The Hardest Hand in Hold Em

[Fonzi]

The Hardest Hand in Hold Em
There are a lot of starting hands that play themselves in Texas Hold Em. Small pocket pairs are easy to fold to serious playback. Suited connectors are an auto-laydown if you don't hit the flop. Pocket Aces and Kings are pretty much an invitation to get as much of your opponent's stack into the middle before the flop.

But what about pocket Jacks?

Pocket Jacks are a hand that I love to hate. What exactly do you do with the fourth best hand in the game? It isn't beyond the realm of possibility that you're beat. If you're getting played back at, you might have a coinflip on your hands. But does that mean you should be playing Jacks like a smaller pocket pair? Do you get aggressive and risk being dominated?

Without a doubt, playing Jacks properly requires an excellent understanding of pre-flop odds, and a good read of your opponent. Paying attention to the play style of others at your table is going to tell you more about the range of hands that they might be playing than anything else. I can help you to understand the odds, you take care of getting that vital read!

I personally never limp with Jacks. You need to understand where you are, and you can't get a tell from nothing at all. If you limp with jacks, you may as well play them lick pocket 7's: Hit trips or get out. Everything you've been told about unraised pots applies here, if you're foolish enough to limp with the 4th best hand in the game, you deserve whatever you get.

First of all, at an 8 player table, there's about a 10 percent chance that your pocket Jacks are dominated pre-flop. I know that number seems high, but if 7 other players have a 1.4 percent chance at pocket aces, kings, or queens pre-flop, then that accounts for your 10 percent. Now, you can be a hero and make the great lay down. But you had better have a read at this point, or you're flying blind here.

Now understand that against any non-paired hand, you're winning. You have about a 53.5% win rate against a suited AK. This is where reads come into play. If you put your opponent on AK or AQ, you have two ways to win: Win the coinflip post flop or represent a pre-flop hand that will get them to fold to your re-raise. Either way, you're playing with fire. That's the nature of pocket Jacks. This is your chance to semi-bluff, but be warned that if you don't think they have the overpair, any re-raise gives you pot odds to go all in and take your chances.

Remember that at some point in a given tournament, you're going to really want a decent coinflip either for survival or in order to make it over the hump as a mid range stack. You could do worse than Jacks in this situation.

To be honest, pocket Jacks are all about feel. They're the ultimate test of your heart and your instincts. Now that you know the numbers, you're armed with everything that you need to fill in the blanks. Don't screw up!

Bill Ricardi Internet Gaming Guru

[Bluesfan5]

I usually raise pre-flop pot, to try to get people from playing stupid hands. If A K or Q come up I still throw a bet out there to se if I get a call and then play it by ear from there. But like you said you have to watch and see how everyone has been plaing, this is a game of learnig and you can always watch and try to learn how you think the other person is going to play out the hand. Now with that being said I still am not learning a thing and still makeing bad calls all the tim.

[crazzvette]

to late i screwed up , i didn't have the j's thou i had pocket 10's the other day , i don't normally forget bad beats like this . blinds were 1,000/2000 so i raised to 5 times the blind , and got 2 callers at 10,000 , flopped my third , cool right . NOT . on the flop was the flush draw 10h 9h 2h , i take the chance and go all in . next guy folds where as the third calls , he's got AD 3h , now really common , how could he . next came Q of coure the river was the 4h . the way i see it , lucks got a lot do to with it . i feel i am skilled at poker but when challenged against 2000 people or more , makes it so difficult to losing to bad beats , what more to say then to try and try again , play smart and hope to get lucky all , lol .

[Mist]

You should always play jacks very agressive when you think that you have the best hand. Make the Ax hands pay big for drawing to that overcard on the flop, because everytime you force them to make an -EV call preflop you gain. The chance of an overcard coming on the flop while holding JJ is about 56%, so always make sure your opponents pay big to see the flop.

[KingBorgo]

Just a question of math here...

My math has it roughly at 72%, with 12 outs having 3 chances to hit. Anyone have any input here?

[Assistanc3]

if your math question is about the overcards on the flop, which is 57%. Turn + River = 76%

[alby_00]

Another point here is you will hit trips around 12% of the time or so. So sometimes when an over card does come it isn't going to hurt you but may enable you to win a large pot.

[gaztheyorkie]

why do people fear pocket pairs so much pre flop then over play them , wich in turn only gets them the blinds wich in reality is not what you want, i have had suckouts on AA all the way to 22 with me making sets, but someone making flushes ect, but this is not a true case all of the times so therefore, the aggresion i feel is un nessecary. ok you have a hard time with JJ so be carefull 3/4 bet into the flop. then re evalutate. it annoys me when people say oh i shoved allin with AA pre flop and everyone folded., im so happy.. why becuase you didnt get sucked out, becuase your uncomfortable with playing a paired hand,

rant over

[jk_ky]

i think if your uncomfortable playing pocket pairs before the flop then you really need to work on your game .. Isnt that what we all want to be dealt AA KK QQ JJ all the time.. You just need to have good discipline to lay them down on the flop if it looks like your beat , and stop thinking about being bluff just because you have a pocket pair doesnt mean someone else still cant beat you ..Live to play another hand.

[PLAYFULL]

Hmmm .. Pocket jjs.. Fish hooks called this 4 a good reason justa call into the flop from any position... Or any small raise see the flop and go from there its usually just a fold 4 me i hate this hand very much.... Lol