Joined: Nov '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 67 (M)
Posts: 3361
a-j whether suited or not in middle position,what's the best way to play this ? most of the times i'll just flat call if there's no raise before me,sometimes i'll stick in a raise but no matter what i do it just doesn't work for me. i'm talking about in tournament play,early to middle levels.
any help welcome and appreciated.
Edited by teddybears73 (06 January 2013 @ 00:21 GMT)
Joined: Feb '11
Location: Canada
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 831
imo its more trouble then its worth early i mean no action at all before you then playable but best to get rid of it before someone makes you pay more to see second best ace!
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
I have nothing to offer teddy, but the A,J and A,Q seem to be difficult calls for me. I rarely raise unless it's late in an SnG just because they're two hands that I've been caught with to many times. Unless I happen to get lucky enough to pull off two pairs or once in a great while a straight I play both of these relatively tight.
I see players allin all the time with both hands and when called they lose to the donk hands more then they should.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 6483
Yeah AJ is not a great hand early on, I'd consider folding except from late position.. AJ is a lot stronger in the later game, when you're looking for hands to shove with.. Although even then it can be frustrating.
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 6786
If it is good enough to play , it is good enough to raise. If you are first in just make your standard raise, like you would do with AK. But don't get to excited, if there is much resistance.
Joined: Oct '09
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 57 (M)
Posts: 667
Hi Teddy bear. AJ is a bad hand to play from any position. If no-one has entered the pot I would min raise with it from late position but the blinds may think you are just trying to steal them, so you need to be careful.
I think playing this hand depends on your playing style and the opponents you are facing, (remember you may not know anything about them BUT they may not know anything about you either), so people can play any two cards from any position, whereas, some will only play AA in the first 5 levels?!?!
GL with however you play and your play with AJ...........................
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 6786
Yes, AJ isn't a super strong hand. But we can't have AA or KK all the time. So we have to loosen up our starting hands. And if we play only decent sized pots with AJ, it is ok.
Joined: Feb '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 5712
Teddybear.......generally agree with the above advice. early fold, mid raise if first to play, but whatever you chose to do, which will depend to some extent on what the other players at your table are doing, dont be afraid to fold if you hit any resistence
Been studying 3 bet, 4 bet, 5 bet shoving ranges to be prepared before moving up in limits. The original author's name is "Bugs" and have quoted him here so as not to lose any of the importance provided by this discussion. So here we have it:
"Hero open-raised AJs (correctly), and he got 3-bet. He then decided that his AJs was a good hand against Villain's 3-bet range (debatable, but not a big mistake), so he 4-bet for value (wrong!), planning to call a 5-bet all-in. Playing AJs for value after a 3-bet and going all-in with it was a big mistake. The 4-bet in itself was not a big mistake, since Villain has a lot of bluffs in his 3-betting range, and he will fold most of them to a 4-bet. So it's not a problem to 4-bet AJs as a bluff against a range full of 3-bet bluffs. But when Villain comes over the top with an all-in 5-bet, our AJs crumbles to dust (if Villain knows what he is doing)."
Joined: Jan '12
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 47 (M)
Posts: 110
AJ the mother of all losing hands hate it hate it hate it but still depending on blinds any raise flat if you have the chips and see how the flop comes before you make a decision but late on again depending on your stack size shove it all in if short stack or even try and take some of the smaller shoves out if your last to act but middle to late stages of a tourney its usually a fold unless your willing to take the chance
I would probably raise and probably fold if I get re-raised. AJ is a good hand when you have pot control.
As soon as blinds get a little higher, AJ becomes a much better hand because more people are gonna try to steal pots with ace rags, QJ KJ type of hands, and even do 3bets with suited ace rags so you can actually win nice pots with this hand.
