BEST WAY TO PLAY JJ OR QQ AGAINST A FLOP WITH AN ACE OR KING??

[EvertonGirl]

I had this situation last night.

I normally only bet half the pot, but as I was informed if there is a FD present, don't let them chase their flush cheaply!

I had QQ and there was an ace on the board with a FD, I wasn't too scared of the A, I didn't like the FD as my sets more than often are beat on FD or SD. So I bet close to the pot, my villain (spiderman637 ;p) called.

The turn produced another ace, I just checked and my villain bet, so I showed my hand and folded. He then chatted I knew you didn't have an ace as your bet showed it to be a bluff, funny thing is even if I did have AA I would of bet close to pot size cos of the FD possibility.

He may have bluffed me out of the winning hand as he never shown, respect tho as he is a very good player and I am nowhere at that level yet

 

[dsweat]

I find it hard to know even pre-flop how to play JJ because the player with the ace/any kicker and king/good kicker call almost everything pre-flop. I can usually get a pretty good read post flop, but if I've made a substantial bet and the A or K flops, it's so hard not to chase the straight or the set

 

[lostcause]

I think this is kinda old school to be honest.. but of course 'it depends'.

I've read in a thread before where you've written "wanted to bet out to see where I was at". I'd suggest reading Daniel Negreanu's latest book to gain a different perspective on this (or advanced MTT book.. "winning poker tournaments - one hand at a time").

Take this example... okay so you've lead out with a c-bet 'to see where you're at'.. and villain calls you... now what? Did you 'see where you were at'? Leading out also gives villain an oppurtunity to bluff you off the winning hand. It won't cost you more chips to 'check/call' in this spot (of course this depends... ie. in some cases you're going to want to 'represent' the A or K on the flop).
By leading out on the flop, you're basically turning what my be the winning hand into a bluff... if you check the flop you might induce bets from villain from hands you're ahead of (essentially instead of turning your hand into a bluff... it's now become a 'bluff catcher').

I should probably post some HH's to better illustrate what I'm getting at here... in different scenarios where often it is better to check the flop instead of 'betting to see where we're at' (often it really doesn't give us much info. at all... especially against a more skilled, trickier opponent).

OP.... maybe post a handhistory of your own, with reads on villain, table image, etc.

The "it depends" is the main thing. However, I just want to say about the bluff catcher problem. If you have players who will fire 3 barrels you may end up calling a lot of chips and won't know if they have it or not. The big thing is to make sure you keep notes on your opponents. Will they fold to a C-bet? Will they call with nothing? Just know what your opponent does on average and then you will have a general idea of what is best for that person.