Isn't this the Ed Miller hand?

[Aaron W.]

I probably would have raised preflop. The second best option is to fold because A2s isn't a great hand to play against a slightly loose (30 VPIP) player. The worst option is to call, unless you completely rock this game postflop.

Since you limped, the only reason to fold is if you are very sure (say 75%) that he would only bet an ace here. Otherwise, you have to play it like you have the best hand and you need to extract as much money as possible (otherwise you shouldn't be limping in the first place).

The pot is small, and part of me wants to just call to help inflate the pot by getting overcallers, but that's a dangerous play and probably doesn't work often enough to be correct. So you've just got to value raise and extract from UTG.

This also means you bet the turn and river, and hope to see him turn over KJ/QJ/JT so that you win.

[fretelöo]

I guess my reference was a bit "disguised". I was referring to the A3 hand Ed took as example in his "Why you guys aren't crushing..." post.

Oki, to sum this up.

PF: Either fold or raise.
Flop: Fine.
Turn: Bet/fold.
River: Bet/fold is better than checking behind as I should assume I'm ahead; checking behind is not terrible; a crying call is clearly inferior.

About PF: A2s is a mediocre hand. Better than average, but not by a huge margin. So, I either want it to be 9-handed, and play it for flush-value, or HU, to play it for TP.
Since it's folded to me with one caller, I'm hoping for the latter. So I should raise, hoping to fold the blinds.

This, I guess, is what I should have been thinking, no?

The question is, how weak can hands become for this thinking (the HU-part) to be still correct? KJs? A4o? QJs? K9s?

What if it's folded to me, i.e. I'm on a blind steal? K8o? Ax, probably?

I ask because I kind of suspect I'm iso-raising too rarely and I'm virtually never trying to blind-steal.



As far as the hand goes, I checked behind with the intention of calling a bet on any blank on the river. He bet the blank and showed A5o...

[Aaron W.]

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I guess my reference was a bit "disguised". I was referring to the A3 hand Ed took as example in his "Why you guys aren't crushing..." post.

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That hand and this one have very little in common.

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The question is, how weak can hands become for this thinking (the HU-part) to be still correct? KJs? A4o? QJs? K9s?

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It depends on the villain and the villains in the blind. If villain is super weak and the blinds are tight, all those hands are good hands to raise. You expect to take down lots of pots on the flop when you raise preflop against this type of player.

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What if it's folded to me, i.e. I'm on a blind steal? K8o? Ax, probably?

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Look to your left.

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I ask because I kind of suspect I'm iso-raising too rarely and I'm virtually never trying to blind-steal.

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Don't worry about iso-raising with medium-strength hands until after you've got a better handle on your postflop play.

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As far as the hand goes, I checked behind with the intention of calling a bet on any blank on the river. He bet the blank and showed A5o...

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This is almost always a bad play. It is better to bet the turn and check behind than to check the turn and hope he bluffs the river.

[ciscociskers]

grunch

reraise this flop all day as villain's bet indicates that he caught a piece of the flop (any 9,J or OESD as you mentioned)without a 3-bet i doubt villain has an A

after villain's check (and non 3-bet on flop) i don't give him credit for an A, so bet again. even if villain is holding a weak A, which at best he does, you have 3 outs to win and 6 outs to tie not to mention folding equity. keep betting!

[SatoriKid]

Grunch

I'm not limping with A2s preflop. This whole hand is exactly why (you never know where you stand). I want at least one more limper and I'm basically playing this hand as a drawing hand, not a top pair hand. You never know where you're at. The rest of the hand is fine. Bet again on the turn. I might consider checking behind on the river unimproved.

[davelin]

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I'm not limping with A2s preflop. This whole hand is exactly why (you never know where you stand).

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That's not always the case, there are certainly times where A2s can be played for top pair value. I think this is one of those hands where that is the case (I'd probably pre-flop raise myself).

[Watkins]

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That's not always the case, there are certainly times where A2s can be played for top pair value.

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To summarise this for my own benefit, these times are when you have a loose opponent (30%+) and only the BTN/Blinds to contend with?

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I'd probably pre-flop raise myself

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presumably this is pretty much a must, if you are playing this as a TP hand it's only comparitvely strong against the loose limper, you don't really want anyone else in there with you. Plus a bet here may result in a weak A folding the flop?

[davelin]

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That's not always the case, there are certainly times where A2s can be played for top pair value.

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To summarise this for my own benefit, these times are when you have a loose opponent (30%+) and only the BTN/Blinds to contend with?

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I'd probably pre-flop raise myself

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presumably this is pretty much a must, if you are playing this as a TP hand it's only comparitvely strong against the loose limper, you don't really want anyone else in there with you. Plus a bet here may result in a weak A folding the flop?

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Yeah pretty much, although I wouldn't be as precise as that (one loose limper plus blinds = play this hand for high-pair value). I pre-flop raise mostly for the reasons you cite, or simply because I think I have an edge over the random holdings everyone else is holding (and having the Button/enertia is sexy too).