Pretty standard, I think, although I want to check whether a fold preflop is better and also whether flop is always a fold?

Game is 9 handed. I am MP ($650), villain is BB ($1000). I have no particular reads on villain other than he is a 2/5 reg and is pretty loose-aggressive preflop.

UTG+1 ($250) limps in, I raise A5 to $25 from MP, BB raises to $70, UTG+1 calls $70, I call $70.

Is preflop a call or fold? UTG+1 plays too many hands and will also chase weak draws such as two pair/trip outs and backdoor outs.

Flop ($210)
765

BB bets $110, UTG folds, I..

From my understanding of A2-A5 suited they play better as 3bet/4bet hands.

Meaning you typically don't want to just call with them, it's either raise or fold. (villain dependent and stack dependent).

They also should only be played this way when stacks are 200bb+ deep for both villain and hero.


In your shoes I like the initial raise but I fold to the reraise only 650 deep. It's such a speculative hand and you're also not deep enough to create awkward situations for him post-flop in a 4bet pot.


If you were at 200bb's I would say now you have to 4bet or fold this hand leaning towards the 4bet because you're up against a lag.

You'd want to pump it to about 240 after UTG flats and you should take it down most times pre-flop, if you get called you have to play poker.


That's my understanding of the low suited aces, though I never play them this way because none of this chit applies to 1/2 where I am bankrolled for.



As played I probably flat flop and look to jam my stack in on any scare card/Ace/5 and a check from villain because theres already 300(400 if i call) in the pot and i'm only 500 behind. Gross spot.

I would normally fold to the 3 bet preflop, but with one other caller and the relatively small 3 bet, you have to call.

Flop is not great. I don’t mind folding. If I call, I plan to either turn a 5 or Ace or bluff 3s 4s 8s and 9s and utilize my range advantage. I check/fold all other turns

Pre. I like the fish iso to 25.

Once you got 3!, and fish calls, i think its good to call (pot odds!) Prob not a big mistake to just let it go... if the 3! is active and 3! a lot, i like less the open to 25...

Flop. Yes standard fold. Was not the flop you were looking for by calling pre with A5s

You're not really deep enough to be playing this hand from MP, and certainly not to be continuing post flop.

This isn't true. They're good to call with, especially if there are a lot of people in the pot since it's a good multiway hand. Occasionally you can use them to 3bet when the original raiser has a wide range and opening late, and he folds to 3bets pre (I don't wanna use them that much if someone routinely calls/defends 3bets).

i think i like overlimping a little bit better on this stack size but i definitely think raising a smaller % of the time is fine but i think once it gets back to you a 4 bet is better here, this is actually a really good hand to be 4betting in this spot for a few reasons, we have a stack we can use to get folds pre, blockers to the aces, in position, good pot odds, loose ranges pre

as played

this board just crushes your range so i think we have to at least continue with a call looking for cards to complete a bluff

if we had a bigger stack we could put in a mild raise but i think there are so many bluffing opportunities on this board we should continue but i expect villain to be pretty strong c-betting into this board, therefore folding is certainly an option if he doesn't seem like he has a fold button

I don't like the raise from MP, since there is too great a chance that someone left to act will call or raise with a bigger ace.

Limping may be OK at a loose-passive table, but my default now would probably be just to dump the hand from early-mid position.

The open pre is marginally bad due to position and not being deep enough. in CO-BTN it's a fine hand to iso a limper with. If there is no limper and I'm opening the pot A5s is definitely in my range from MP.

I'm folding to the 3bet though. I'd rather continue with something like 9Ts-KQs- hands that play better multiway.

depending on the players behind, i will either limp or fold.

I think the preflop raise is fine, yeah it isnt the top of your opening range but you have to mix in some light raises to keep people guessing.
As played I think calling here is probably the better option but not really feeling great about it.
Folding seems a little weak as we are getting a good price 45 into 165, we have position throughout the hand, utg is still in the hand which is nice but is shortstack (180 left and pot will be 210 if you call),

While your read on 3 better is that loose/aggressive preflop
That could mean a few different things
does that mean he 3 bets a lot?
that he likes to raise a lot in any position or just when he has position?
As he is raising out of the blinds it could mean 2 things he is trying to iso the fish or he has a genuine hand.

Raising could be an option as well but i think it is being a little ambitious with these stack as almost any raise will see you have to commit the rest of your stack and when that happens you are generally going to be in trouble

As played I would probably call and see the flop
Flop
While you flop a pair you almost always going to be behind and given your stack size will only have a psb left on the turn if you call here I would probably let it go

Overall I can see the merits to all 3 options preflop after you get 3 betted by villian but think is really comes down to your reads on villain 3 betting habits that make that decision the right one.

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Pre I would limp along or fold, A5s is pretty meh to iso esp when UTG can have a lot of Ax he dominates us with.

When BB 3b i think we have a straightforward fold, our A usually isn't good and we're basically just praying we flop two pair or better. SPR will be 2.5 and technically if we flop an A we're supposed to go with it but in practice it will be a losing stack-off

Ap meh fold if he shows a dumb bluff like AQ/AK that's awful on him and adjust accordingly.

Calling a 3 Bet from a loose aggressive reg with A5s and then folding a pair on the flop is ... meh. kinda like burning money. 3 way with a low spr post, it is a fold pre because sometimes you are just crushed facing vs Ax and TT+ at the same time.

And now that is no offense, but a Hand itself doesnt play "well" postflop. That is a reason for many people "I call because my Hand plays fine postflop"... No id doenst. You still need to do the job. There is still someone required who actually plays "well" postflop. If a player doesnt really have a plan for what to do postflop, then he probably does not play "well" post flop in that spot. So whenever i feel i might get in a spot where i dont really know what to do on later streets, i try to avoid that "borderline" play , try to solve that "problem" at home and the next time i know what to do...

