9/9, 10/10, and J/J

I know I'm not the greatest with pocket pairs 9-J.


I have a hard time understanding their value in context.
Often, you see at least one over-card on the flop and usually a call is by someone with a J/10 or better. It appears to be so risky and with a continuation bet, the chips fly. I typically represent any high board pair with caution for the caller and push all under cards. Often, I look for a flip with a short stack.


Any help on these hands would be appreciated. Thanks

Typically with these types of pairs I usually raise and see what comes at the flop. Make a feeler bet and decide if the overcards my opponents have or have not.

If i have in my hand AA, just give all win and that god bless me

99-JJ=Deadmans hand if you don't read the table correctly. Have to be ready to let go if the over comes and someone trying to get you off the hand .

Johnson baker said:

99-JJ=Deadmans hand if you don't read the table correctly. Have to be ready to let go if the over comes and someone trying to get you off the hand .

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Right. I guess there is no special method to satisfy a win from the fact of having a good pair to start the round. .

Queenlimp said:

I know I'm not the greatest with pocket pairs 9-J.


I have a hard time understanding their value in context.
Often, you see at least one over-card on the flop and usually a call is by someone with a J/10 or better. It appears to be so risky and with a continuation bet, the chips fly. I typically represent any high board pair with caution for the caller and push all under cards. Often, I look for a flip with a short stack.


Any help on these hands would be appreciated. Thanks

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Like any hand the way they are played will be dependent upon what happens, What we are playing, our stack size, and all other variables that go into each decision in poker. Those hands are usually good candidates to get it All in when short stacked in a tournament, they are good hands to open with being ahead of all hands except QQ+ which is barely over 1% of the entire range of hands. They are good 3-bet candidates because they are strong enough to still have decent equity on most flops and in most cases will get a fold pre. All in all I can't say exactly how to play each hand because there is no ONE way or RIGHT way to play the hands it's ALWAYS dependent on the different variables on each street.

I think you can play them with a 3-bet out of the gate but after that it depends on the flop. Then you have decide how to go forward depending on the over cards, possible straight's/flushes and how aggressive the other players are. Depending on how far into the tournament I'd do the same for any pocket pair and then adjust accordingly.

the hand is good, as they say, ready) but if the over-card falls on the flop, you need to play carefully without risking your stack. often playing check-bet.

It seems that with online play, even the value of Q/Q to A/A is discounted. A pre-flop 3/4 bet online does not appear to mean much. Tough sometimes to get beat with premium hands and fold what would of been the winning hand to all in junk. Hard to estimate starting hands without knowing a little bit about the person your playing against.

I've lost online from high pocket pairs more than anything else. It seems like once the money goes in pre-flop anything happens. 4 suited cards on the table happens so many times when at least two people are all-in before the flop. There was a post about Q/Q, and they say if your not willing to go all in with Q/Q, what are you playing for (quoting the odds); but there are days that 10/10 or higher seems like a setup.

I think they are easier to play when you are familiar with the players you are playing against and know what their ranges are. It also depends on how deep or short of a stack you are playing with. If you have less than 10 bbs in a tournament and a loose aggressive player raised preflop it might be a good spot to 3beet all in.

Pablo22 said:

I think they are easier to play when you are familiar with the players you are playing against and know what their ranges are. It also depends on how deep or short of a stack you are playing with. If you have less than 10 bbs in a tournament and a loose aggressive player raised preflop it might be a good spot to 3beet all in.

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This is a situation where that knowledge helps the most to make a good decision.

The first decision you should make when receiving your hole cards is whether they are strong enough to justify entering the pot. Good starting hands often make good showdown hands, so the decision you make immediately can affect everything that follows.
As a beginner, you should probably play only the hands considered to be strong and fold all others. There is no shame in folding consistently - another hand will be along very soon.
But once you have decided to play, you should play aggressively and consistently. You must also factor table position into your assessment of how strong your hand is, and you must make sure you pay attention to others at the table. They are giving you information about the strength of their hands when they bet or raise. Make sure you are listening.

