A♣3♦ SB vs BB, preflop, 15 bb
The spot
- You: SB
- Opponent: BB
- Your hand: A♣3♦
- Board: preflop, no board yet
- Effective stack: 15 bb
- Pot: 1.5 bb
HU 15bb effective. SB is on the button-equivalent — fold/limp/min-raise/jam decision with A3o.
Best HU shallow-stack action with A3o from SB?
See the answer
Best play: Min-raise to 2bb
Why
Principle: at 15bb HU SB, a min-raise keeps the pot small and in position, while a jam risks the whole stack to win the blinds. Applied to A3o: it is ahead of the unpaired hands without an ace that the BB defends, but dominated by most aces and pairs that would call a jam. So: min-raise to 2bb — keep the weaker hands in and play the pot in position, instead of jamming into the hands that dominate it.
Key idea
At 15bb HU, a weak offsuit ace prefers a min-raise: it keeps the unpaired hands it beats in the pot and plays postflop in position, instead of jamming into the aces and pairs that dominate it.