Adjusting for JACK POTS

I’ve moved to Southern California from North Carolina. I’ve played countless years of poker home games and thousands of hours of on line poker (3 yrs). I’ve have all the major poker books, videos and software. I’m able to play 3-4 hours a day and I my bankroll will allow me to play up to 10-20 (6,500) I choose to play the $9-$18 at Commerce because it’s close to where I live. Questions

How do I adjust to the JACK POT POKER?

I have 99 on late position it 3 bets to me I would normally fold this hand, but do I call?

I have 33 UTG in a loose aggressive game (most pots raised) do I limp in?

I have 67suited in mid position UTG raised two callers what do I do.

These are just some of the questions I have regarding my play in these great games.
I’m new to this group so I hope that you welcome me with open arms.

[Dynasty]

You shouldn't adjust your pre-flop play due to jackpot considerations.

Are you sure? What am I missing?????

[Gabe]

[Steve Piggott]

You should play your solid game, but you need to adjust your game when there's a small chance to hit a jack pot. Remember I would ONLY play hands That can flop big ,but If you don't hit the flop you can get away from them on the flop. Aggression with position = POWER .

Example:
I would Capp the betting with the 99 hand because you might get lucky and flop a set. There's a good chance that AA is out. If you were playing in a regular game this adjustment would kill you. If you play good post flop you should play this hand, and I would alway capp the betting, because you will be able to play the hand easier. Plus you might be able to control the betting.

[Duke]

I only altered my play twice based on a jackpot.

1) I had AA, and the flop came king high after I raised it up, had it 3-bet, I 4-bet and there were 2 callers. This happened in the 9 at commerce. :-) flop came king high. Antagonist 1 checked to me suspiciously. I bet. He called even more suspiciously. He had KK. The turn brought another king and I think he actually [censored] in his own pants. I'm drawing dead. The jackpot was $36000 or something, so I was basically getting paid over 500-1 (TAXES, folks) on my 22-1 shot, as long as my read was right. I called here, where I would have usually folded. I didn't get there, but he showed his KK and was disgusted after I folded for one bet.

2) Maybe I only altered my play once.

Note: if you see a lot of flops that would have given you a bad beat, then by all means play all pairs and suited connectors. 80 percent of the room plays like that. But that's why the games are so good, remember.

There are only maybe 5 people who play that game regularly who know what the hell they're doing. Also, the variance in that game is enormous, so I don't know if $6500 is enough.

And contrary to popular belief, the huge rake + jackpot drop there IS beatable. Very beatable, actually.

What you should actually be altering are stealing standards. If you raise on the button and the blinds fold... you don't get $12. You get $7. They do the full $5 drop if there is any action. Plus, if the sb folds too, they only drop that $3 and the BB gets his money back. You basically save the table $2 by mucking in the sb. The only time I would play here heads up is if the player to my left were an overaggressive defender and I had a real hand. Same holds true for steals.

~D

[Ginogino]

Mostly I have to agree with DYNASTY that your game shouldn't change at all. The two minor changes that you might make are these:
1. Note which players are playing differently before the flop and on the flop because of the jackpot. If they are limping with cheese in early position because the cheese has some jackpot potential (tiny pocket pairs or suited connectors), you might wish to use isolation raises against them.
2. You can make turn and river adjustments, as you did, in the small percentage of hands where you can see that the jackpot is offering calculable pot odds that make the call worthwhile.

Overall, recall that the jackpot needs two superlative hands to occur. To speculate routinely too early, based only on the chance that your two-card hand might grow into a monster, is wrong. You need more than one monster to make a jackpot.

[Dynasty]

All the loose pre-flop calls you make with "jackpot hands" like medium/small pocket pairs and especially suited connectors are going to cost you lots of money.

You don't actually believe your going to win the jackpot often enough to justify all those loose calls, do you?

[KUBowler99]

Dynasty -

I agree with you 100% preflop - Play solid poker and if you get lucky (and I mean LUCKY) so be it.

One question - What about postflop?

Situation I came across last weekend:

Mid-position player (weak-tight,very readable) raises pre-flop, 1 LP caller (no read, new to table), I'm on the button with AJs - I call, SB folds & BB calls. 4 see the flop.

Flop: AJ7 rainbow.

BB checks, PF raiser (PFR) bets, LP calls, I raise, BB folds, PF calls (when he calls, I have him on AK,AQ,KK or QQ), LP calls. 3 see the turn

Turn: (AJ7)K completes rainbow.

PFR bets, LP calls, I show my cards to my buddy next to me and fold.

River is a blank, PFR turns over AK and takes down the pot.

My buddy said 'Good laydown'. I told him it wasn't too hard because I knew I was beat on the turn and drawing to 2 outs. He said 'What about the bad beat?'. I told him I don't play for it. But it did make me think - Is it worth 1 additional BB to see the river?

I know some of you will say I released the hand too soon, but I made a read and went with it.

Any responses are welcome.