How to play JJ?

[frankthebunny]

I like to play it like the Brunson (10/2). Is this the correct way to play it?

 

[playinggameswithu]

I never understood naming junk hands. Jacks are a mid pair statistically not a "big pair" when it heats up they are dominated or just flipping hand. I always 3 bet with them or sometime limp from SB when folded to. I 3 bet to avoid calling down as an overpair to figure out they had QQ or better.

 

[Ryan Laplante]

There are only 3 better hands than JJ.

They are a strong value hand!

Now arguably AK plays better, but it is only arguably.


If you dislike JJ, you realllllllly need to work on your game!

 

[Debi]

Yep - I am always pretty happy to see JJ in my hand.

Your question is a bit too general though - there are a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration before anyone can advise you on how to play it.

Do you play tournaments or cash games?

 

[frankthebunny]

Usually I'm playing mtt or sng. Just seems like I always lose with JJ if I play aggressively even in good position or limp in and get my set beat by a straight or flush.

 

[Debi]

Limping in with JJ is not a good idea.

If you can remember a specific situation when you had it and share more details we can probably be of more assistance to you.

If not - the next time you get it note the following and let us know:

Buy-in/type of tournament
Blind levels
Your stack size and if possible other stack sizes
Any reads you might have on your opponents
Action in front of you if any
Your position at the table

All of these things impact your action.

I went out in 31st in the wsop Ladies event several years ago. There was an early position raise and a re-raise in front of me.

I had a short stack and shoved - in retrospect it was a mistake. The re-raise from a good solid player was a strong indicator that I was behind. I was hoping for a race - but with 2 players in front of me I should have waited for a better spot to shove.

I don't think my shove was horrible - but it wasn't great either. I was just too worried about blinding down too low and didn't take enough time to think.

 

[frankthebunny]

Ok this hand literally happened about 2 minutes ago. Three of us left in a sng and I had about a 3k stack and get JJ as small blind. I raise 4x bet and BB calls. He had about 6k chips. K/2/3 comes the flop and he shoves. I call because I had about half my chips in already. BB had K/5o... sigh

 

[frankthebunny]

The same guy called me earlier when I was playing A/K very aggressively. Flop is A/10/6. Turn is a 2 and I bet hard again. River is a 10 and we both check. He turns over a 7/10o

 

[Rskeyyy]

hard to say. i think there are two ways: 1 to be aggressive on preflop and try to sleal pot. 2 to call and to see preflop hoping there will not be any Q, K,A.

 

[frankthebunny]

I agree with the folding to a reraise by a solid player. I wouldn't want to go against A/K or better with JJ

 

[Ero2407]

usually with JJ before preflop I raise to 4 BB my goal is if it possible to stay at the table with one player, I look at the flop and then depending on it and the stack I raise or make an all in

 

[Jclemons69]

I'm no expert, & I really like the advice Dakota-XX gave above. Without knowing even more about the other players its still a little hard to say. The BB sounds like a LAP (loose aggressive player) or was playing that way because of chip stack. The only thing I could see being done different from what I know is folding post flop to the possibility of the king which they had. I would say you played the hand fair we all take bad losses from time to time. On the positive side you finished top 3

 

[Andrei Korolev]

To play the bet and raises and calling raises,it all depends on opponent and position...

 

[David macdonald]

10 2 is awful and should never be played in my opinion, jj should be played aggressively in my opinion.

 

[freddy66]

lol....

granny used to say,there are 3 ways to play jacks...and all of em is wrong!

 

[frankthebunny]

granny used to say,there are 3 ways to play jacks...and all of em is wrong!

I believe this is the correct answer

 

[deform fedot]

I believe that the type of speed of the tournament plays a significant role here if it is necessary to aggressively play the pocket of a hyper turbo booster, if you just match the bet, you risk losing dominance due to the large number of hands at the table.

 

[Serjo600]

No specific example in what situation you lose with jacks, there is a feature if you win 3 hands in a row and you come in pairs, it is likely that someone will pass more skill hand, and it can even be aces, but someone dynamics was different so most probably will reach the villain and not you

 

[mayoroftittycity]

What is the Brunson method of playing?? I try to play it like a strong hand in general.

 

[Vuske111]

It really depends of tournament structure,your stack... i like JJ but for me its hard to play them when after raising and getting 2 callers i see A,K or Q on the flop,its hard to fold,its hard to fold,i got in a lot of tough situations with JJ

 

[karl coakley]

Pretty much you need to control the pot and see a flop. I'm not really re-raising JJ.

 

[ammje]

It depends on many factors, whether if is freeroll or micro limit.In what position do you find yourself, how many bb did you have, what action did you have pre flop etc.
If i am in utg with 25bb I do 4bet, if i am with less than 12bb all in.
If preflop comes from a raise and an all in, depending on the information of the villains, maybe fold.

 

[hugh blair]

It is worth trying to steal the blinds or pick off a shortstack all in be careful though if ICM important and you have decent stack ok to fold this hand if ladders are huge and you risk elimination good luck

 

[DSUMMER10]

One must play aggressively pre-flop, giving the 3-4x standard, since it takes a last generation action, eliminating the best machines like KQ, AX, KX. And on the flop, a C-BET must be used to collect information on the possible reach of the opponent's hands.

 

[madjek]

I agree with everyone here need to play jj aggressive pre and see what flop brings. But with your example though you said you raised 4x bb then called his shove after flop cause you had half your chips in. If I only have 8 bbs I'm shoving pre. If I don't want to risk tournament there ill min raise then shove a low flop or fold if high cards and then play shove fold with my 6bbs