1/1 home game, I'm in the SB with A4

UTG straddled to 2, folded to me, I add 1, bb adds 1 and we go to the flop with 3 players

Both where young men, seemed like casual fun players with some experience, nothing too crazy, but probably too loose/passive like everyone in these games.


Flop opens A54

I bet 5
BB shoves for 55
UTG calls 55
Hero goes all-in for 150

UTG asked how much I had left and then called the BB's shove, but didn't seem too happy about it.
UTG has me covered.


I would've folded if I had any other A
Can we call?
Do we just shove because of the A?

jam it

Why does this ace make you not fold? We’re blocking hands that we beat.

Also, why are you completing out of the SB here? I would think this is a raise or fold spot preflop.

Because it gives me a backdoor flush? = more equity?

Nothing wrong with completing here imo?

You have more equity if your opponents might show up with hands like A3ss or A2ss (or for that matter any nut flush draw). My point isn’t that you should fold this, by the way; it’s that if you are calling this one you should call them all, not the other way around. (Maybe you should fold this, but that wasn’t my point.)

Didn't read. Fold. Will read now.

Read it. Shove is good.

It's definitely better to have the A here. Axsxs is only a few combos and we're flipping with them. Having an offsuit Ax blocks lower equity hands BB's range. As already mentioned the As gives additional equity from the draw, which is probably worth more than the blocking effects anyway.

Why are we folding this in a 1/1 game where we have to add 1 to see a flop?
Pretty sure I'm losing less than 100bb/100 with this hand when I call.

I don't really like raising here either vs 2 players OOP.

1. Preflop, I like raising better than completing. Your 2 opponents both have ATC at this point, so there is a chance you pick up $4 in dead money with a raise, plus if you don’t, you’re in a slightly better spot on the flop than if you had completed, in a bigger pot. I don’t see how raising isn’t better than completing.

2. browni, I see your point about the As unblocking hands we want BB to show up with in his shoving range. The issue is there is also UTG’s range to contend with. He cold called an overbet shove. I don’t feel good about the fact that he can’t have the NFD. Ignoring the live read, he can have any big hand or any big draw here—but the big draws are cut down by our blocker, and if he has any big hand besides bottom two, we’re in trouble.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see UTG show up with 32ss or 76o
He can be calling the small shove very wide

UTG has 16 combos of 32, 4 combos of sets, and 6 combos of 2 pair that beat us. That’s 22 combos. 76o is also 16 combos, but the big combo draws are 1 each, and when we are behind we are in worse shape than UTG is when we are ahead, unless he has 54. (This assumes UTG can’t have bare Ax—but of course, if he does, he’s blocking the bare Ax in BB’s range.)

Echoing Vernon’s suggestion that this is a much better spot to stack off in a raised pot than a limped pot.