JJ is a great hand if you know how to play it. Most inexperienced players struggle with it because they either play it too passively or to aggressively and find themselves in tough spots. It does require some nuance. Its a hand that you want to typically raise, and occasionally jam in the right scenario. When you flop an overpair with it, you should generally go with it on 100bb stacks. When you flop middle pair or worse you should look to get to showdown or fold to aggression. Its not always a fun hand to play, but with basic skill you should do quite favorably.
People say this because we're programmed to remember the tricky decisions and lost pots. But overall, JJ is a great hand. It does very well against most opponent ranges, and in the long run, you'll likely win good money when you're dealt it over a large enough sample 🙂
It is hard to play pocket jacks
In early position, the classic approach with pocket jacks is to bet hard, 4 times big blind. You want to isolate the number of players that call. In late position, in similar fashion I want to push out players. Assuming that I am heads up on the flop, I am going to do a continuation bet on the flop, almost no matter what. However, if this is re-raised I am out. I was knocked out of a big tournament final table by hooks when I had AK. I don't underestimate the power of this hand, but it must be played carefully.
In early position, the classic approach with pocket jacks is to bet hard, 4 times big blind. You want to isolate the number of players that call. In late position, in similar fashion I want to push out players. Assuming that I am heads up on the flop, I am going to do a continuation bet on the flop, almost no matter what. However, if this is re-raised I am out. I was knocked out of a big tournament final table by hooks when I had AK. I don't underestimate the power of this hand, but it must be played carefully.
Erik moraes said:
It's not a terrible hand. It's just a hand where you have to be careful. Someone goes all-in with Ace-King and you are in a bad spot. Praying for no king or ace haha. I have been there both on the winning and losing side so it is not necessarily a bad hand just a hand where you never know what will happen. If you can I would raise and see the flop but not go all-in unless someone else does then you gotta think about it. Hope this helps 🙂
Becauseit's vulnerable and people often lose significant pots with it. I like it, because it is a strong hand, you just have to realize how vulnerable it is, and play it cautiously. And be willing to fold it late in a hand, when even though you've invested some significant money into the pot, you can tell you are beat.
Because it is a hand most people have a hard time walking away from. It should not be too hard to fold if you see you are beat, but people would rather lose their whole stack and sink with JJ than believe another person paired the A, K, or Q. In their hand. Even more embarassing, you guess correctly, villain has no A, K, or Q. They flop a set with low cards, complete a straight, or hold the flush. And you rebuy, because you believe JJ is the nuts with no face cards on the table. And villain shows, um, that you do not have the nuts.
Pocket Jacks is a very good hand. The "terrible" part comes from when it is hard to lay down the hand when Q'S, K'S or A'S hit any part of the board. You could potentially lose a lot of chips if you call a bet on the turn and river and your opponent has you beat with a better hand.
JJ is a great hand but you have to know how to play it postflop. as any hand, it can be beat. people just over-value it and get it trouble because of that. ive seen people go all-in with JJ after the flop which comes up A, Q, 5. thats just a receipe for disaster.
Erik moraes said:
I personally like JJ. I usually put in a good size raise and if someone calls me and the flop is everything under JJ, I then put in another large bet, pot size at minimum or I even jam if the situation is right.
Collin Moshman said:
Agreed - you have to know your opponents and try and pick up on their patterns. It's almost as if you are no longer playing your cards, but rather your opponents. Even if an overcard comes, it's not necessarily a bad thing.....REMEMBER, that overcard may be bad for them as well, so you want to apply pressure in the right situation. That comes with practice. It sounds easy, but I'm still trying to figure this out too.
Frank7Chipman said:
If you do that, what if someone 3 bets you? The problem with a big pre-flop raise is that you are building a bigger pot pre-flop. You don't necessarily want to do that either, because now, you have more chips in the pot even before a flop comes, and THEN what? If you have an opponent who is tricky, they can apply pressure to you.
Conversely, if the best case scenario hits, and you flop a set, then you're in REAL good shape. I guess it's just about how you feel about committing more chips pre-flop.
stephan7 said:It's not a terrible hand. It's just a hand where you have to be careful. Someone goes all-in with Ace-King and you are in a bad spot. Praying for no king or ace haha. I have been there both on the winning and losing side so it is not necessarily a bad hand just a hand where you never know what will happen. If you can I would raise and see the flop but not go all-in unless someone else does then you gotta think about it. Hope this helps 🙂
If you're in a tournament situation and you are facing a single all-in, you're almost always calling with that hand. If you run into Queens, Kings, or Aces, well, that's just a cooler. But, seeing AK, while not great, it still a drawing hand and has to improve, so you WANT to be in that situation where you have the better hand. Remember, to win poker tournaments, as Gripsed (Evan Jarvis) mentioned on his stream today (twitch.tv/gripsed) you have to run well, run ahead of expectation and avoid getting unlucky.