Ak - what to do here?

This is my first post, so hello to you all. I'm fairly new to the game, but i've been reading the forum for a while and learn a lot. In my last game I had a hand where I didn't really know what the do. What would you do here?

This is microlimits at Unibet, so the game is generally pretty loose. This table had a 43 % flop ratio, but had been tighening up a bit since I joined I think. I was playing tight aggressive, trying to play by the book poker. I had a string of good hands so I had been raising a lot preflop. SB was loose, was involved in many pots. I had no real read on villain, he hadn't caught my attention, so i guess he was playing rather standard poker for this level.

I think I played it right preflop, villain raised to 0.20. A weak raise, but I've seen it often, i decided to reraise it 3x to 0.60. SB called, villain then reraised me to 1. I put him on a high pocket pair, AK or possibly AQ. I call the 0.40 more, deciding to fold should I miss the flop. SB Calls, he could have anything decent. The flop comes rainbow with an ace, just what I was looking for, SB checks and villain comes out betting the pot.

** Stumble Up [Hold 'em] (0.05|0.10 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- **** sitting in seat 1 with $7.00 [Sitting out]
- SB sitting in seat 2 with $4.18
- BB sitting in seat 3 with $3.70
- UTG sitting in seat 4 with $21.70
- Villain sitting in seat 5 with $6.50
- MP sitting in seat 6 with $11.65
- MP + 1 sitting in seat 7 with $8.80
- Hero sitting in seat 8 with $8.47
- MP + 2 sitting in seat 9 with $9.15
- Button sitting in seat 10 with $11.65 [Dealer]

SB posted the small blind - $0.05
BB posted the big blind - $0.10

** Dealing card to Hero : Ace of Clubs, King of Hearts

UTG folded
Villain raised - $0.20
MP folded
MP + 1 folded
Hero raised - $0.60
MP + 2 folded
Button folded
SB called - $0.60
BB folded
Villain raised - $1.00
Hero called - $1.00
SB called - $1.00

** Dealing the flop: 2 of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Jack of Spades

SB checked
Villain bet - $3.00
Hero ???

Hero raised - $6.00
SB folded
Villain went all-in - $2.50

Villain shows: Jack of Clubs, Jack of Diamonds

** Dealing the turn: King of Diamonds

** Dealing the river: 10 of Spades

Villain wins $13.80 from the main pot

Welcome to FTR. Well a re-raise from a "standard" player pre-flop is usually AA-QQ, and maybe AK & JJ. Since your A fell on the flop it is less likely that he has AA. He probably has KK-JJ. My first thought was KK. You don't need to raise to protect your hand from any draws. If villain's range is AA-JJ then a raise by you will make KK and QQ fold (which you don't want to happen...you want those hands to stay in the pot with you) and AA (which is unlikely) or JJ call, which you don't want to happen either. So I vote for no raise on the flop. I would call and see what happens next I think. This is what is called a way ahead/way behind situation. You generally don't want to raise in this kind of situation because it will only get action from hands that are way ahead of you.

I also put him on KK or AK after the flop bet, AA was as you said unlikely and JJ not so likely given the preflop action. Plus they really like to slow play at this level, I don't expected him to bet the pot with a set, giving me every opportunity to fold. But your are right, raising don't accomplish much here. Maybe he would fold AK or call with KK since he only has 2.50 behind.

So a call was probably the right thing to do, then again if he bets the turn my money goes in too. I'm not going to fold to a 2.50 all-in bet into a 9 $ pot. So the next question is, can you get away from a hand like this?

The only thing I worry about here is the SB slowplaying jacks. If he is then nh, to bad he wasn't smart enough to buy in full. I'm getting all my cash in at some point here, so I call the flop and hope there will be as large a pot as possible when I push the turn.

So the answer is no, I can't fold this against these stacks.

Oh, and reload to a full stack when you're down to 8.47.

You can't get away vs. hands that beat you, so your goal should be to maximize the amount you get of hands that you beat. So call and get the rest in on the turn.

Thx for the responses. I probably still think to much result-oriented and haven't really internalised the cold logic of EV + plays. The problem is, I hate losing money, even with a good play .

It's human. Losing sucks, be it money, pride, or whatever. If you lose when the other guy makes a mistake, though, you don't really lose, you win.

I think the most important three words of poker are "Short term sucks".