Trouble Hand:

[Jack Sawyer]

How should I play this?


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP3 (t1470)
CO (t1970)
Button (t3230)
SB (t1410)
BB (t1270)
UTG (t1130)
UTG+1 (t2360)
Hero (t1470)
MP2 (t1530)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with T, A.
UTG raises to t80, 1 fold, Hero calls t80, 5 folds, BB calls t60.

Flop: (t250) 8, 9, 7 (3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets t140, Hero calls t140, BB folds.

Turn: (t530) Q (2 players)
UTG bets t340, Hero ???

[JeffreyGB]

I rarely call a raise with AT preflop. I probably fold. In certain situations I'll reraise.

On the flop, I think you're much better raising or folding. You have two over cards and the high end of an OESD. That's a decent flop, so apply some pressure! By raising (semi-bluffing), you can win when you hit or when he folds.


On the turn, it's an easy fold in my book. It's possible that the T is no longer a good out, or that the A is not a good out. You're only ~16% to make the straight, meaning that your odds are pretty bad at this point. I don't think you can continue drawing here, but I think the worse play was just calling on the flop.

[Roco415]

fold the flop....u can wait for a better spot with ease

[JeffreyGB]

fold the flop....u can wait for a better spot with ease

What exactly do you think his opponent has? You're in good shape against basically anything but a set here:

Against AJ/Q/K or JJ: we're 30% to win and he's folding to aggression a lot of the time.

Against A9 - A7, we're about 45% to win, making a raise very good given the dead money in the middle.

Against KK/QQ, we're again 45% to win.

Against other non-set pocket pairs, we're the favorite to win.

This is a great flop for us. In my book, a fold is actually pretty bad here. But we have to add some FE to it to get max value (plus we don't like missing the turn and having to evaluate).

[Jack Sawyer]

I rarely call a raise with AT preflop. I probably fold. In certain situations I'll reraise.

On the flop, I think you're much better raising or folding. You have two over cards and the high end of an OESD. That's a decent flop, so apply some pressure! By raising (semi-bluffing), you can win when you hit or when he folds.


On the turn, it's an easy fold in my book. It's possible that the T is no longer a good out, or that the A is not a good out. You're only ~16% to make the straight, meaning that your odds are pretty bad at this point. I don't think you can continue drawing here, but I think the worse play was just calling on the flop.

I had a read on the player here. He raised preflop utg 3 orbits ago and again 2 orbits ago.

A compulsive UTG raiser, can you give him credit for having anything here?

[Sprayed]

Calling raises with ATo is just throwing chips away especially against tight players. Calling a raise with ATs in position is not bad since you can hit more flops and it plays better in multi-way flops. I will reraise with this hand when in position when a LAG has been raising a lot or loose passive players have limped in.

On this flop, I would probably raise and try to take it down there. As played, I think you have to fold on the turn. To answer your question about respecting his raises from UTG, I think that you have to respect them until you see what he is raising 4xbb from UTG.

[Rondavu]

I never call this raise

[JeffreyGB]

I rarely call a raise with AT preflop. I probably fold. In certain situations I'll reraise.

I had a read on the player here. He raised preflop utg 3 orbits ago and again 2 orbits ago.

A compulsive UTG raiser, can you give him credit for having anything here?

In certain situations I'll reraise.