ON THE BUTTON: The Trouble with Pocket Jacks

This installment of On the Button gives advice on how to play those tricky pocket jacks

April 23, 2008

By Nick Lanteri
Bodog Nation Contributing Writer

Why all the fuss about pocket jacks? It's the fifth-best starting hand in Texas Holdem, so why does it have such a bad reputation? Players moan and groan at the Bodog tables all the time about how much money they lose with this hand. Didn't anyone ever win with jacks?
 
Of course they did. But sometimes you have to fold pocket jacks (also known as hooks) or you’ll lose a race with them, and you can be sure that most poker players will bitch all day and night about that. Suddenly, the wins don't count. That's called selective memory. Tell you what, the dreaded ace-king starting hand is going to miss the flop two out of three times, so give me jacks any day, especially when I can push chips around knowing that I already have a made hand.
 
If you're losing too many pots with pocket jacks, then you're probably misplaying them most of the time (and getting unlucky other times). Here are three of the biggest mistakes I see at the Bodog tables with pocket jacks:

1. Playing Scared

Does this sight make you nervous? If so you might have a case of Jackophobia.

Why so many min-raises? You're just inviting more players into the pot. This is basic stuff, but always raise three to four times over the blind with pocket jacks because you don't want to let drawing hands see a cheap flop. Don't be sheepish, you have to make your opponents pay. You'll have the best hand most of the time. If you are dealt jacks in a 10-handed game, there will be a higher pocket pair dealt to someone else only about one time in eight, which means that you can play those hooks aggressively (in tournament poker, or cash games) because you're ahead. And even if K-Q or A-Q calls your raise, you’re still a small favorite. Don't be afraid to bet pocket jacks even if you’re out of position. Open the pot for a raise and see where you're at.
 
Also, do not be afraid to reraise pre-flop from middle position at a big table with jacks. There are many bad players online who will open pots in early position, so reraise them. Let them call you with their A-9 or A-10 suited, and hit the 9- or 10-high flop. These types will get their money in bad after that.

2. Pocket Jacks: Pre-Flop Mistakes

Sometimes you push hard pre-flop with pocket jacks but someone pushes back harder. Now what? Well that depends on who is doing the pushing. Most players just reraise all-in and race for all their chips before they should. There are a lot of factors involved when facing resistance with pocket jacks. Who is pushing back? Is it the chip leader or one of the short stacks? How many players are at the table?
 
Generally, if your chip stack size is 15 or more big blinds, just call the reraise and take a flop. No need to race for all your chips with a big stack, but most inexperienced players will shove all-in and leave themselves with no options. Sometimes a short stack will reraise you all-in, and now it's time to do the math. For example, in a Bodog Sit and Go, the blinds are $100/$200, and you raise to $600 with jacks. Five players are left and one of the short stacks shoves all-in for $1,800. How much is it to call the all-in? $1,200... How much in the pot? $2,700 So you’re getting more than 2/1 odds to call. Of course, you call and your opponent shows a weak ace, meaning you're a 3/1 favorite to win the hand. You've got your money in good, but now it's up to the poker gods.

3. Pocket Jacks: Post-Flop Mistakes

More than half of the time, an over card or two will spike on the flop, and now those jacks don't look as strong. If you're out of position, you must throw out a continuation bet and represent. Don't automatically put someone on an ace, maybe they called your raise with a low-to-medium pair. If they did, then guess what? They won't like seeing the ace, king or queen peel off either and will fold to any bet. The only way to get this information, though, is to bet after the flop, especially if you took control of the pot with a standard or even stronger-than-normal pre-flop raise.
 
Sometimes, players just refuse to believe that their pocket jacks are beat and that gets them into trouble where they lose more chips or just flat out go broke. Remember, you have to get away from jacks sometimes, so be prepared to muck them when you know you’re beat. The best players are the ones who have the discipline to throw them away.

Phil Hellmuth might be able to dodge bullets but pocket kings knocked him out of the WPT.

When Phil Hellmuth says, "I can dodge bullets, baby," he means that he can get away from hands that most players go broke on, such as pocket jacks or A-K. We’ve seen him do it several times on TV and then stand up and brag to his wife: "I should have went broke on that hand, honey."
 
Surprisingly, Hellmuth just busted out of the season-ending WPT championship on Day 2 (Monday, April 21) with pocket jacks. According to the Card Player's online poker blog, "Hellmuth got it all-in on the turn on a queen-high board with J-J against Nick Binger's K-K." This happened early in the day when more than half of the 545 players remained. In fairness, they didn't report what Hellmuth's chip count was in relation to the big blinds.
 
Pocket jacks might have busted Hellmuth, but the hooks helped Erik Seidel win a WPT title earlier this month. After six hours of three-handed play at the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic, Seidel raised from the button with J-J, Andrew Barta moved all-in from the big blind and Seidel called. Seidel was up against A-Q but hit a set of jacks on the flop to KO his opponent, and Seidel went on to win his first WPT title.

TOP PHOTO: Poker player terrified of his pocket jacks.