[Buzz]

L.A. - I think your starting hand is playable, but how exacly to play the hand is entirely dependent on your opponents and how they play.

In general, I think raising before the flop with the hand is better in a tight game than in a loose game.

Since five or your seven opponents chose to see the flop despite your raise, I'd rate your table as loose.

My tables are loose too. Usually not 5/7 after a raise loose, but loose. But maybe you raise enough before the flop that your pre-flop raises don't have much meaning to your decent opponents (and your poor opponents are oblivious to them). At any rate, when not posting the big blind, I see the flop with roughly three out of ten hands - and probably close to 90% (at least over 80%) of those hands have at least one ace.

Since you have two of the aces, but five opponents are seeing the flop, obviously at least three of your opponents do not have aces. I'd guess at least two of your opponents, and probably three or four, are playing starting hands I'd probably muck. Therefore, your game is a loose game by my standards, looser than my games usually are.

With that many opponents seeing the flop, probably a straight, a flush, or a full house will be needed to win high.

But your starting hand doesn't really have good chances for a straight and since your starting hand is a rainbow, you can kiss off flushes as well.

A full house is also remote for you because with that many opponents seeing the flop, (1) you probably need to see an ace on the flop for your pair of aces to be worth much, and (2) both of the missing aces are probably unavailable for the board. Therefore you can mostly kiss off full houses too.

Therefore, your hopes for high are dismal.

With that many opponents seeing the flop, a nut low or at least second nut low is probably needed. You need both a deuce and a trey for a nut low, but either one will do for a second nut low. Second nut low is not something you want to be drawing for, if that's all or mostly all the hand has going for it.

Oh well.... it only cost you one small bet, and if you get a miracle flop....

But the flop is not a miracle. Instead, your hopes for high are dismal and you have only the 4th nut low draw (also dismal). To top it off, you have horrid position and there very well might be a raise behind you if you call. If you make it three bets, will that limit the field? (I don't know, but I seriously doubt it, considering the number of double bet callers on the flop).

I think you have to fold to the flop bet.

However, the pre-flop raise was not a terrible mistake because now you have learned that you can't raise before the flop to limit the number of this particular group of opponents who will see the flop. Doesn't mean it's not a bad play against some other group of opponents. And it might work next time against this group.

But I wouldn't try it again.

Generally, against my typical opponents, I'll usually call from early position with a starting hand like this. If I raised from early position some of my opponents would guess I had a hand with a pair of aces, and then with a more favorable flop, they'd play me for a flopped set of aces. I'd get that one extra small bet out of them on the first betting round, but that would be the end of it.

(I don't think you can equate playing more starting hands than you think is proper to being a total idiot).

Buzz