PLAYING JJ

05-18-05, LearnTexasHoldem:

Playing JJ Preflop
Question: You're Under The Gun. You look down. You see two hooks. What do you do?
A spirited discussion on the Two Plus Two forum led to mixed opinions. Some said that limping was a good play and to play jacks for set equity. I feel otherwise. I feel that Jacks, while tricky, are a fairly strong hand and you should treat it as such. Come in with a standard raise for that table (usually 3-5x BB).

I feel that this defines your hand as strong enough to raise in early position. It forces people in the blinds to pay to play and it chases off the suited connectors and weak Aces and Kings that might otherwise limp. Jacks might be tough to play but it's harder in a multi-way pot.

Those who advocate limping say that they are scared of a reraise, which I find silly. You get reraised and you don't like it, fold. Or call it and if you don't hit your set, fold then. Either way you know that if you're being reraised, you're probably behind. Whereas if you limp and the button raises, you could still easily have the best hand and then you have to decide if you want to call that anyway.

I feel that it is almost always a mistake to limp with Jacks into an unraised pot. What do you think and why?

Top 3 Beginner Rooms
$1000 bonus at Mansion Poker
$500 Sign-up bonus at Titan Poker
Up to $100 bonus at HollywoodPoker
Answer: There are a lot of good reasons to raise JJ preflop in early position in a no limit holdem game. The first thing you mentioned is also the first thing I would value: limiting the competition and defining my hand. One of the hardest situations to play well in is when you haven't defined your hand preflop and then get raised a bunch of chips postflop. The information you get in return isn't pure because the opponent isn't sure what you have. Most of the time you can go through this in your head, "I've raised preflop and he knows I have a big pair, for him to raise me here means one pair isn't good." So playing post flop can get tricky when you haven't defined your hand.
Secondly, initiative is really important in no limit holdem. You don't want to be the caller, you want to be the bettor. There is strength in being the person who is taking control. Let me give you an example of the problems you might have by just limping with JJ. Let's say you limp in early position and a player raises you from the back. Now first of all, what does his raise mean? Is he raising you because he actually has a good hand? Or is he raising you because you just limped? Limping suggests weakness and people try to exploit that weakness. So now you face the standard raise size and the flop comes back with an overcard: an Ace, a King, or a Queen. Now what do you do? You have zero idea what the other guy has, and you have no choice but to submit. Let's change the scenario now and put you in the driver's seat. You raise your JJ preflop and get a caller from the back (who doesn't reraise). Now the flop comes back with the scare card. Instead of checking, you put in a bet, and he folds his TT. Notice how even though you had a better hand than he did, since you let him have initiative, when the scare cards come, you lose. Also, what happens in the event of a reraise preflop? Well, depending on the size of the reraise, you call or fold. When the flop comes back, you have a lot more information about your opponent's hand than you would if you just limped and called the raise. The more information you can get early on in a hand, the better. (Betting for information is a tool you can use to lose less with your marginal hands). You want to find out quickly if you are up against a bigger pair because it will help you play better if the flop comes back all low. Now when you take a stab at it and get raised, it means something and you play correctly.

Next, there is value in mixing up your play. I can't imagine that someone who wouldn't raise JJ in early position would get much money when they did raise preflop. In any game I play in, if you only raised AK, KK, and QQ from early position, you would get no action. Deception is key to winning in poker. If your opponents always know what you have, it makes it easy for them to play well against you. I would suggest you learn how to raise more hands preflop in no limit holdem so that you can constantly keep your opponents off balance. The amount of money that you give away preflop isn't nearly as much as you'll get back when they misread you on a big hand. I like to pump the pot in as many places as I can. You'll get more action on your good hands, plus you pick up a lot of the pots that miss other players when you come out firing on the flop.

JJ is a pretty strong hand in any game. If you can limit the competition to one or two opponents with a raise, you have a very good chance of winning the pot. The idea of limping with JJ in no limit in hopes to flop a set is really odd to me. With a pair that big, there is a very low chance that you'll both flop a set and someone will have a hand strong enough to take all the heat and pay you off. It is much more likely that you will put in a raise, get a caller or two and then bet the flop and win.

Many people have very odd ideas on how holdem is won. Holdem isn't a game based on playing AA. Just the last time I played there was an older guy sitting next to me going on and on about other player's and how they were "chasing", how he would never make those same plays, and "how the hell did they call with that hand!". (The other players were in the hands with legitimate flush and straight draws in a limit holdem game.) You would be surprised at how much people bitch at even upper limits. This guy had completely the wrong idea about how poker is played and won. Poker is about winning pots, it isn't about showing pretty hands. It isn't uncommon to even find players who will call you down just so they can turn over their AA or KK and complain, staring at you saying "look what you beat!" You'll find many people at the table who are willing to give you "advice", but very little of it is worth listening to. It is always good to discuss concepts, but take what people say with a grain of salt; so much of what it said is completely unfounded. I have my online stuff, but I never give tips at the table; you'll be hard pressed to find a good player that will. I just sit there quietly all day and leave with the money.