how do you play JT (offsuit & suited) [reposted for tournament play]

[SaintAces]

over rated?

how should you play it out of position, in position, shorthanded and full game?


Heads up at the end of a multitable tourney loosie went all in, having me covered with about 90k to 80k

I called with KQ he had JTo. He won. Obviously he misplayed the hand. How are you supposed to play JT?

[Ruddiger]

it is an easy hand to play 98% of the time, fold.

[cferejohn]

[ QUOTE ]
it is an easy hand to play 98% of the time, fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

Eh. That seems high. When I would play JT in a NL tournament:

*Deep stacks, CO, Button, or SB, unraised pot (maybe play suited from a few more positions at a passive table). I suppose I could have added the BB here, but that kind of goes without saying, now, doesn't it...

*Shallow money. First one into the pot in MP/LP. Blinds are tight.

*Against a min-raiser in the BB, especially if suited. If I don't flop 2 pair or better, I'm usually done with the hand.

I think one of those are true more than 2% of the time I get JT.

Wherever you play it, its not a hand to get to excited about top pair with, especially in a muti-way pot.

It's not a hand I would want to get all-in with preflop, even heads up. Unless of course the blinds were so rediculous that I'm effectively forced to go all-in with any above-average hand.

[Ruddiger]

You're right, I was mostly joking about folding it that much, but really i don't think you would be losing much by folding either suited or offsuit almost every time you got it, except for maybe stealing the blinds or heads up. Not a hand that should require much thinking about for the most part

[cferejohn]

I agree it is a hand alot of people overplay. Definitely fold this against a reasonable raise. Your chances of being dominated or worse (overpair) are quite good. I don't mind calling a min-raise on the button or cutoff in deep money as long as you are OK with possibly folding the best hand if all you flop is top pair-no draw.

[curmudgeon]

Heads Up or even shorthanded, I don't think we can say its an obvious misplay if he goes all-in with ANY 2 CARDS. As he is applying the pressure and you may fold better hands like Kx or Qx.

I don't know how he was playing before this, but when you called with KQ did you think he had Ax or a pair?

Of course, in hindsight, or if he knew you had KQ, then its a mistake.
Good call. Too bad he sucked out. /images/graemlins/frown.gif
But any single all-in call is governed by chaos not linear statistics.

I agree that it is an overplayed hand, but many pros like it. Its a much better limit hand than NL. But there are certain advantages to playing "less than the best" in NL (watch Gus Hansen on WPT), and may be one of the keys to beating those who play only the best. /images/graemlins/wink.gif