Playing 3/6 at pacific. I'm in the sb with A8o. I call (first mistake?).
Flop comes A,x,7 rainbow.
I check
checks around to button who bets.
I call (uh?)
Anyway the river ends up being an Ace.
I check raise she reraises I call.
I lose to
A7o fullhouse
My question is this:
Should you even call A8 in the small blind no raise? What about the check call, was that a good idea? The check raise?
I don't think your call before the flop is wrong, the absence of a raise suggests you aren't facing an ace with a better kicker and you are getting pretty good odds on your call.
I don't like your flop play though, I would have bet to see where the other players are; if I got raised someone else has a better another ace or a set. Check-raise is another option, if the late position players (particularly the button) are likely to bet.
On the river, I don't understand why you check raised, there are no more cards to come, so protecting your hand isn't an issue, your hand didn't really improve (a non-ace 2 pair is the only hand would beat yours on the turn that you have beat now). Given how you played the hand on the earlier betting rounds, I think check/call would have been the correct play. I assume the pot is large enough to make a laydown prohibitive and your opponent would re-reaise with a better hand, you are risking 2 BBs to gain 1 additional BB; not a good move unless your opponent is an aggressive one (limping in from the button suggests your opponent isn't aggressive)who would bet medium pair or worse with such tenacity.
It's all situational, but generally A8o is a trap hand IMO. I normally don't play it unless in late position when no one has entered the pot and I think the blinds will fold to a raise.
In a multi-way pot, I wouldn't stay with it w/o flopping either two pair or top pair top kicker, or of course trips. Hitting just the ace loses too often to a higher kicker or two pair, so having opponents left on the turn is bad news for this hand.
Even making trip aces is dangerous, since at low limit a lot of players play ace-anything, the fourth ace is more likely to have seen the flop for a single bet than at middle limits, meaning that even with trips you still have to worry about a better kicker or a boat. I would not have played this from the SB, but if I acidentally did, I would have bet on the flop, and then just checked it down.
A8 in the small blind without any raises sounds reasonable, so i dont fault you for calling it. Your opponent flopped two pair so she got very lucky... considering you had a slightly higher kicker. If an eight popped on the turn, you would shitting all over him/her. When that last Ace popped, i wouldnt have checked raised it, considering you must have thought someone has an Ace with a better kicker... at the least. 8 isnt very good if u ask me. OR maybe someone had the 7 to make trips. You should have just called instead hoping to get a possible split pot.
