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Jacks on an over-paired board, no limit cash game
Game type: 5/10 No limit holdem
Your image: Fairly TAG
Opponent’s image: Capable of both tricky lines and weak play
Your hand: J♠J♥
The setup: You’ve been playing a fairly active TAG style in this full ring NL game. Your opponent has bought in with a half-stack twice, losing the first one when his QQ ran into KK (he called down the flop and turn when no overs came). A few hands ago, your opponent bluffed you out of a medium pot when a scare card hit the river. You’ve also seen him play tight with top pair in a few situations.
This hand, you’re dealt Jacks in late position. The table folds to your opponent, who limps. You raise to $40, and the table folds back to him. He calls. The flop:
K♠9♥2♦
He checks, you bet $70 into $95, and he calls. The turn brings the K♣. Now your opponent leads out for $160 in to $235 pretty quickly.
What’s your play with JJ? How much would your answer change if your opponent had $900 behind instead of $270?
10.9.07 / 5am
I see this all the time in the cash game, but I’m at 1-2 and 2-4. This is a 1-2 and 2-4 episode stuck in a 5-10 game, as the guy is out of money.
It could (and will, over time) go either way. You’re going to win about half of them, and you’re going to lose about half of them. Try not to go broke on the ones you lose.
The K makes it a tad less likely he already had a K. IF he does, you’re going to double him up, and you’re not interested in calling, and putting the money in slowly. Put the money in now, put him all in. It’s not that much money. To you. But it might be to him.
At that point, he’s in or he’s not, and you’re gambling. But only for his stack, not for yours.
10.9.07 / 7am
(before i looked at results) i thought there was a possiblity that he was looking to check-raise on the flop with a K
the absence of any sort of draws on this board leads me to belive the turn bet is very strong
10.9.07 / 7am
May as well put the rest of the money in.
If he has $900 behind then I’m almost always folding. Lots of times a player will go ahead and bet the set in this situation because they recognize that the only way they are getting any action out of you is if you have the case K, or if you read their action as a bluff. Either way he gains nothing by giving the free card, and he might get in trouble.
10.9.07 / 10am
what’s with the quiz questions that have no answers?
and what’s with the “what actually happened” scenario totally blowing out the answers and being irrelevant anyway?
I voted fold because jacks are impossible to play when an overcard hits the board and your opponent is tricky and/or won’t give up on the flop
10.9.07 / 3pm
As always, check-calling in no-limit makes me nervous. Check-calling and then leading out the turn always smells fishy to me. If this were limit, I’d say raise; in no-limit, this is a fold to me. He limped and called a raise behind him pre-flop, check-called the flop, and leads out the turn on a scary board. Unless he’s seriously messing around with JT or A9, or making a very tricky bluff with AQ, I don’t like this situation. A fold here is defensible almost no matter his stack.
I was thinking he might have had queens, but the “what actually happened” action makes sense too - KQ with a pretty good flop, and a great turn card.
By the way, I hate pocket jacks, and I’m sure I’m not the only one…
10.10.07 / 8am
There are five ways to play pocket jacks, and they’re all wrong.
10.13.07 / 4am
that’s an ugly situation: you cant beat much except a pure bluff. you must fold here if your opponent is deep stacked .
If he is shortstacked with 270$ you can do anything: fold,call or raise
10.9.07 / 1am
Fold and be prepared that players will try to bluff you out of pots more. Or call and see what he does on the river.