Fear the AJo

I was party to an interesting series of hands tonight, started by my win of $1.57 (net $1.20) in a single hand of 2¢/4¢. I'm dealt AcJd, one off the button at an eight-player table. One player folds, the rest of the players limp to me. I raise to 4¢. The button calls, the small blind raises to 6¢, everyone stays in, I call, and the button caps it. Everyone calls; the pot's at 56¢ already, pre-flop.

The flop is Ad4c9d. Top pair, top kicker.

Small blind checks, big blind bets, the next three players limp, and I raise. Button calls, big blind raises(!), two limpers stay in and one folds. I re-raise to cap it at 8¢, and the four other players call. The pot is at 98¢.

The turn is As, giving me top set, top kicker. Nice. It's checked to me, I bet, the button calls, the big blind raises, the two limpers call, I re-raise, the button folds, and the big blind calls. I can smell her fear now; I put her on a big flush draw. The limpers call. The pot is $1.40.

The river's a Qh, so the blind's missed her flush. It's checked to me, I bet, the big blind folds, and the limpers call.

I take down the $1.52 pot. The limpers show A6o (with the 9 and Q on the board, his 6 kicker was worthless) and KQo (WTF?).

Over the next six hands, two more players get AJo and win with it.

Then, seven hands later, I'm dealt AJo again, and win a smaller 44¢ pot when I river the ace against Q5o, with a board of J4Q-3-A. Good times.

While Sklansky's book didn't help me on Monday, it's improved my online play a bit.