Unsure what to do with my AJs (folding seems weak...)

[registrar]

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I thought it is obvious that calling with a hand which is dominated by all standard raising hands UTG is incorrect? We could probably make such call in position, but not from the SB vs UTG.

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Short-handed the rules change just a bit. In his position I'm raising a fair number of hands that don't much want to see a re-raise. If he's not raising KQ, AJ, even weaker holdings like QJ and AT, and most pockets he's pretty tight. (I don't have his stats in front of me, but they did not scream Tighty McNuts.)

It was the combination of pretty-but-dangerous hand and position that had me flummoxed. As veg says, AQ is a bit easier, and on the button I call all day long. I hate the blinds and I hate AJ.

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Given the range you listed, this is a pretty easy call. IMO, I like acting first in these situations. I have one last chance to adjust my plan - i.e. if I really want to fold to a horrendous KQx no heart flop, I can. Otherwise, I gain some FE by pushing most flops here.

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As I said in my OP, we have just enough room to check raise too so we have three plays open to us on the flop and we can act first, which is why I call.

[Optisizer]

Fold! Too high a risk you will be dominated out of position, and stacks too shallow for implied odds to be there chasing a flush (hoping for a fjush draw).

[0evg0]

okay,

i'm still folding.

in these things, donks don't open up their raising range here (even tho they should). plus there's the obv cEV /= $EV considersations at this point too

maybe it's weak but whatevs i fold

[Kieran]

You're out of position, but you still have position on him and the combination of his 3BB raise and a call/raise from you should scare others off. I'd call, or if I were a little more suspicious I might raise him to double his bet to possibly chase him off, or at least discourage him from c-betting the flop.

Thoughts?

[registrar]

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okay,

donks don't open up their raising range here (

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I agree with this and I think it's close for that reason. However, having said that, the same donks also don't call flop bets or checkraises unless they've hit the board and they are more scared of bubbling than we are. Thus, I think it's good to see a flop or at least not very bad.

[registrar]

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You're out of position, but you still have position on him and the combination of his 3BB raise and a call/raise from you should scare others off. I'd call, or if I were a little more suspicious I might raise him to double his bet to possibly chase him off, or at least discourage him from c-betting the flop.

Thoughts?

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I kind of want him to c bet the flop if I've been paying attention to how much and how fast he bets and that's assuming we give him the chance to do so, rather than bet or push ourselves first.

[0evg0]

i really kinda hate calling here pretty hard.

[Beachman42]

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A. I didn't say he was tight. I said he wasn't a lunatic.

B. All UTGs are not the same. Three-handed, UTG is also the button. Do you look at a raise there and say, "Holy [censored], Big Slick!"? This is an MP raise into a tight table, with nobody on life-support. (Even shorty has 12BB so it's not like he's going to be shoving A8 here.)

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OK, so what did you do & why?

[nath]

it's weird to me how much tournament advice i see on here that seems to be afraid to gamble
FFS people we're 6 handed with <20BB and we're trying to find a way not to play AJ suited to one raise. If someone can show me some math and a reasonable range where pushing this is demonstrably wrong, I'll listen.
Folding seems weak because it is weak, even to an UTG raise. It's sixhanded and late in the tournament and UTG should be raising enough hands that we're in good shape.
Tournaments reward taking chances, not finding monsters under the bed.
I was just thinking about this because I was reading the updates from Festa El Lago and saw players making moves and calling all-ins much more loosely than we consider to be smart or solid or safe. sure, we think most of them are donks, but some of them are consistently successful, and some of them realize that the element of luck is such a big factor in tournaments that you have to take close spots and sort of ride the wave and hope it works out.
for all we do about talking about never passing an edge lots of people here still do quite a bit, they overestimate their opponents' ranges and never factor bluffs into account or anything like that.
i vote play the hand and i'm not sure how to exactly but i'm inclined to push, i'm not inclined to fold, especially when there are only six hands that are real cause for concern (and if you think an UTG isn't opening KJ or AT or 77 6-handed, you're a fool).

[Jack-in-a-box]

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(and if you think an UTG isn't opening KJ or AT or 77 6-handed, you're a fool).

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He probably does. The same way as he opening AK, AQ, JJ, QQ, KK, AA and other good hands here.
So is this a problem of styles? Or if a player who doesn't gamble here is a fool?