No-Limit Jacks

I don't like jacks in no-limit hold em. I just don't feel like I win with them enough. I'm looking for comments on how to play jacks. In different pos. ,and with different stack sizes?

I'm gonna stay clear of any specifics on how to play them because so much depends on position, players, chip stacks...and on and on....


I will say only that I can't win this year with KK but I kill 'em with QQ. Maybe it's just that, a temporary variance.


Also this year, at final table play whether I hold AK, AQ against 8,8 or 9,9---- or the opposite, I'm 0 for 22. This should be close to a 50-50 hand.


Add to that, last year in live play I made straights 7 times out of 105 when flopping an open ender. This year (though very limited playing hours) I'm 1 for 20. Now figure out the odds on that deviation.


This game, though very mathematical, will drive you nuts on how long some deviations last.


Keep playing hard!

"last year in live play I made straights 7 times out of 105 when flopping an open ender."


Wow, 7 out of 105. That's depressing.


Do you ever think about following Rounder's advice, and not chasing straights? I have been cutting down on chasing[checking then calling w/an outside straight, or calling while stuck between a bet and others to act behind me],which reduces my variance.


I still go for straights, but I look at them more as a semi-bluff when I'm betting *into* somebody who I think has missed the flop, or who I think may fold against the pressure of a flop AND turn bet. Also if I'm last to act I'll usually bet if it's checked to me while holding any type of straight draw(or just overcards), which almost always allows me to see the river for no further cost.

Those stats are based only on the ones I had generous odds on, position, semi-bluffs, etc. There were a ton more open-enders I didn't go beyond flop on, ie: when my str8 card would put a possible flush on board, etc.


I was only talking about genuine profitable plays that didn't get there. I even won a few of the one's I missed by picking opportune times to bluff.


I was just trying to point out that even though I should be making 1 out of 4 my deviation is astonomically off.


Thanks for the tips though.


Keep playing hard!

Well these responses have all been nowhere near the question so i will have a go.


No limit Jacks should be played pretty conservatively. I try to get heads up or win preflop with them by raising from a middle or late position, but i will not take much heat if played back at. If raised big, Jacks go in the muck. If raised small, i call, and try and flop a set. If i miss and overcards flop, i try and stay if very cheap, but otherwise I am gone. If i miss with no overcards, it depends on the oppponent. If I think he has AK i will charge him to draw, if i think he wouldn't reraise with AK, then i go defensive, and try to get a showdown. Mostly my decisions now are based on position, and reading the opponent.


JJ is probably the hardest hand to play in nolimit. If you stop thinking of Jacks as powerhouse hands, and start thinking of them as small pairs (as most books reccommend) you will do better. In multiway pots i would play them exactly like a small pair of 6s or 7s. Flop a set or get out cheap.

If I were to pick up J-J UTG in the first hand of most no-limit events, for example, I'd play fast with them,the reason being that, as we all know, they're vulnerable to the dreaded overcards, which will come about 50% of the time

with this particular pair.If you bring it in with

a raise of three to four times the BB, as TJ Cloutier recommends, you're better off than trying to get cute and limping in- what if you get raised? Of course, this could happen if you're

the raiser too;I'd much prefer to be the aggressor, though.It may also be that your raise

will cause everyone to pass so that you merely

pick up the blinds, but that, too, could happen with any two cards.


One word of caution: don't overbet this situation.Say you're playing the very first hand

of WSOP and have $10,000 in front of you.Many

players would put $3-5,000 out there. The only hand worth playing that way in that situation is

A-A.


perf

Why become the aggressor with a don't know where you stand hand? Jacks are really no better than TT or 99, and should be played as a small pair in early position (in no limit). Flop a set or an overpair and you play, or else be very careful. Even the overpair can be trouble.


Don't create a big pot preflop out of position, because you don't know what card kills you. Any A K or Q on the flop and you will have to give it up, particularly in nolimit.