what do you do with pocket JJ?

I usually like to raise with pocket JJ but then again I have no idea how to play this hand. Can anyone give me tips on playing this hand? im having trouble on freerolls because people reraise me everytime when i have pocket jj and then i lay it down.

Depends on

position
stack size
metagame
opponent type
my game thus far
history with villain
his tendencies
and much much more!1

post specific hands for better information

i have pocket jacks under the gun...so i raise...blinds are 100/200 and i raise about 900 the everyone folds, except big blind. flop turns out Qc 10 d 2c i bet to see where he was at so i bet about 1000 then he calls turn is 2d. i bet out 3000 he just calls river is a Kh. i bet 6000 he calls and guess wat he has...K3... not even diamond. he has 2 spaids if thats how u spell it...did i bet wrong?

1) betting the flop is bad.
2) betting the turn is bad.
3) betting the river is very bad.

should i have checked all the way through then?

Ya see, by betting 3 streets you are never getting called by worse. Now checking back the flop and betting a blank turn is a much more profitable play seeing as villain will be more inclined to call with mediocre hands. Once the King comes off, there is just no value in betting. There might be value in check/calling if villain tends to bluff a lot but it is not a good situation.

crajeejosh said:

should i have checked all the way through then?

Click to expand...

I like the c-bet on the flop. when he called, thats when I would have slowed down. I probally would have tried another shot on the turn. perhaps he had a med pair, and your jacks were good. I agree with the check/call on the flop, if its not for all your chips. I wouldn't have bet the flop.

Usually with JJ and 1010 I do play very carefully since I have tendency to lose a lot on those two hands, no matter how I play them, I almost always lose on them.
So, my advice is to play very very carefully those hands.
If someone raise you and you are not pot committed I would call and see the flop, after that if you don't see bigger cards, I would push since I assume that you have better hand.

the only thing is i pushed him because i knew he had nothing...but i guess he thought i probably had nothing too i have no idea what he was thinking?

I will usually raise with position. What I do from the blinds varies depending on opponent.

Just now I had a fortunate hand. UTG with JJ at six man table. I raised 4.5xBB in hopes of narrowing the field and driving away K and A rags hands.

The J and an A came on the flop and I won a nice pot, but the guy didn't call my all in shove. It was only 50% of the pot at that point, so I dunno what he had. If he had a real weak kicker why did he call me down?

Had that J not come, I would have been very careful.

Tournament hand: https://www.cardschat.com/forum/tournament-hand-analysis-51/1-nl-he-stt-nl-he-169081/

Ring game hand: [old link~tb]

There a million other examples, but these should help you start.

With hands like that, unless you flop a set, you almost have to turn playing that hand into a semi-bluff against your opponent, especially if you have position. Of course it depends on your opponents too.....if an Ace hits the board, they may call you all the way down with a hand like A5 for instance.

Some trends I find emerging quite a lot more lately.

- Min-raising (People doing that are only asking for trouble IMO, b/c you're giving odds to call, and when multiple players call, then what??? Even with Aces, you're no longer a big favourite to win any pot). That's for another blog though.
- Players calling any pre-flop raise with a bad Ace.....regardless of position. But if you play enough hands against players like that, you should pick up on that tendency fairly easy enough.

Like Norman Chad says.....The Lon McEachern Memorial Hand.

What's important is that you keep control of the size of the pot as well. Of course, if you flop a set, then you're laughing.

What do I do with JJ?

Win.

id play them like any low pocket pair
start with the checkin, hope to hit trips, and fold if theres too many overcards or players and bets
if the flop is low cards- maybe a big bet to steal, dont want ak to chase and hit riv

As this is not the first time someone has asked this question, I will state what I always state to this question. PLEASE SEE ONEBOURBON signature for the answer to how to play jacks.

To quote Dusty Schmidt, play them like they're the nuts until someone tells you otherwise.

marginal said:

Depends on

position
stack size
metagame
opponent type
my game thus far
history with villain
his tendencies
and much much more!1

post specific hands for better information

Click to expand...

And yeah, do this...can not stress how helpful this will be to your game.

Would depend on position ,stack size,player.I love pocket jacks myself.Keep in mind that in freerolls people play alot looser kinda fishy even.gl on tables.

JJ is a great hand, I totally disagree that you should play it like a small pair. Maybe if there are raises ahead of you...

