AJs in blind vs late position raise

[ChuckTs]

Villain is pretty new to the table, and I have no reads; he sat down like 4 or 5 hands ago and hasn't played a hand til now.

How do we go about playing this vs. tournament chipleader?

full tilt poker Game #1890732540: $5,000 Guarantee (13698613), Table 6 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 11:49:21 ET - 2007/02/28
Seat 1: PokerFreak666 (3,375)
Seat 2: toughMick (26,101)
Seat 3: aksam74 (4,110)
Seat 4: Roarkish (10,869)
Seat 5: ChuckTs (11,250)
Seat 6: uReloadSoon (14,007)
Seat 7: sharkusmanly (16,666)
Seat 8: skillz4u (1,040), is sitting out
Seat 9: CHADTAY (3,345)
PokerFreak666 antes 25
toughMick antes 25
aksam74 antes 25
Roarkish antes 25
ChuckTs antes 25
uReloadSoon antes 25
sharkusmanly antes 25
skillz4u antes 25
CHADTAY antes 25
Roarkish posts the small blind of 150
ChuckTs posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ChuckTs [Js As]
uReloadSoon folds
sharkusmanly folds
skillz4u folds
CHADTAY folds
PokerFreak666 folds
toughMick raises to 1,275
aksam74 folds
Roarkish folds
ChuckTs ...

 

[F Paulsson]

Are we getting close to the bubble? That may have some serious impact on his range, here.

I'll presume that the bubble is still far away, for now.

You're putting in 10% of your stack to see a flop with a hand that is often going to be either dominated or won't get implied odds. Are you willing to go broke on an ace-high flop with this hand? What about a J-high flop? There's not a lot of room to maneuver here, and even if a call won't make you committed to the flop, you really don't want to risk folding the best hand after the flop.

 

[Bombjack]

I might make this call if deepstacked, but you have less than 40 BB, I'd probably fold. Alternatively re-raise to 4000 and shove any flop if called.

 

[stormswa]

well

The question shouldn't be if you should call or not, it should be what are you going to do on the flop if you hit a ace or a jack?


obviously this player is going to continuation bet on the flop if a ace or a jack come out, someone said you are putting 10% of your stack in right? so the continuation bet is most likley going to be pot sized so he will be asking you to put another 30% of so in on flop, so that is 40% of your stack.

the question is are you willing to go to showdown if you hit one of your cards? if the answer is yes then yes you call, if the answer is no then you got to fold. There are no clear yes's or no's in poker, when people comment on a hand they are basically giving their opinion on what they would do with a certain hand. There is always pot odds and stuff like that but even with those there still is no clear cut yes or no to any decision in poker. Basically you have to ask yourself what do you want to do with this hand on further streets.

you are also out of position so what is going to happen if a Ace or Jack hit are you going to check or bet? If you bet then basically you are saying you are going to showdown with this hand, if you check then you have to make the decision to go to showdown or just concede what might be the best hand. If you are going to just concede it then why bother getting involved in the 1st place?

 

[Irexes]

If I've got 20,000+ I think about it a bit more, but without reads and with this stack I fold.

 

[blankoblanco]

Man, I don't know. Letting the CO steal our BB when we have AJs just seems criminally weak-tight. His range is absolutely huge. It's a pretty awkward spot, but it looks very much like a raise that just wants to take the blinds. AK and JJ+ are rarely going to raise over 4 BBs in LP here.

I strongly consider shoving. I don't think our stack is that bad for it. I think the stop 'n go (re-raise to 4k, push flop) is a bad idea here, because, as mentioned, his range is almost anything. I don't want to give him a discount to connect with a garbage hand as well as letting him just throw it away when he misses.