Pre-flop raise is optimistic, and against a shorter stack even less worthwhile. Hero can also fold to the 70 for similar reasons, villain with less than 1psb in sandwich position also sets you up for some rougher post flop decisions.

Seems wp, u could consider a jam preflop if u think our LAG friend is folding to it often enough.
With 165 dead, u risk 625.
And expecting 30% equity when called by QQ+, AK
(And assuming the initial limper never calls)
U only need folds 58% folds to break even.
Now we have an Ace blocker so it decreases the chances he has a calling hand assuming he makes this move with non-ace bluffs

However I think calling here is just fine with a nice suited ace in position.

And I like to fold the flop.

if i am villain OOP with what we perceive to be villains range and you call this bet on the flop i am hating life.. if we call there are a lot of turns we need to bet and i think we can take it down a lot.

Easier written that done though, and we may not be deep enough for said manoeuvring

Not to be an ass but if you only play 1-2 can you refrain from posting advice on a 2-5 hand? With that said, I agree with most of what you said pre-flop but your post flop advice is very shaky, which makes sense since you are never in these kinds of spots.

Definitely not deep enough. We don't have a ton of reads, but the average 2/5 LAG is generally a big, fat spewtard with NO fold button. Trying to get a fish to fold an overpair in a 3-bet, lowish SPR pot is hopeless. Not to mention a LAG may have actually smashed this board or has a pair + combo draw or overs and a flush draw.

We block hands he could have whiffed the flop with like AK-AT, and its very unlikely he c-bets his whiffed broadways into 2 opponents.

LOL at thinking that someone who only plays 1-2 is disqualified from posting advice for a 2-5 hand.

Is it really that illogical?

In 1-2 there is hardly any light 3-betting whatsoever. 3-bet pots are super rare, and stacks are usually so shallow that if a 3-bet gets any action its just going to lead to getting it in pre-flop or on the flop.

This means that 1-2 players really don't know how to play post flop in a 3-bet pot. They are also going to be bad at ranging villains 3-bet range since they are only used to seeing AA/KK.

It's very unlikely a LAG will cbet into two opponents?

This is the same for the average 2/5 game.

People who know how to beat 1/2 are only limited to that stake by their bankroll.

OOP In a 3-bet pot with a loose fish UTG short-stack in the hand? Even a dumb LAG knows he is going to have little FE in this situation and will give up on a board that he completely whiffed.

I play 2/5 occassionally, i'm up on 2/5 a considerable amount but I can't sit there unless the game is too juicy to pass up. I won't become a 2/5 reg unless I have 30k cash minimum because I want to be able to buy in 1k everytime.

Last weekend I played 2/5 AQos- UTG - open 25, 5 callers. Gets to SB he pumps it to 200. I jam all in instantly, I didn't even think about it. In fact I knew a 3bet was coming from one of the blinds as soon as 4th guy(let alone 5th) called my initial raise (both blinds were lags). He tanks forever and calls with AJ suited, my hand holds.

I'd never do this in 1/2 because I know people aren't squeezing light but in 2/5 I know people understand dead money and will 3bet light to take it. In fact in 1/2 i'd probably fold AQos here based on villain.

I understand the differences between 3bet ranges between the two games. But i've never played a2-a5s this way because it's never come up when I was sitting at 2/5 and i'd never try it at 1/2. So you're somewhat right. Though I think my logic is pretty spot on.


Which is why I told OP to 4bet the villain in this instance or to fold a5. But told him a 4bet would be dangerous territory because if flated he is not deep enough to navigate post correctly in 80% of flops.

I also don't think villain was 3betting light in this instance. there was little incentive to 3bet light with 1 raise in the middle and 0 calls. I still think he folds to a deep 4bet most of the time however just based on OP's description. Also I've found that villains tend to overfold to 4bets in both live and online.

As for flatting the flop and jaming on any scare card, ace or 5. How better would you try to save this hand? Besides folding pre which is what I advised. Hero has somewhat decent equity against anything but AA right now and assuming villain isn't a maniac and 3betting 77,66,55 from the blinds. and he's getting 3 to 1 to call the flop raise and villain will be checking almost all turns, especially 9s',8's,4's or 3's or theorectically he should because this flop smashes us. So even if we don't think he'll fold to a jam bluff we can potentially take a free river and catch up there.

Its pretty spewy to try and float here. The 9's 8's and 4's could easily complete V's hands so this discounts them as potential bluff outs for us. Same with trying to rep hearts. We don't block any hearts, but we do block V's Ax bluffs.

Also, once we call the flop we will have only a tad over a PSB left on the turn. Good luck trying to get (what is most likely a losing player) to fold an overpair in a 3-bet pot for a PSB, even with a 4 liner. Have tried it before. Torched chips. Learned my lesson. We could bluff the flush card if checked to us but he probably calls it off if his overpair has a heart in it, so repping hearts isn't really a slam dunk option either.


If he does happen to be on a heart draw then he will still likely rip it on a blank turn since he has so much equity and we will be forced to fold our equity, which means we just lit $110 on fire on the flop.


If we do suck out the turn, we better hope its a 5 because an A is likely to be one of the few cards that freezes V from putting more $ in the pot with a big pair (unless it's the A of hearts which could complete his flush draw).

Overall, we are in crappy spot on this flop and don't have many good options against this type of opponent (a loose, losing player that's shoveling $ in the pot = we're going to showdown). That's why it's still a fold as played.

Raise pre seems ok to me, depends on some stuff though. AP you are never folding pre for 45 more closing action IP. Lol at his $110 bet on the death flop, makes me want to jam, but a player leading ain’t bet folding enough - fold now I guess for all these reasons.