DECISION POINT: In a live $1/3 cash game it folds to a Middle Position player who raises to $15, the Hijack calls, and you call from the Button with A♦J♦. The Blinds fold and the flop comes K♣J♠7♦. The MP2 player continuation bets $20, the Hijack calls and you call. On the 2♥ turn MP2 bets $50, Hijack calls, and action is on you.

What do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are on the Button in a $1/$3 cash game where most of the players have around $300 stacks. We are dealt AdJd and everyone folds to MP2 who opens to a larger first-in sizing of $15 (5BBs) which is common in low stakes cash games. The Hijack flats, the Cutoff folds, and action is on us.

With a big suited ace, both calling and reraising are viable options. The opening raise size is larger in this game and many low stakes opponents tend to play more passively, even sometimes just open limping and splitting their ranges. MP2’s range here is likely to skew a bit tighter than a 3BB opening hand range chart might suggest, so we decide to proceed with caution and call and both the Blinds fold.

The flop is KcJs7d. MP2 continuation bets $20 and the Hijack calls. There is $89 in the pot and we only need to call $20 in position. We are getting a great price and often have effectively 6 outs, including 2 jacks, 3 aces, and 1 out for the backdoor diamond draw when we’re behind, and some of the time we will also have the best hand.

It will likely be more difficult to realize our equity in this spot when out of position, however if we fold to these smaller bets in position we are likely over folding given the amount of equity our hand should have against the likely range for our opponent.

We call and the turn is the 2h. MP2 bets $50 and the Hijack again calls. At this point we didn’t turn any additional equity and both players have again shown an interest in the pot. The bet sizing is much larger relative to the pot as well.

While we might have the best hand sometimes it’s likely that we’re beaten more often than not and have only 5 outs to improve with one card to come, decreasing our implied odds and overall equity.

Folding is the best play.