AJs vs a laggy guy

DavidC · #1 02-24-2007, 06:57 PM

Home game, and this guy is making lots of raises (30%) and playing about 40% of hands. With initiative he's been making small bets, 1/5 pot etc, he generally does this on the flop and turn but plays the river fine (mostly this has meant checking weak made hands into fish). His raises are between say 4bb and 6bb normally, and I can't figure out the pattern that would match hand values to raise size at this time.

Anyways, one bad player limps, this guy raises to about 5bb (we're each 300bb deep), one guy calls in front of him, who is bad (caller could have something like 97o here), and I have AJs in the small blind.

Caller might be 80-150 deep right here.

What's hero's play?

lynxman73 · #2 02-24-2007, 07:04 PM

I don't like posts like this (I know I know, who am I to choose, right?); the more thoughtful responses will be "act this way x% of the time, another way x% of the time....", but that doesn't seem like what you want (I could be wrong), and if you're lost in this hand you're still gonna be lost after hearing this advice. Saying "always ______ in this spot" is bad advice to, as it depends on table dynamics, etc... What if you posted the whole hand one step at a time and had people respond that way? I think it would be way more productive (I apologize if this is what you were planning to do in the first place, or I sound very out of line to you overall).

Adam

PuppyFridayYall · #3 02-24-2007, 07:29 PM

This is time for a push for several reasons. One, you said player was playing a lot so he probably has a worse hand then you. Two, I doubt he'd call a push giving you whats in the pot and some change as pure profit. This will surely get the limper to fold. If he's a real loose player he could call you with a low pocket pair and you would have outs. If he's a tight player he might fold aq/ak/kk maybe if he puts you on the nuts.

Jake

James. · #4 02-24-2007, 10:49 PM

pot 12.5bb when it gets to you? i would make it 20bb straight. sometimes game conditions in these live spots lend me to calling pf and trying to catch something to trap him with his c-bet. usually though, since there are some bets in the pot, it's multiway and we are severely hampered by position after the flop, i try to utilize our good position on this betting round and take it down now or get it HU vs. the LAG.

DavidC · #5 02-24-2007, 11:22 PM

[ QUOTE ]
pot 12.5bb when it gets to you? i would make it 20bb straight. sometimes game conditions in these live spots lend me to calling pf and trying to catch something to trap him with his c-bet. usually though, since there are some bets in the pot, it's multiway and we are severely hampered by position after the flop, i try to utilize our good position on this betting round and take it down now or get it HU vs. the LAG.

[/ QUOTE ]

Firstly, I did end up reraising to 20bb total.

However, I was a little concerned about being oop vs this guy post-flop with AJs heads-up in an 40bb pot with 280bb stacks (actually that's not terrible)... But I figured I had enough of an edge vs the guys in the pot that I may as well take some of that.

This guy had been pretty loose, but I wasn't sure what he would call the reraise with, and that's kind of a problem.

Also, trapping this guy with his CBETs isn't going to work because of their size, which is why I liked reraising more than calling.

But also, he hadn't seemed that poor post-flop, other than weak betting, so I don't know... it's a kinda nasty spot to be in PF. It's pretty clear that folding isn't an option, though.

allstarrt · #6 02-24-2007, 11:41 PM

A call would not be a bad thing preflop. You do not want to get in to big of a pot with AJ oop against a tricky opponent, if the flop comes J64 or A82 you have really no idea where you are if he shows any resistance, you really want to play this hand for pot control on marginal flops and make it big when you flop 2 pair type hands I do not see anything wrong with a cold call if you think hes is loose enough to where it does not define his hand if you reraise and he calls. If he could be calling your 3bet with any pair plus KQ type hands it will be a very bad situation for you to get in a big pot on a marginal flop. Just my two cents any comments on this thinking?

sputnik3000 · #7 02-25-2007, 12:33 AM

Sup! <font color="green"> </font>

DavidC · #8 02-25-2007, 04:52 AM

bad player limps, villain (not positionally aware pfr about 25%) raises to 5bb, bad player calls OTB, and hero raises to 20bb in the SB with AJs, raiser is the only caller.

Pot: 47 (stacks: 280 each).

Flop: A74

Hero bets 20bb, Villain raises to 120bb, hero?

GoadToad · #9 02-25-2007, 05:57 AM

Against the guy as you described him I'm way folding here, unless he's pulled this kind of thing suspiciously often. If you'd bet more maybe it'd feel easier to find a fold. Why show weakness if it's difficult to decide what to do if you get played back at?

DavidC · #10 02-25-2007, 07:16 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Against the guy as you described him I'm way folding here, unless he's pulled this kind of thing suspiciously often. If you'd bet more maybe it'd feel easier to find a fold. Why show weakness if it's difficult to decide what to do if you get played back at?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, it kinda sucks, but yes, I think it's a fold.

I realized how bad the bet looked when I made this post. 20bb was my approximate CB size on all bets though, given the action previously in the session, and on this board, that seemed pretty appropriate (I don't think it's weakness to bet half the pot when the guy could be drawing to 2-3 outs).