Only calling with J,J at $15 or $25 SNGs?

[Marc Ingenoso]

Would you recommend a limping and/or calling small raises strategy with J,J in the early stages of a low limit SNG?

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Myst]

I uusually limp during the early stages of an SNG, but will sometimes raise, depending on the caliber of players behind me, amount fo players, etc. It is very situational dependent.

QQ, KK, AA, I always raise.

[Escape]

I usually raise.

[SlapJack]

I think you should almost always raise in early position. In late position I will raise if there are a lot of limpers. If there is a small raise I will call if the raiser seems "normal". If the raiser appears loose I will re-raise.

[schwah]

i think you should be raising JJ about 75% of the time in the first 3 rounds and 90% of the time after that

assuming no one has opened yet

[maldini]

i would only raise with position and no EP raisers. you dont want a flop here out of position. no flop looks good. there will almost always be a draw or overcards on the flop and you have to fire at it regardless (maybe 2 barrels). (no overcards on the flop increases the chances of a small set too). i dont see how it plays differently at all to 10s-8s.

you get called on the flop and now you either check/call, check/fold or bet. if you bet and are called you look to get out on the turn. so most likely senario is that you bet then check/fold the turn or check/call then check/fold the turn. now you are a weak/tight chump and may actually induce aggressiveness later on.

i may reraise big in the SB or BB if there are 3-5 limpers however due to the dead money and fold equity.

[Phil Van Sexton]

It is important to raise with JJ to eliminate hands like A3 or KQ. JJ is the 5th best hand in holdem, and you'll usually be re-raised by anyone holding the 4 better hands. Therefore, you can be pretty confident you have the best hand pre-flop if nobody re-raises you.

Harrington on Holdem has several examples of JJ and TT, and he always recommends raising to eliminate overcards.

If in bad position or after 1 or 2 limpers, I'd make a bigger raise (ie 5-6xBB) to make sure I'm not going to be playing a big multiway pot.

After several limpers, calling is fine if you don't think raising will thin the field sufficiently, especially if you are in the blinds (ie really bad position). Against 4+ players, you can just play for set value.

If you raised pre-flop, I would bet out on 90% of the flops that might come down.

[Marc Ingenoso]

Does the Harrington approach translate apply to an online turbo tournament? If you raise 5 or 6 times and get a caller or callers you are probably beaten if an A flops and there is a decent chance you are beaten if a K or Q flops (and there is still the chance you are up against a bigger pocket pair). If a K or Q flops and you make a legitimate bet on the flop it seems to me that you are risking a good deal of your stack against inferior players with only J,J. I think if you raise with J,J in the early going you tend to either win a small pot or lose a big pot. That being said, I can be persuaded otherwise.

Thanks again for your thoughts.