Zack Shelley's Weekly Poker Blog

August 29, 2011                         ---Let's Talk Poker---                     By Zack Shelley

AJ, We All hate It, but We All Play It

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Levi on his recent win at the “Denver Classic.”  It sounds like he had them right where he wanted them; having less the 1 big blind at the final table! But, that’s exactly why you never count out an opponent like Levi. Great job buddy!

Picking up AJ unsuited in early position, especially on our tour, is a lot like hooking up with a “Hot Looking” prospect in a bar at 2:00 am. For 1 thing if it’s 2:00 am and you’re still yet to seal a deal, The sole remaining prospect looks like Pocket Jacks, considering the hands you’ve been dealt. Besides these situations, in late night hook ups and AJ seem to result in the he same; when they work they work, but when they don’t they typically come with more baggage than there worth!

This article on playing AJ is dedicated to Alexis Moore, who is perhaps the worst fan of AJ. I have many theories on why it is difficult to play, and seemingly impossible to win with AJ, however the one that jumps out at me is expectation. The expectation of the outcome is not unlike playing JJ, where it looks premium, pre-flop, but loses a lot of value after the flop. JJ is in a dead heat with KQ suited as the 6^th best starting hand, however there are 11 of out of 46 unseen cards, before the flop, that could be paired for a hand that will best your pocket Jacks.

Never forget that AJ, suited or not, is a drawing hand where you have 1 chance in 3 of pairing either your J or your Ace , just like AK. The difference, however is that if you flop an Ace or a Jack, you may have kicker problems unless you are lucky enough to see a J high flop, where you will be holding top pair, top kicker. On our tour, it is fairly common to have 5 people limp in only to call the raise you announce holding your AJ. This is problematic since some players will limp in with AQ or AK, in order to limit their exposure, since they know that early on in tournaments, standard raises rarely limit the opponents, so despite their initial limp, you could still be up against a bigger Ace. Even later in tournaments when raises do thin out the field, the people who do call your raise/call with hands like AQ, AK, AA, KK or QQ, which again, puts your AJ at risk.

With this knowledge, why not just limp in with your AJ? The answer is that limping is contagious, forcing you to play against 5-7 opponents including the blinds that could be holding anything, inviting a raggedy 2 pair, etc. and are on the most likely found in the hole cards of one the blinds.

So, what’s the answer? Who am I, Phil Hellmuth, how the hell would I know? What I do know is this; raise big early, limiting your opponents or don’t play it at all until you have developed a strong feel for the post flop game that allows you to get away from hands when you are likely behind due to kicker problems or big blind specials. The other thing is this; if you are playing AJ in a hand containing an Ace on the flop and a player in front of you bets out, do not call since it is critical to raise and find out where you are in the hand. Trust me; these chips, if you ride them to the river, will be well saved to fight another day, and far less expensive than finding out, late in the hand, that you are out kicked, after you have committed even more chips.

Copyright©2011 by Stephen Shelley for ---Let’s Talk Poker--- with Zack Shelley, 8/29/2011 I would love to hear your thoughts, so e-mail me at letstalkpoker@yahoo.com

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