3 handed

UTG in 15 card FL

middle player showing
A
5563
QQJT

Hero on the button
A
667
QJT

K in discard

Hero draws 22JOKER

I'm playing joker top 2s bottom but I'm not at all confident.

I'd do the same, you're playing to get AA in this game, and a much lower foul-risk is a nice bonus

play the joker bottom and throw one of the deuces up top. gives you a valid hand with a live hand still drawing at aces. This is progressive joker, not ultimate. 2 aces still 'live' and can easy draw into it on next pull or last. as much as you want to be giving yourself a chance at aces top, ur bottom is pretty gutted. need the 7 of spades in middle if drawn

I’d do joker top and 2s bottom as well

This is a close spot. My first thought is also 2s on the bottom, Joker on top. But then I realize there are only 5 spades left. This means it is about 33% we don't make the flush. If we don't make the flush, we only have 5 other outs to improve our back hand enough to beat the 66 in the middle and not foul. That will happen about 8%. If we do make the flush, we still need to improve the middle hand as well before we can use the Joker to reach FL. Playing it this way means we are 8% to foul, maybe higher (such as when we make two pair or trips in the middle on the next draw, and then have to make the flush on the last draw, yet miss).

The "safe" line is to play 2s-Joker in back, and lock up the flush. In this scenario we never foul, and are huge favorites to win this round and make several points in profit. There are still two As to catch and make FL, if we also happen to improve the middle hand first. In this line, we probably win an average of 8 or more points, since we have the back locked up to win that point, and are ahead of villain in the middle, and tied up front. We will scoop this opponent fairly often.

What I don't know is how much, on average, we will win from the FL if we make it there. If we do make it, we win something closer to 20 points on this round, AND get the value of FL.

Overall, it seems fairly certain the "aggressive" line of 2s in back and Joker on top is better, but it is not massively better. If our opponent wasn't showing so many spades, and so many of our pair cards, this line would be clearly superior.

But, I'm far from an expert in OFC of any variety. Just my thoughts.

Cheers, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

We might have some locks (or almost) against the opponent drawing, but we might get scooped by UTG (FL) on the other hand.

Doesn't that favor taking the high risk/high reward line?

On 2nd thought I agree with this guy now. Better to have more options down bottom

After seeing uber's post, I realize I misread the OP. I didn't realize there was a 3rd player involved who was already in FL. And I agree, against the FL player, the safe line is likely to get scooped, while the aggressive line is more likely to win on top and save a lot of points. Now I definitely lean towards the more aggressive line. Definitely Joker on top, 2s on bottom.

Fossilman. I’d love to play with you if you are ever down. Seat open.