J K unsuited/suited

I would like to hear peoples opinion on how to play J K unsuited. This is always a tricky hand for me to play and i cant seem to ever play it right. Do i fold/call/raise preflop or if i hit the king or jack with no other higher card on the board do i raise?

Also, would you play J K suited any different?

I used to have trouble with hands like that. I always wanted to play! In a freeroll I usually do play em, any way I feel like! lol But, and this took me a loong time to learn,...if I'm out of position, it's an easy fold. If i'm in position I may speculate if there is no pressure on me in the betting. But I'd recommend reading about position in a hand. It will prolly save you a lot of cash and heartache.

well said. you could raise in late pos. if it's folded to you, but you'd have to base that and further decisions on your reads of the blinds. If you know you're against a blind defender, be wary of a low flop when you c-bet

What do you do want to do in mid. pos? limp? depends on the stake I suppose, I'd play it the same as any suited connector.

***I base this on a suited hand

KJ suited or not is a autofold most of the times for me.
I might raise to try to steal the blinds if im in late postion but i dont like calling with it since its so easily dominated.

regarding KJo--

early position at a 9-handed table: fold it almost always. easily dominated, lots of players still to act, and you can't stand a re-raise pretty much ever

middle position at a 9-handed table: depends on your exact position, table conditions, tightness of the blinds, etc. if someone raised before you, fold except in very rare cases (like they're a maniac who raises very very wide). when not facing a raise in front it hinges on the conditions i mentioned; sometimes it's a raise, sometimes it's a fold. the more experience you get, the better idea you'll have. it's not a good hand to open-limp with because if you get a raise behind, you really don't know if they're just attacking/isolating your limp or if they really have a good hand. once you limpcall and flop top pair, you have no idea where the hell you're at because they could easily have you outkicked or have an overpair. open-raising (especially with this type of hand) is important for defining your opponents ranges and avoiding trouble when you get 3bet

late position at a 9-handed table: pretty strong hand to open with; always worth an open-raise and usually an isolation raise if someone limped in. if a raise already came from EP or even MP it's a fold nearly every time

with fewer players you of course have to adjust your standards a little bit. in first position at a 6-handed table i'm still folding usually, but any position after that it's probably worth an open-raise

KJ suited is not all that different. in some marginal spots where you might not play KJo, KJs might be worth a play, especially with deep stacks (like in cash games) where the added flush possibilities are worth quite a bit in implied odds

usually they're good hands for being aggressive with in late position, and a good hand to get you in trouble in early position. hope this helped a little

Its pretty much situational. I might fold KJ in EP since is a very easily dominated hand, but I might shove with KJ in EP if my stack vs blinds is low enough. I might open raise in MP with KJ as well or I'll call a small bet from EP. Late position, you can be more aggressive with it. Steal with it, re-steal, etc.

KJ is hand I like to play carefully. Especially if I hit a K on the flop with a J kicker. If Im the aggressor, I might C-bet with KJ depending on my opponent(s) if I hit the flop. Iff IM not the aggressor, I might just call down bets to keep the pot small. Again, depending on the opponent. If you hit, your hand might be good in some situations, but its not a hand I would like to get into a raising war with.

Combu makes some good points as well.

Reading carefully since I am fairly sure this is one of my most badly played hands. The only improvement I have made is by playing it much less

I fold it early, call late and fold fast as hell when it doesn't look great post flop.

cAPS

LOL...one thing I forgot to ask: Is this for 6max ring? Full ring? SNG? MTT? HU?

Answers might vary depending on the game...

Yes, K-J suited should be played differently from K-J offsuit. The possibilites of making a hand are much better and there worth a little more risk. Of course, I agree with "Philthy" the situation is the determining factor in playing either. With a large raise and then and "all-in" your best option is to play neither hand and fold. However, from late position with no calls or raises then by all means call with the off suit and make a 1 bet raise with the suited K-J. If the flop do not come close to anything then fold if someone bets out.

actually the possibilities of making a hand are something like 4% better. the difference is fairly marginal. flopping a flush draw will often give you the courage you need to be rightly aggressive and force the issue, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have been aggressive with the same hand sans flush draw. it's a nice benefit but the difference between an unsuited hand and the same hand suited is not nearly as big as most people seem to treat it to be

Playing at a 6 ring table does it make it a much stronger hand? I tend to play at 6 ring tables and not 9 because it seems to help me in my agressive style of play.

well at a 6 handed table you're just competing with fewer hands, so KJ becomes better there than 9-handed. at 6max, KJ is a somewhat strong hand, but you should still be careful. like i said, in first position even at a 6 handed table, i'd probably fold it. in 2nd position it's usually worth a raise, but if you face resistance you should let it go. but i really think the biggest mistake you can make is open-limp and call a raise, because then you have no idea of your opponent's range, you're usually out of position, and it will be difficult to play post-flop

First off, suited makes no or very little diff. The fact they are suited adds Depends pn position, how i feel the table is about 2% to your odds of winning. How, or if I'd play 'em depends upon position and how the table is playing. If I play, definately raise with em

Exactly my opinion too.

