JT in MTT question(s)

[Nuprin]

Yesterday, I was playing a 5/1 PP buyin tourney. Latish in the tourney (200 left out of 1060) i came across JTs. I had just moved tables and had no reads on anyone that was in the hand. I was in middle position and about average for chips; probably having about 15 BBs. I folded here and would have hit the flush. I came across it twice more in the tourney, but didn't play any of them. They all would have won..

My question is: when do you play JT? How strong of a hand is it really? Do you limp in or raise? I feel like i should be folding early position, limping middle, and raising late, but i always tend to fold it, perhaps being way too tight. Would you call an all-in with it?

In the end it didn't matter b/c I made the final table, but i still feel like I need to learn to play this hand better

Thanks,
Nuprin

[bmxreed36]

Early a MTT, JT is playable in many situations if it fits your style of play. However once you're down to 15 big blinds, I would almost always muck it besides steal opportunities and when in one of the blinds where you usually wouldn't be too wrong to call a small raise. Also I would never call an all-in unless you were in a blind and getting great odds. Basically it is a hand that plays well in multi-player pots, not heads-up, and once the stacks get shallower you want to save your chips for your better hands.

[davidross]

JTs is a great hand in cheap multi-way pots, the kind you see in Limit play. Despite what happened to you, it won't win a heads up pot very often.

I play it from LP and the blinds if I can see the flop cheap. I will call a raise with it if it's not too big a piece of my stack, and play it hoping to hit a straight or flush, but you have to be real careful if you flop 1 pair.

I will raise first in with it if the table is tight, as I would raise lots of other suited hands.

I wouldn't ever call an all-in with it, but when I get short stacked I would certainly push first in with it.

[Nuprin]

that's pretty much how i thought i should be playing it. Guess i did the right thing at the time. How many people would you need in the pot to make it better? 4+?

Thanks for the quick answers!