opinion - nlhe playing a10s

[Devilkin 0]

Sorry no hand history on this one - Im posting at work in a bit of free time.Here's the board:NL$25Im in CO, holding A 10 3 limpers before me, I raise from .25 to $1. Blinds fold, all three limpers call. This has me worried, as there have been a number of instances of premium hands limping in early. Additionally, there have been a number of instances of players playing any Ax. So, your classic loose passive table. I seem to be the only one ever raising preflop.Flop comes A 4 9 , so I have top pair, reasonable kicker and a backdoor flush draw. I expected even if someone had a very strong hand that it would be checked to the raiser (me) and it was.Of course, I bet out for $2, everyone else folded except for one person, that raised me from $2 to $5.I'd like opinins what to do here? Is this someone holding AK/AQ playing back at me, or someone overplaying A-rag? Or an overconfident KK/QQ?Ill post the results after some discussion.Thoughts?Dev

[allinbluff35 0]

call the raise, if the turn isn't an A, 10, or heart check/fold, anyone else like this line?

[Rocketwadster 0]

I think you have to call the raise here, and hope to improve on the turn. Raiser could have a set of fours (nines are out, as he would have raised or re-raised pre-flop), two pair (ace four, ace nine), or hopefully ace rag that is lower than 10. If no improvement on the turn, hope to check it down. :wink:

[Devilkin 0]

call the raise, if the turn isn't an A, 10, or heart check/fold, anyone else like this line?

This is exactly what I did. The raise made me think that I may not have the best hand, but I wasn't going to abandon it yet. Ill wait to post the results until a few more chime in.Dev

[allinbluff35 0]

what are your plans if the turn does come an A, 10, or heart?

[wrto4556 0]

3-bet the flop. :-) Seriously, do you have any reads?

[Devilkin 0]

what are your plans if the turn does come an A, 10, or heart?

Im planning on the check/fold if I do not improve on the turn.If an A comes, Ill call it down.If a 10 comes, Im raising pot sized.If a heart comes, Im calling to the river.Thoughts?

[Devilkin 0]

3-bet the flop. :-) Seriously, do you have any reads?

This is a person that has never raised preflop (loose - passive), regardless of cards. Only bets when he has a strong hand postflop, but he has played A-rag also. Thus my problem - do I put him on AK/AQ or just A-rag? Its my 10 kicker thats giving me fits.Dev

[Absolute 0]

With the limps PF, bump it to $1.50 PF instead of $1.Bet out $3 or $4 on the flop. Protect your gd hand!3-bet the flop. Pot-sized bet. What do you really think is ahead of you here? I think you are ahead 85% of the time.If he calls your 3-bet, call him down unless a 10 flops.

[BeanGW 0]

3-bet the flop. :-) Seriously, do you have any reads?

This is a person that has never raised preflop (loose - passive), regardless of cards. Only bets when he has a strong hand postflop, but he has played A-rag also. Thus my problem - do I put him on AK/AQ or just A-rag? Its my 10 kicker thats giving me fits.Dev

I think you call his raise, and give it one more card to make your decision.If it's an A or a 10, you bet/cap. If it's the Ace that falls, he's gonna have to show you that he's got the case A and better kicker. If it's the 10, you are way ahead I think.If it's a blank you check/call and see the river cheap. There are still an awful lot of hands that he might be playin with that you can beat. He may have slowplayed a pair of 10's - K's preflop, and now he's trying to push you off your Ace if he thinks you've got a lousy kicker. He might be playing A-rag... who knows.And if it's a 9, K, or Q on the turn... well I think only in that case do you consider check/fold.

[Rocketwadster 0]

With the limps PF, bump it to $1.50 PF instead of $1.Bet out $3 or $4 on the flop. Protect your gd hand!3-bet the flop. Pot-sized bet. What do you really think is ahead of you here? I think you are ahead 85% of the time.If he calls your 3-bet, call him down unless a 10 flops.

I agree that pre-flop, you need to raise more than you did here.I also agree that after the flop, you need to make a larger bet than you did (you bet $2 into a pot that already had over $5 in it if I did the math correctly) to protect your good but not great hand.I'm on the fence though with re-raising his raise at this point. I know that calling here doesn't help define your hand, but our hand, while good, is not all that strong in this spot. You have position in the next round, so I personally would call in that spot to see what the turn card brings and act accordingly after the opponent acts. :wink:

[Devilkin 0]

Good points above - basically I see my problem as follows:1. Didn't bet enough preflop to push off Ax players2. Showed weakness by betting $2 into a $5 pot. Allowed players holding second pair or lower pocket pairs to stay in. This allows my opponent to either stay in, or reraise me hoping to push me off, now that I showed weakness.Looking at my own play from my opponents view, a $2 bet into a $5 pot would give me the impression that I hit part of the flop, but not necessarily the A. Gotta stop doing that.By the way, my opponent also held A10, and thankfully for me, after I called his raise, he didn't bet after the turn was a blank. We split the pot.Ill play more agressively in the future. Thanks for the input.Dev