I just table changed. This is my 2nd hand. I was getting crushed at other table fwiw.

Villain- I can tell 100% he is the table aggressor. He looks comfortable, is young and players are commenting on how they are "getting sick of him."

Hero: 200 (utg+1)
Villain: 300 (button)

On to the hand:

UTG straddles, I am UTG+1 and call the straddle with AT, one more caller, folds to V who makes it 25. Straddle calls, I make it 75. V calls. Straddle folds.

Flop: (180)

JT6

I jam all in for 125.


Is this just awful all over the place?

OOP Why 3b to 75?

You can tell in two hands that l/3-betting OOP with AT is a good idea?

That said, x/f or jamming the flop are your only two plays and both pretty well suck. Jamming gets called by everything in his range except for AK but you never fold JJ+. I'd prefer jamming if we have some more backdoor equity but yah, just don't like the play as we're not deep enough to get him to fold an overpair (or even AK - he's getting almost 2.5-1 with what he would think would be 10 outs).

I don't know how to play ATs, 2nd to act in a 10 handed game. I fold PF. I believe in the axiom that AT is the high end of a "rag ace" OOP & suited doesn't add much value.
I will be interested to see what others say, because I'm an avg player.

If I have good control over the table, I will play ATs from UTG but barring reads, it is a fold pre.

This part makes me question your thinking for the preflop actions. Would you normally limp reraise ATs UTG+1, or are you doing so out of frustration? Also, wouldn't it be better to wait a bit to be more aware of table dynamics?

Not sure how many players are at the table. If it's 10 players I often open fold this UTG+1. With six I open raise. I don't like LRR to set up a 0.7 SPR with a hand like this OOP.

As played (ie on the flop), I'm torn between shoving and x/c. X/f seems to kind of suck since he should be ripping AK/AQ/KQ and could effectively turn 88/99 into a bluff. Problem with shoving is that if he calls the LRR with QQ+, there are more combos in his calling range that beat us than combos we beat (ie value owning ourselves). It sucks when he checks back and the turn is a K, but that's probably our least bad option.

I fold pre. If I decide to play raise to 20. As played I would check fold flop. Were you tilted?

75 is too small imo, if you decide to raise, i don´t hate a shove tbh. that said, prefer calling as played. we got a pretty decent hand.

would be pretty curious as to what more fundamentally sound holdem bots think of the original preflop action (open limp). have to say, i don´t think it´s a big mistake if at all in presumably weak lineups, but what would be the standard play 50bb eff with 3 blinds? i´d assume close fold, but not sure.

He's setting up an SPR of less than 1. Position really matters less. If you are confident V is truly LAG and is raising very light, ATs is good enough.

But I'm not sure I would be that confident in that read after 1 hand however. One you make that move pre, shoving is the only option obviously on the flop.

Flop JhTc6d
ATss vs AKs-AQs,KQs,AKo-AQo,KQo
63%:37%

ATss vs AQo
70:30

ATss vs KQo
53%:47%

These are the main hands he may have called with and whiffed the flop. He still has great equity in the pot and you are going all in to hopefully fold out some of these hands, (he would be folding incorrectly btw, as he should call with ALL of them.

Also, if he has an underpair, there is a small chance he may call now, but won’t call later as overcards are quite likely to be coming out. I feel like there is a small chance he tries to bluff all in if you check with things like A9s.

I feel like since you should never be folding ( you flopped second pair TK with a .7 SPR) You may as well jam and try to get him to fold some hands incorrectly, and sometimes he even calls with a hand like T9s. When I build a pot and have a little piece of it, i’m not looking to fold...

That being said...
When you decide to Limp/re-raise preflop, you chose to re-raise as an afterthought methinks; it seems like you limped because you had a pretty hand, then chose to re-raise this aggro character without reliable information. Afterall, all the players at the table are more than likely ignorant of proper poker thinking, and for all you know this guy is a good aggressive player. Until you have more information that he’s a maniac, I like folding pre as you have a $200 stack with effectively 40BB as the straddle has 2.5x the game. I’m assuming a $5 straddle. But, if you are going to try and play ATss with 40BB, I like your style! It is high variance and you better have the buy-ins to back up the play, if you lose here, smile, say nice hand and throw another $200 on the table, but buckle up because you are getting ready to gamble with the aggro guy on your left.

The reason I say this is because when we have an aggressive opponent on our left we have 2 choices, 1)we can play back with aggression and hopefully outplay the opponent in spots where we are more knowledgeable, or 2) we can tighten up and only enter the pot with hands we can fairly easily commit to. I personally use both for different reasons vs. different opponents and different situations.

How can the "table captain" only be sitting on 150bb?

Fold pre

Terrible everywhere

With the straddle, you have 50bb, so I don't love limping AT. No straddle, easy limp but here, I'd consider folding or opening to 15 better plays.
Once you have limped and its raised behind you, I think you have to fold.
I like your moxie in trying to take it down with a 3! And I don't know how often that has to work for it to be a profitable move but whenever you get called, you're in bad shape.
After he does call, I guess jamming the flop is the best play but I don't like that you put yourself in this position.
I hope the end of this story is that you won the pot but this feels a lot like a hand you could have limp folded instead of risking 100bb.

it'd be nice to have a legit read that he is aggro/plays many hands, if you're sure based on what you heard then yeah im fine with this

Spew spew spew pre. Only call with ATs UTG+1 at very passive tables. Fold to the raise. Definitely don't 3bet 2 players who have already put in big chunks of their stacks.

The only thing that makes sense is the flop shove.

You should probably stop limp/raising ATs OOP then. Obviously not folding once you flopped a pair. V probably snapped you off with QQ though.

I disagree with the bolded part.

A pot-sized raise would have been to more than 100. That's half our stack.

I think we should have shoved pre-flop.

I hate limping to a straddle outside the blinds.
I hate 3! Oop at a new table with a subprime hand.
Imo shove on the flop is the logical conclusion but by then it's too late anyway.
I may be surprised no one 4! gii pre, but only a bit.

Hero doesn't have a choice on the flop as played. A shove is only a 2/3 pot bet.

Shove preflop is spew. Betting $200 to win $50 against 2 unknown opponents who have already committed 12% of effective stacks? No thanks. This is hero's 2nd hand at the table. You can make a bluff like this if you have evidence V raises light and will fold to a 3bet.

I'd just raise the first chance I got pf and then go from there.

I think the biggest mistake was in the pf action. Limp/Raise makes no sense to me. Atss is a fine hand to play, but I would raise UTG+1. V probably calls and if he raises then you can figure he has JJ+, or AQ+.

If you are UTG+1 & 1st to act with TT at a 10 handed table, there is ~18% chance someone is holding a better pocket pair.

So, I don't understand the purpose of a PF raise with a hand that plays well with others. I can't call here unless it's a limp-fest party, hand after hand after hand.