EarnDAStack

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eetenor said:
Thank you for posting.

Understanding hand ranges allows us to correctly play these situations.
We build hand ranges by observing players and how they play in each position and how they respond to opponent actions.
When we are lacking direct observations we must use player pool observations.

6 Max utg raise what range?
Estimate AA-66 AK-A10 KQ KJ QJ suited

So on each street how would our villain react to the action with each of these hands? How would most of your player pool play these hands?
What range of hands does villain think we would check raise?
What range does the villain think we have when we check turn?
What range of hands does villain only call a turn check raise with?
What hand range does villain call turn and bet river with after two check raises?
Will villain fold enough of their range to make turning top pair into a bluff profitable?

Answer these questions and you will no longer be lost. You will be able to make the best choice available to you.

Hope this helps

:):)
Click to expand...


Thank you for laying out the thought process I should be going through during a hand, I'm going to write it down and go over it when I review my hands.

To be honest on this hand I think I just foolishly decided I was ahead on the flop and got a case of fancy play syndrome. I thought I was ahead of him on the flop and didn't let new information change my mind. Check calling the flop and turn than getting rid of it depending on the bet size on the river is probably the best play here.

I just decided I was going to be able to win the pot with aggression and took a licking for it.

Thanks again for your thoughts!
 
E

EarnDAStack

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Scourrge said:
Preflop is fine unless villain is a nit imo.

But x/r this board is truly bad. You represent some draws, yes, but if we're unsure about playing AJo pre, why are we suddenly stoked when this board comes out? Villain has AJ, JJ, TT, 88, QQ+ in their range. They may have KJ, but they likely don't have QJ.

They definitely have some draws, so check raising charges those draws a bit, but we are starting to immediately narrow villain's range to hands that crush us or have a lot of equity, and that's a pretty big issue.

On turn, we check, which I think makes sense since we've already sort of overplayed this hand... until we check raise again lol. What is this meant to accomplish exactly? As you say it basically just bloats the pot again vs a range that still either crushes or has plenty of equity.


I'd argue we have a bluff catcher from the turn on, if NOT from the flop onward. The river fold pretty much has to be good I think based on the action and the runout.
Click to expand...


That's where things went all wrong... Again lol.

I think I probably overvalued my starting hand given the open was from UTG. I was pretty happy when I hit the Jack on the flop and as I said in an earlier post I think I had decided I was ahead or could at least win the hand by betting. The 4 on the turn probably didn't change much so far as the hand is concerned and it certainly didn't cause me to change my flawed thought process until I was abruptly realized how terrible of spot I was on the river lol.

I think this is truly one of the hands I'll end up learning from due to just outright how poorly I played it.

Thanks again for your thoughts!
 
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rafffinamore

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It really was a good reflection on the move. I will also note this to use in these situations and it is certainly the best alternative. Thank you very much.
 
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c0rnBr34d

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I've have been getting myself in trouble lately by flatting AJ/AJs OOP vs a raise. In my opinion flatting is the worst option here. It's strong enough to three bet against all but the tightest players. It's also fine to fold vs an UTG open from a strong tight player. I realize this flop is wet. We hit it but given how draw heavy it is why would we want to play for stacks with top pair top kicker here OOP against an UTG raising range? Just call flop and see if we can get to show down. I also prefer to just call turn. The river is kind of gross but that was bound to happen on this board. Had we just called flop and turn we could still evaluate and either fold or bluff catch on the river. This is the exact opposite of how I want to play this hand. Calling pre vs raising pre. Check raising flop and turn vs x calling flop and turn. Folding river vs x / eval river and allowing for some bluff catch opportunities.
 
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