I have a question about a very standard situation that we have all been in many times:

Hero raises preflop with AQ or AJ.
Button calls and we are heads up out of position.

Flop = A82 dry
Our hand looks good.
Probably way ahead or way behind.
So how do we play our three streets?

With a specific read, this answer is simple.
If he is a calling station, we value bet him the whole way.
If he is a bluffer, we can check-call him down.
But if is he is an unknown, or a player that mixes it up, is there an optimal way to play this common scenario?

My standard:
Hero leads flop. Button calls.
Hero checks turn. Button bets. Hero calls.
Hero checks river. Button bets. Hero calls.

Is this how you play it??
When Button flips over a bigger Ace here, I always feel like I did something wrong.

Please advise.

--CM

If you read gobbeldygeek's 1000 hour of nlh thread in the pinned links list in this sub forum there is big discussion on many situations like this.

$1-$2 No Limit
Relevant Stacks = $300

Hero has AJ in middle position and opens for $10
Button Calls
Heads Up
Pot = $23

Flop: A 7 3
Hero Bets $10, Button Calls
Pot = $43

Turn: 9
Hero Checks, Button Bets $25, Hero Calls
Pot = $93

River: 9
Hero Checks, Button Bets $50, Hero Calls

--CM

Seems standard.

I usually just bet/bet/bet myself.

I usually take one street off, though it depends on V and board. b/c/b is probably my most common line. B/f all streets is also pretty common.

The main problem here is your position. Raising AJo in MP is pretty questionable. The examples you provide illustrate the importance of acting last.

To answer your question, you should eliminate at least one street of betting with TP and a mediocre kicker. I don't think checking the flop is unreasonable on a board like A82r. More often then not, you should bet the flop and slowdown on the turn.

Against competent opponents (not necessarily good, but just opponents who make some attempt to think about what beats them) I often check flops in situations like these, mainly so I dont get bluffed off of on the turn every time I cbet air and then check or have a middle pocket pair that would like to see the turn for free. Opponents need to know that I can very easily have an Ace in this situation. Against your average donk who thinks poker is all gambling and that he needs to call with 65dd here because he has 2 backdoor draws then I go ahead and cbet something like 1/4 pot just to extract max value. As long as the board stays dry I'll do this for all 3 streets, maybe sometimes potting the river just to induce a tilt call. I've had players call me down with so many underpairs like 99 and 77 on boards like this, either because they feel the price is actually good or they just dont believe you and dont object to paying it off at that value.

Thing is when you have AQ on a A82r flop you're golden. There's no free cards you're giving away to jeopardize your hand, nothing worth worrying about anyway. We almost want to give them a little rope. Nothing worse should ever really be calling us.

Well we shouldn't open limp AJ in MP and we shouldn't fold it.

So we should raise it and learn to play poker.

The button is going to be calling OTB with a wider range than AQ+.

We can safely bet/bet/bet.

We don't have to bet pot each street.

I occasionally do 3 streets of the same-sized bet if I feel it is the way I can get called.

Thanks for the replies.

Tell me if this logic is sound in any way:

Button could have a wide range of hands.
No reason to assume there is danger.

Button could have a smaller Ace, middle pocket pair seeing if I am just making a c-bluff, or he could be floating to steal the turn.

I don't think he's betting a pocket pair.
And it seems unlikely he is value betting a worse Ace.
But I've given him the chance to steal, so this could be a bluff.

Hero FOLDS??

Hero has shown willingness to put money in on 3 streets of an Ace-high dry board. Clearly Hero is happy with his hand. So what worse hand can Button possibly have that he would bet again on the river?? Button must be ahead so Hero folds.

Is that nonsense?


----cm

Just addressing river.

Yes, this is nonsense.

You c-bet the flop. Standard.

You c-call the turn. You don't look very strong. Maybe you picked up a flush draw.

You check the river.

Could he betting worse? Yes.

He could have A7 or A3 and be have been counterfeited.

He could have AQ and have you beat. He could have A9.

You have to figure out if you are good the right amount of times here.

But to say just because you put money in on two streets you can't be good when he bets the river, that's nonsense.

Good players will seriously abuse you when they have the button if you are always going to fold in this spot.

Tbh, I don't think the river is a slam dunk call at all. Even more so at 1-2. V's are never value betting thin like this with a hand like AT so it can only be missed flush draws.

This would be a fantastic bluff line for all of the flush draw combos to take, but you simply never see V's bluff the river with them at 1-2. Many would have folded all of them on the flop, and they would have checked behind on the turn even though hero took such a weak line.

It's so mind numbingly face up that we can make these exploitative folds that seem so nitty but are really just us outplaying the rest of the field. If you are making these calls in these spots then you are a tip toeing the line of being a bad reg.

This needs a description of button to go with it. There is no 100% answer for this situation though. With TPGK you are in the unclear zone where you can't always bet, call or fold. Any single pattern will be easily exploitable by any half decent player once they figure it out.

You have to read hands and figure out what villain is likely doing. If villain is bad enough to show up with a lot of worse AX and bet them for value when you check then call turn/call river might be best. If villain is aggressive enough to bet just because you checked then call turn/call river most of the time is going to be correct. If villain is tighter and will take one stab then give up a lot then call turn/fold river most of the time. If villain is really tight/passive then just fold turn most of the time.

It is soooo player/table/dynamic dependent however i bet until i am given a reason not to, whatever that may be. TPGK is a good hand, and people forget this too often.

Like everyone is saying, there is no set way to play this hand. Its player dependent. Some you can bet 3 streets. Most you cant.

Having said that, in my experience, on a board this dry against a standard villain that most likely isnt calling 3 streets anyway, the best play is to check the flop instead of one of the other streets. You will get more value from many other hands other than an ace that way.

^^^

Unless you're up against Villains who are calling pre with any trash ace and won't fold any street, checking flop is fine imo.

Thanks or the quality responses.

I certainly agree.
And fold to any raise?

Interesting concept.
Probably the only way to squeeze value from lesser hands on all three streets.
And it possibly blocks bigger value bets from villains with better hands.

But this line does look weak, and I think it could induce an opponent to bluff raise us.
So with this line, it seems we may need to call a moderately sized raise?

And what do we do when unknown Villain bets all three streets?
Since our check represents less than the Ace, we probably need to call down without a read, right?

--cm

Grunch...


If you are WA/WB, then consider checking the flop, so he/they can feel good about his/their hand and call two bets when you are ahead. It also limits the pot when you are behind.

Trying to stack off with TPGK for 150bb on a bone dry flop is -EV unless you are playing against true stations.

Much tougher to play 150bb then 100bb.