AJ UTG 6Max NLHE

[PokerWoody]

How do you play AJ UTG in the 6 max cash games? Let us say the table looks like this:

SB – 33/8/1.5
BB – 40/15/3
UTG – You
UTG+1 – 24/2/0.9
CO – 72/0/0.5
Button – 30/12/3.2

All players have 100BB stacks

With what frequency do you raise, call and fold? What sort of thoughts are you factoring in to your decision?

[FirePhil]

CO – 72/0/0.5

How many hands is that based on? I want to play with this person!

I raise here well over 90% of the time. It is likely that you have the best hand and most of the time that you don't you will be re-raised and have an easy fold. You can also narrow other peoples ranges.

I'd rather fold than limp, you either get raised anyway or the big blind gets a free flop playing any 2. AJ isn't a big enough hand to get too clever with.

I'd say 95% raise and 5% fold depending on the game and the opponents. 0% call.

Looking more closely at the other players stats this may be closer to a fold than 5% given the LAG player in the BB, who will probably call a SPFR and bet out at any ragged flop (Difficult to say without seeing him play, stats only tell you so much).

[PokerWoody]

I have found myself a little confused in this positon. Recently I have been folding and calling more in this spot as I don't like inflating the pot OOP with such a marginal holding. I agree that folding is better than calling, I don't play AJ until MP at full ring (not that I have played full ring for a while now) so maybe not including it UTG in my 6 max range is right? Hmm, I don't really know what to make of this on.

Okay. Lets say you raise and get called by the CO (obvioulsy) and the button. How often do you CB on the following flops? Do you always fold to a raise? What would your inital thoughts be about the turn if called by either player?

AT9
KQ6
J88
369

[FirePhil]

I don't play AJ until MP at full ring (not that I have played full ring for a while now) so maybe not including it UTG in my 6 max range is right? Hmm, I don't really know what to make of this on.

I don't have any problem with folding, but I view UTG 6-handed as effectively the same spot as MP in full ring, same number of players behind you. My 6 max game is by no means polished though, I've only started playing it more quite recently so I haven't played enough hands to say if playing AJ UTG is +EV or not.

[FirePhil]

Okay. Lets say you raise and get called by the CO (obvioulsy) and the button. How often do you CB on the following flops? Do you always fold to a raise? What would your inital thoughts be about the turn if called by either player?

AT9
KQ6
J88
369

I'll probably bet all of these most of the time but I'm liking J88 the most. If the CO raises I'm folding unless I've got the right odds. If the button raises it's tougher, J88 I think I check-call it down (depending on the turn and river) because raising serves no purpose other than making him fold something like 99 when he will bet our hand for us. The AT9 I don't know what to do. KQ6 depends on the odds I'm getting. 369 he is very likely stealing or we have 6 outs, though a set is possible.

If the CO calls it depends on what their Won $ at SD % is, but I'm probably checking down the KQ6 and 369 and value betting AT9 and J88.
If the button calls I'm proceeding carefully, an agressive player won't call often and it's either a monster or a draw if we gave him a good price (or the CO called to give him a good price).

I should probably add that this is all hypothetical and I'm liable to do something different/stupider/better when I'm actually playing, I find it pretty hard to think the same way analysing a hand as playing it.

[trustme]

the best piece of advice i was given a few months ago related to this hand, aj used to always get me in trouble, i used to over rate it, seeing and ace and a card with a face. I was told that with aj you have got to raise (normally 3-4 times the big blind, in a ten seater tourny anyway) if you get reraised fold, most times you will be behind

On the four flops you mentioned i would play the first one strongly, maybe put in a pot sized bet.

The next two i would bet the same as my initial raise.

The last one i would either put in small bet or check, hoping for something nice to come my way on the turn.

It is quite different for me playing tournaments, if the blinds are high, AJ can become an all in hand, even from early position because of the chance of no one calling and me scooping up the blinds.

above is what i would generally do.

[PokerWoody]

Well 6 handed under the gun i am NOT folding AJ, i am a LAG player and about 90% of the time i raise this, if its an aggressive table i am raising 100% of the time, passive table i am going to limp 10% to help mix it up. I will probably make a raise of 4x the BB here because you know the CO is likely to call and give better odds to the button. Raising 2x here is really bad because you will get a lot of callers behind you, where you will be out of position.
If i were to get both the CO and button calling me i will need a decent flop to bet with such as any jack or ace, or 3 low cards. If the players are very weak i will probably bet this every time.
Hands like AJ, 1010 and JJ in early position cause too many players trouble because they are up against 2 or 3 other players on the flop, the best form of defense is attack, so bet big with these troublesome hands, that way if someone comes over the top you have plenty of info.

I see your thinking. Whats your line on the turn after you have been called on the flop? Assume the flop was either the three low cards or Ace high. Both you and oponent still have 100xBB stacks.