25nl Tptk

[Jay234]

Please give me some tips on how to play this hand. Villain had just joined the table, had no reads.

PokerStars Game #19816011828: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2008/08/22 - 16:25:18 (ET)
Table 'Agematsu II' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: dave@pym ($9.10 in chips)
Seat 2: PartialD ($41.85 in chips)
Seat 3: Dennn15 ($33 in chips)
Seat 4: pllaver ($3.95 in chips)
Seat 5: littlemanni ($25 in chips)
Seat 6: AMUNO ($4.65 in chips)
Seat 7: jay234....AA ($52.60 in chips)
Seat 8: Villain ($26.05 in chips)
Seat 9: bacotero ($5 in chips)
Villain: posts small blind $0.10
bacotero: posts big blind $0.25
littlemanni: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jay234....AA [Ah Js]dave@pym: calls $0.25
PartialD: folds
Dennn15: folds
pllaver: folds
littlemanni: checks
AMUNO: folds
jay234....AA: raises $1.25 to $1.50
Villain: calls $1.40
bacotero: folds
dave@pym: calls $1.25
littlemanni: folds
*** FLOP *** [8s Jh 5s]
Villain: bets $3.25
dave@pym: folds
jay234....AA: raises $5.25 to $8.50
Villain: calls $5.25
*** TURN *** [8s Jh 5s] [Qc]
Villain: bets $7.50
jay234....AA: ?

[Qgel]

You can't call here on the flop - you need to reraise and get it in OR fold and I actually like folding more for a few reasons:

1. You could already be crushed by a set and he's just raising here to protect his hand.

2. If he does have a draw, it will often be a combo draw like an OESD+FD, meaning you're actually behind. And even a naked straight or flush draw still has a lot of equity against your TP

As played... should be a fold on the turn but when he bets so small I probably call and might call another small bet on the river, mainly for information . Much safer to fold though

[Jay234]

Thanks. I did find a fold, though i`m not really sure. If he has a monster, wouldn`t he reraise me? But then again, his turn bet tells me that he has something strong.

[Qgel]

Wooooooooops.. Ignore my 1st post as I totally misread the hand history. Thought that you bet and he raised you on the flop, my bad
and partly yours, because you didn't convert it .

A raise on the flop is fine. Once he just calls, you're probably good here most of the time. Folding the turn would be too weak, I'm calling him down unless he shoves the river or something and taking notes for future reference.

[Jay234]

Will convert next time Thanks.

[FishAndChips]

With no reads, I'm folding here, but this is a spot where calling/folding is very very player dependent. That said, by calling you're putting yourself in position to play a pretty big pot with a small pot hand. What happens if he leads again on the river (which he is probably doing with anything but a river spade, and if he's a good player, he's leading even if a spade falls and folding to any raise)? You've invested $6 in the pot so far, do you really want to invest $20 more with middle pair? The range of hands you beat here is so slim. He's repping a two pair or some other strong hand that is vulnerable to a flush by leading here, especially since an overcard doesn't slow him down, he's very unlikely on a jack. The only hands you can beat are a weaker jack (unlikely), spade draw (also unlikely), or a total bluff.

This is a spot where you definitely want to use pot control. I really like raising the flop so you can check behind on the turn, which I assume was your plan. Once he leads again on the turn I'm just giving up here. I think it's best to err on the side of caution once pots get built up fairly large -- until you actually see your opponent getting out of line it's best just to allow someone else to look them up.