How should i play: 1010, JJ, QQ, KK & AA ?

How should i play pockets? been losing badly with pocket AA, JJ, QQ, and so on. how much should i raise and when should i raise? should i raise before the flop? ( i guess it's call "preflop") i play three to four times a week. 1/2NL & 2/5 NL. any advice is greatly apreciated.

I think you should play them strongly, but also consider the action at the table, as well as player styles.

How are you playing your hands? do you have any hand histories? What is your betting pattern? Are you miniraising and giving them odds to call? or are you betting so they don't have the odds to chase that straight? Are you going all in and getting 5 callers?

If you are going all in and getting beat by an odd hand then that is just poker. You are a favorite to win X+% of the time, but they will win X-% of the time. And if you are playing callstations, it can really affect your probability depending on how many live cards there are in the hand.

What you want to achieve is to narrow down the players to a heads up situation where you can dominate and have the best chance to win. But sometimes the callers just call and suckout and there is nothing you can do.

If you find this happening alot, it may be the site you play on. I play on Full tilt alot and you get idiot callstations who will suck you dry, but on Bodog I find they respect the bets alot more. It might also depend on the time of day you play, and also the blinds. Low limit has alot of callstations so I hear.

A standard raise is 3XBB but you can and should vary it. some people do 3-5 times the BB plus 100 per player entered into the pot. So if you have 3 players before you and the blinds are 100, you would raise at least 600. You, of course, will need to feel out the table and adjust your play accordingly. If you have alot of callers who chase till the river and catch, then maybe switch tables.

Don't forget to randomize your play, and remember your positioning. Although you have a strong hand such as AA, if you are in the cut-off you get to see what everyone else does first, and as you know pockets do not gurantee a win. So play JJ QQ KK cautiously and do not be afraid to lay it down when you feel you are beat. I see alot of people call down AK feeling entitled to win just to get beat by a low pair.

U playing $1/2.00 and $2/5.00 NL??? Real cash???

If u don`t mind me saying, if u have money to burn it does not matter, but if u r asking how to play premium pairs pre flop I would possible start at lower limits. $0.25/0.50 would be my suggestion.

I`m no world beater, but the first thing to realize is that those hands are excellent preflop, but things change after the flop. As 12skin points out, u got to lay them down sometimes.

AA - early position I like to limp, hoping to get raised, then reraise. How I play it other than that will depend on the action before me
KK - probably raise about 4 times bb in early, then see what the flop brings. After that depends on action.
QQ - I play strong, regardless of position. The earlier I am the stronger I play it. Facing a raise and a reraise early on I might even fold this one, but in a cash game probably not and in a MTT it will depend on my stack.
JJ - beware after the flop!!! JJ I play strong regardless of position, but dependant on action before me. This is a hand I probably would lay down to a raise and a reraise.
1010 - I limp early, raise late.

I`m with 12skin on how to raise - about 3 time bb + 1 bb per limper

I also think a lot depends on your read of players - what have they done before.

Having said all of the above, I would class what I have said as very standard play - maybe with the exception of the AA. Again, as 12skin said, u need to vary your game - sometimes I might raise from middle position with QJs at a full table.

Anyway, hope that helps and gl

sorry for not making it clear. i play at under ground poker house here in town. there are three here where i live and they open 7 nights a week.
i just started going to the poker house in March and i've only been playing poker for about 2 years now with friends and familey, but i've only been playing with the big boys for less then a month.
wins:
-March 18th at pokerhouse3 $240, played 9:00pm to 12:00am, $60 buy in.
-March 21st at pokerhouse1 $150, played 8:30pm to 11:30pm, $100 buy in.
-March 24th at pokerhouse2 $390, played 11:30pm to 4:30pm,$100 buy in.
-March 28th, at pokerhouse1 $155, played 10:00pm to 11:45pm, $100 buy in.

so each time i am there i atleast win some. i could have won more but my pocket or a pair would get beat. i am planing to continue playing wednesday night, friday night and saturday. the advice that i need from your expert is how should i play pairs and pocket? most of the time i slow play pockets, like AA, 1010, JJ, QQ, KK and so on. so please tell me how should i plat these hands! Thanks in advance for your replies and your time.

sounds like you are doing ok

Here is a very good article in our articles section:

http://www.cardschat.com/poker-preflop-mistakes.php

We have no single expert, but a whole lot of really good players. Many would fit that expert label.

There is so much here that will help you, you can barely imagine it. And then, on top of all the really useful stuff, this place teems with the irrelavant !

I don't like this method. Slow play allows opponents to get cheap cards and improve their hand. I would rather make my raise/limp-reraise preflop and (if everyone folds) only win 3-4 x BB than slow play and lose 10-20 x BB on a river. I think a well played bad beat is much easier to take than a slow played bad beat.

Watch the cards that come on the flop and river. How often do you see a player lose with pocket aces because they cannot bring themselves to fold. If I'm holding AA and the table shows - 9 Q 10 - J - I will fold a lot of times to a betting opponent (probably folded some winning hands) however (and this comes with experience) you should get a feel for your opponents and what cards they are holding by their betting patterns and their style of play in that had and previous hands. I like to watch hands I am not playing in and try to guess what cards the people still in are holding. Over time this skill (not sure if it is a skill) does improve and makes a big difference to your poker winnings. Although you sound like you are doing ok at the moment.

I notice your buy in has increased. My advice is to make sure you play within the limits of your bankroll and your own ability. If you are good enough to win on a regular basis playing the $1-$2 tables, you can find yourself out of your depth quite quickly when moving to a $2-$4 or $5-$10 game. Keep detailed records of your wins/losses, table limit, buy in, time played, etc.

I did have a whole paragraph on the pitfalls of slow play however I deleted it because your original post tells me you have experienced the pleasure only a slow played beat can give.

I apologise if this post is disjointed and grammatically incorrect but I am tired and my head hurts.

That reminds me. I need a signature and an avatar. Good night all.

I was losing all the time with pockets - until I started raising huge pre-flop - I raise at least 3 times the big blind. I have had alot more success with that.... Good luck!

3-4 x bb is a normal raise.

Play every hand the exact same way. Change in preflop bets is a pretty big tell.

Good enough to play good enough to raise.

this might help


Playing mid-range pp's

dont play jj all i have to say.

ANY pocket pair should be a raise pre-flop from just about any position. Ussually you want to make it pretty strong so there arent too many callers. Dont slow play them because the problem is that in many cases while a pocket pair would give you good odds before the flop, your chances of winning with multiple callers goes down signifigantly especially when there are a lot of people calling to fish.

Have to disagree with you on the first sentence. 22-66 is really not a raising hand preflop from early position (probably not even from middle position either). Anyway, I like to play my pockets strong and fast. What you're really looking for is someone else making the second best hand (like top pair, top or good kicker) and paying you off till the river. No point in giving free cards, because if they catch their second pair or set you're the one paying them off.

The key way to play big hands is Aggresiveness. However, you must learn to fold your hands when you know you are beat. Calling for the sake of it is how you lose more money. Play aggressivly and strong and you should win more than you lose. Good luck

And, then one day, you find that you are no longer an expert, only regular.