Here's that over-used word--DEPENDS!--It would depend on position-Type of game (MTT-SnG-Ring Cash game, FR) and are there antes or not. I would raise 2Xs BB if folded to me onna button, but only if there are antes. See what I'm getting at? Really need more info--SO! It DEPENDS!

well jk offsuit is very difficult to play.... if you are the dealer and there werent more than 2 callers without any raise i bet 2 or 3 bb trying to scared my opponents. however if im in the first position i play these hand in a tight way,just calling to see the flop paying the less chips as possible.
jk suit is a bit better, however the odds didnt increase so much. you have to try to bet accrding to your position in the table, youir chipstack and your feeling.

Out of position it's a fold, i may limp in a weak table if it's suited try to spike a flush. If i have position, i will normally raise, if there to many limpers i will just call i guess. But if you flop top pair with it, you gotta be careful because it's an easy hand to be dominated, and if you face a re raise you are probably beat. I got in a few messy pots wit J K and i guess i learned from it

I see people overplay this hand everyday. I personally fold pre. I've tried using it but it just gets me into trouble. I saw Bax put 50 percent of his stack in with KJo and he was one of the chip leaders. I couldn't believe it.

A hand I really hate to play. I've lost more with it than won. KQ has 10x more power. But yea, i'll limp with it if it's a passive table, but if it's an aggresive table and out of position, I fold.

If it's a passive table you should be raising it imo.

Auto fold in early position. Play it in late position if nobody else has called the blinds otherwise fold it there as well.

Jack King is a fair hand to have. I mean some people say its not so good cause any ace has better odds of winning one on one, however this isn't the case a lot of times when its a multiplayer table. The thing is if you catch a high pair, its most likely the biggest one and its very unlikely that someone is beating your kicker, so your off to a good start. However if someone makes the right bet you'r gonna have to lay it down.

Jack King can be played many ways. You can try raising preflop to scare of potential limpers, and you can also limp in trying to catch that big pair against some limper who has a fair hand, possibly same pair but weaker. You just have to get a feel of the table. If the ppl are agressive a lot of the time you want to be conservative to get that big pot preflop only when you got that monster pocket pair . If the table is conservative start raising preflop with your King Jack to either eat some blinds or try to win a fair pot post flop.

How you play it on the flop and after depends on what you get. If you get a pair you usually want to raise it since you don't want someone to catch, especially if there is a possible straight or flush draw going on. If you don't catch anything, well then its up to you. You might send a bluff every once and a while or just check it and hope that everyone does the same.

Hope i helped! Good luck that the tables!

K, J is like K, Q. It looks like a great hand but it really isn't as good as some people think. K, J is not much of an improvement than K, J unsuited. K,J suited is about as powerful as K, 2 suited. I usually limp with it and sometimes call a raise with it. Or course, if I'm heads up with it or shortstacked, I'm VERY aggressive with it and shove. You could do worse.

KJo and KJs are two completely different hands. They are so different in fact that according to my PT3 cash game stats (54K hands: 37K+ FLHE & 16K+ NLHE) KJo is my most costly hand, while KJs is in my top 9 for money won.
Based upon these stats over the last few weeks or so, I have been folding KJo from early position and against raises.
From late position in an un-opened pot, I'll raise with KJo.
With KJs depending on table conditions, sometimes I will raise from early position and sometimes I will call. If the table is extra aggressive, I will fold KJs from early position.
From late position I will usually call a raise if there has been a caller or two either in front of or behind the raiser based upon implied odds.
In an un-opened pot from mid-position or later I will almost always raise with KJs.
This is still a work in progress for me, however over these last few weeks KJo has gone from a money losing hand to a positive hand. It does not do as well as KJs, but then KJs can win in more ways than KJo can.
GL2U with which ever way you decide to play these hands!

There's a reason why I've seen KJ called the "rookie hand." It looks really good to inexperienced or just plain bad players when in actuality it is a marginal hand at best.

Okay thanks. i have been starting to fold KJo more then i used to but yea i guess i am still an amature it still looks good to me when i am delt it.