I think betting on the flop was right, but not on the turn and certainly not on river. Sure the guy that called with nothing was just a calling station, but you get that in freerolls. Not only in freerolls, but much more there...

Here is how not how to play them. Normally I'd fold on the flop after this happened but three of the players at the table were absolute donks raising 23o UTG and banging every street. That said, I called them down and lost a couple dollars for my troubles.

fulltiltpoker Game #17994969738: Table Scooped - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:59:46 ET - 2010/01/28
Seat 1: pedrakio ($5.33), is sitting out
Seat 2: robjoelunchbox ($13.24)
Seat 3: huahua135 ($10)
Seat 4: zek ($9.80)
Seat 5: CondeZero ($3.50)
Seat 6: Shannohakkinen ($13.87)
Seat 7: pfb8888 ($2.95)
Seat 8: riggerkg ($3.89)
Seat 9: borjamillan ($10)
CondeZero posts the small blind of $0.05
Shannohakkinen posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zek [Jc Jd]
pfb8888 folds
riggerkg calls $0.10
robjoelunchbox: BS is what you have
robjoelunchbox calls $0.10
huahua135 folds
zek has 15 seconds left to act
zek raises to $0.80
CondeZero folds
CondeZero adds $0.05
robjoelunchbox: u bet on almost every hand hoping people fold
Shannohakkinen has 15 seconds left to act
Shannohakkinen calls $0.70
riggerkg calls $0.70
robjoelunchbox calls $0.70
*** FLOP *** [9h Kc Kh]
Shannohakkinen checks
riggerkg bets $0.45
Shannohakkinen: not EVERY hand
robjoelunchbox folds
zek calls $0.45
Shannohakkinen folds
*** TURN *** [9h Kc Kh] [7c]
robjoelunchbox: yeah i know the game
riggerkg bets $1.05
zek calls $1.05
*** RIVER *** [9h Kc Kh 7c] [Qc]
riggerkg bets $1.59, and is all in
zek calls $1.59
*** SHOW DOWN ***
riggerkg shows [9s 9c] a full house, Nines full of Kings
zek mucks
riggerkg wins the pot ($8.81) with a full house, Nines full of Kings
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $9.43 | Rake $0.62
Board: [9h Kc Kh 7c Qc]
Seat 1: pedrakio is sitting out
Seat 2: robjoelunchbox folded on the Flop
Seat 3: huahua135 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: zek (button) mucked [Jc Jd] - two pair, Kings and Jacks
Seat 5: CondeZero (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Shannohakkinen (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: pfb8888 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: riggerkg showed [9s 9c] and won ($8.81) with a full house, Nines full of Kings
Seat 9: borjamillan is sitting out

Saw it here somewhere one time, but, the quote was: There's only three ways to play pocket jacks, and they're all wrong!

Your preflop raise is a little too big, 60cents will suffice. You can never fold the flop, its a situation where you should be calling and re-evaluate the turn based on reads etc. I think the real place to get away is on the turn unless villain has been shown to overplay a lot of marginal holdings (IE, 89 or something).

JJ is beating every hand except AA-QQ preflop.

On the board in the hand you posted, I like a continuation bet. When you get called you and the turn comes a blank you have to choices - check if you think your opponent has a Q, or bet hard enough he folds his draw.

Your flop C-Bet was not big enough. You bet 1000 into a pot of 2000~. By the time action gets to your opponent he is getting 3:1 on his money. Bet the pot here. That way he gets 2:1 on his money.

The river bet is terrible. A K is one of the outs that kill you, especially if your oppo has AJ or J9, or any K.

I love JJ - however it looks like you got called down by an idiot and lost. Except for the bet on the river and the small C-Bet on the flop I'd say you played fine.

Check/Calling and Check/Folding the flop are both viable options. Checking gives you pot control. And this board was very wet.

roland cote said:

Saw it here somewhere one time, but, the quote was: There's only three ways to play pocket jacks, and they're all wrong!

Click to expand...

yea thats onebourbons signature that I refered to above.

crajeejosh said:

I usually like to raise with pocket JJ but then again I have no idea how to play this hand. Can anyone give me tips on playing this hand? im having trouble on freerolls because people reraise me everytime when i have pocket jj and then i lay it down.

Click to expand...

I think those are good lay downs, you know they have AK AQ more than likely so any AKQ you lose, unless you can see the flop cheap, then i see alot of players that dont believe and thats when thry go out, theres always another hand, just play um when you feel it