I am bad at playing AJs ... easily my worst hand

[Stumpy]

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any offsuit hand that you're instafolding should probably be instafolded when not suited

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I think this is very wrong, but I think it's a pretty complex / interesting topic.

I think 3-4% equity is actually pretty big in a lot of situations.

Early, with small blinds, you'll be in a lot of multi-way pots.
Starting hands that can make big hands like straights and flushes have a huge advantage.
Being able to make the nut flush and nut straight is huge.

In a 4 way pot against 3 top 15% hands, AJo is 20.7% to win.
AJs is 25.1% to win. So you're winning with AJs 20% more often than AJo.
That is not trivial at all.


Also, some of these trouble spots you're talking about are reduced, because sometimes when you hit an A against AK, you've also got a straight or a flush draw.
AJo vs AK on Axx flop: 14%
AJs vs AK on Ass flop: 45%

AJo vs J9 on J9x flop: 14%
AJs vs J9 on J9sXs flop: 45%

Also, having a flush draw plus overcards is good against lower pairs or pocket pairs:
AJo vs KTo on Txx flop: 23.3%
AJs vs KTo on Tss flop: 54%.

I'm sure 75% or more of your losses with AJ are coming against AQ, AK, so study those hands and figure out what to do differently.
And post some of them. You shouldn't be looking to get in for 100BB stacks with top pair in most cases.

[baltostar]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
any offsuit hand that you're instafolding should probably be instafolded when not suited

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is very wrong, but I think it's a pretty complex / interesting topic.

I think 3-4% equity is actually pretty big in a lot of situations.

Early, with small blinds, you'll be in a lot of multi-way pots.
Starting hands that can make big hands like straights and flushes have a huge advantage.
Being able to make the nut flush and nut straight is huge.

In a 4 way pot against 3 top 15% hands, AJo is 20.7% to win.
AJs is 25.1% to win. So you're winning with AJs 20% more often than AJo.
That is not trivial at all.


Also, some of these trouble spots you're talking about are reduced, because sometimes when you hit an A against AK, you've also got a straight or a flush draw.
AJo vs AK on Axx flop: 14%
AJs vs AK on Ass flop: 45%

AJo vs J9 on J9x flop: 14%
AJs vs J9 on J9sXs flop: 45%

Also, having a flush draw plus overcards is good against lower pairs or pocket pairs:
AJo vs KTo on Txx flop: 23.3%
AJs vs KTo on Tss flop: 54%.

I'm sure 75% or more of your losses with AJ are coming against AQ, AK, so study those hands and figure out what to do differently.
And post some of them. You shouldn't be looking to get in for 100BB stacks with top pair in most cases.

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Your analysis is exactly why I posted this thread. I hadn't run the numbers but I suspected these sorts of situational flop EV discrepancies.

I think AJs is a very attractive hand deep-stacked precisely because of the implied odds offerred by the suited ace broadway family ( AKs AQs AJs ATs ).

Sure, you can make a rule not to play this hand in a raised pre-flop pot, but if you decide playing this hand for up to 5xBB is crucial to your edge, the tricky part is post-flop play.

Maybe I should have entitled this thread "How to play AJs post-flop".