JJ early in $55 Stars

[Meatmaw]

Hi all, my first time posting sample hands and I hope to make it a habit (with more interesting hands than the following). My, uhm, friend, the hero below was too aggressive and should have just:

1) Called with what intent on the flop?

or

2) raised to about $250?

or

3) something else entirely?

PokerStars Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30
Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: dago-ace (1520 in chips)
Seat 3: vjas2d (1455 in chips)
Seat 4: beniskewl (2445 in chips)
Seat 5: alhst (1725 in chips)
Seat 6: mmahlin (1260 in chips)
Seat 7: CLUNK (2400 in chips)
Seat 8: Hero (1460 in chips)
Seat 9: ScrewyLouie (1235 in chips)
CLUNK: posts small blind 15
Hero: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Jc Js]
ScrewyLouie: calls 30
dago-ace: raises 60 to 90
vjas2d: folds
beniskewl: folds
alhst: folds
mmahlin: folds
CLUNK: calls 75
Hero: raises 1370 to 1460 and is all-in
ScrewyLouie: folds
dago-ace: raises 60 to 1520 and is all-in
CLUNK: folds


Thanks.

[raptor517]

christ. call the 90 and take a flop, dont put yer whole stack in there, lol. holla

[tjh]

I believe that I represent a majority of 2+2 tourney players when I sumarise the play of JJ like this.

JJ may seem like a sweet pair to have. But early in the toruney it can be poison. Lump it with your small pairs. Apply the small pair rule of "looking for a set" so only play it for a chance at getting ten times your money if the third J hits.

Yes JJ seems like the 4'th best hand and it is. It is just so freakin hard to play. Any A, K , or Q that flops will put you in fear. So in a sense it is 3 times worse than KK in terms of number of scare cards.

So treat it like a small pair. Except when you sense weakness or have position or some other advantage. If the flop comes all little cards then you can begin to treat JJ like a big pair, then and only then.

I went through a stretch of hating loathing and despising JJ.