To put playing JJ, TT or 99 into context, they are middle pair hole cards with a low 70-73 win percentage. That means they will lose 27-30% of the time. When I do play these hole cards pre-flop, I only call and never raise. If I am raised pre-flop, my call will turn to fold. My strategy pre-flop is to get to the flop cheap hoping I can trip. If zip happens at the flop, I will check, hoping to get to turn card without further investment. If some one raises, I will fold because chasing trips can get expensive. But, if I trip on the flop, I will slow play my trips against under cards to maximize profit or raise the pot against over cards to protect my trips.

Playing with these hands depends on the stage of the tournament and the position. They can steal the blinds at the final table. You can see the flop at all stages. You can fold against a maniac without a position.

Sleeper Hands

Playing pocket 9's > J's can turn out to be some rewarding sleeper hands especially if someone is playing their ace with high kicker aggressively. I wouldn't bet the farm on these but would play n hopes you catch the trips.

Depends a lot as well what type of game you are playing meaning money table or in a freeroll?

One rule I play by is bet what you can afford to lose.

Good Luck !

I set mine with 99. Late position limp over pair trap and set trap with TT and JJ. Early position raise.If I get 3-bet my hand turns into set mining because I am likely flipping or crushed.

I would probably raise with these especially if in position pre-flop, evaluate the flop carefully - 2 Broadway cards means it would be likely you're beat.

In the first phase I just raise 3x,in the middle I raise heavy.1200 ,1600,and in the final I go all in.

Amazing. But often, when you have a pair of 9 and you go to the Allin, then 100% someone will have a higher combination than you. The same applies to a pair of 10 and jacks. It all depends on the position.

uriell said:

Amazing. But often, when you have a pair of 9 and you go to the Allin, then 100% someone will have a higher combination than you. The same applies to a pair of 10 and jacks. It all depends on the position.

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There's actually a simple formula you can apply to find out exactly what the chances of someone having a higher pocket pair than you (& is still left to act).
Do you know what it is? (I can assure you it is not 100%)

Poker Orifice said:

There's actually a simple formula you can apply to find out exactly what the chances of someone having a higher pocket pair than you (& is still left to act).
Do you know what it is? (I can assure you it is not 100%)

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Jack 10 is not so bad with 4 callers and your sitting in the big blind. Emotions surely can hinder a person in the blinds sitting with J/Jack.
Poker can be oh so tricky!

The non-premium pocket pairs like 99/TT/JJ can be very frustrating to play. They are worth a raise and sometimes a 3-bet. However, the flop will likely bring at least one over card to your pair. Then, play becomes tricky. If there is only 1 over card and you are heads up then it's usually worth a c-bet on the flop. It's important to include these hands in your range to keep your hands disguised. When you raise with these in early position, you can always represent an A/K on the flop. Also, when you hit your set, your hand will be more disguised. Of course, when the flop brings multiple higher cards, these hand often become worthless.

10 10 or 9 9 I always prefer to play them as you would play average pairs, your pair will rarely be counterfeited, but do not try to go overboard with it. You will only be disappointed at the end.

JJ is a delicate hand to play in no-limit. This hand looks good because it is composed of figure cards, but it is vulnerable to many other hands. Play it without limit in favorable post-flop situations and do not try to face everyone before the flop. In the end, you will only know what your pair really is worth once. This is usually the best hand before the flop, but as we all know, in Hold'em, the flop changes everything. Do not stint and never forget that it's more than just a two-card game.

Poker Orifice said:

There's actually a simple formula you can apply to find out exactly what the chances of someone having a higher pocket pair than you (& is still left to act).
Do you know what it is? (I can assure you it is not 100%)

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I guess uriell talkes about Murphy's Law, while u talk about n*0.45% (0.45% roughly the chance of hitting a specific pair and n the number of preFlop players to your left).
The difference is that n*0.45% gives the statistical average, while Murphy gives the number for the current hand in case uriell does not fold