Playing Pocket Jacks

It seems that I haven't played in a live session or a tournament lately that somebody hasn't mentioned at least once how much they hate pocket Jacks.

"I should just fold them and save my money," people say.

"I wish I could," is a common response.

There is a somewhat common saying in poker that there are three ways to play pocket Jacks, and all of them are wrong. But Jacks are not really that tough to play, provided that (1) you have the right expectations, (2) you play them aggressively, and (3) you can get away from them when you know that you're beat. If you cannot achieve all three of these things, then you can keep your Jacks, but I'll give you an alternative way to play them at the end of this article. But let's take expectations first. Jacks are statistically one of the three or four best possible starting hands, and if you were going to go all-in before the flop, pocket Jacks is a pretty good hand to do it with. But pocket Jacks is the hand that proves the rule that everything changes once that flop comes out.

In general, when you hold pocket pairs, the flop that you want to see is one which doesn't contain any cards higher than the cards in your hand. If you are holding kings, you are safe 76% of the time, since at least one ace will appear on the flop 24% of the time. With Queens, you are safe 52% of the time. But with Jacks, you are only safe 28% of the time, as a least one Ace, Queen, or King will appear on the flop 72% of the time. No wonder Jacks never seem to hold up, right?

So, if you are expecting to treat pocket Jacks like other big pairs - get in as much as you can pre-flop, and push in even more after the flop until you see an overcard - you won't be successful with them. With Jacks, you should expect to see overcards, and be surprised when you don't see them.

The trick to playing pocket Jacks is in accepting this fact, and minimizing its effect on the outcome of the hand. And how do you do that? Well, there are two steps. First, you need to isolate pre-flop. You need to play your Jacks against one and only one opponent. If it means raising more than you want to, or re-raising out of position, or generally committing more chips than you are used to pre-flop with a funky hand like Jacks, then do it. But you've got to see the flop with one other person. You prefer to have position, and you prefer that the other person have a smaller pair, but you really need to be looking at a single opponent with Jacks.

The reason, of course, is that you're only behind on the flop if an overcard comes and it pairs with an overcard in your opponents hand. The more opponents who see the flop with you, the better the chances that whichever overcard that hits the flop makes pair for one of your opponents, and the better the chances are that you're beaten. With only one opponent, even though the odds are very good that you will see at least one overcard, the odds are also very good that the flop will completely miss him, and if your Jacks are best before the flop, they will remain so afterward.

Then, when the flop comes out with an overcard - and you're already expecting that it will -- you need to bet for information. You need to see where you are in the hand right away, before it becomes expensive. If you see an Ace, then you need to make a bet that only an Ace can call. If you see a King, then make a bet that only a good King can possibly call. Leave no room for question in your mind, because your next step will be equally profound.

What is the next step? Well, unfortunately, you don't have a lot of options. You have played strongly in order to isolate pre-flop. You have bet the flop in the face of an overcard, and have gotten called. It is now very likely that you are beaten, and now you need to be able to exit gracefully. Check the turn, and if you don't improve, fold to any kind of serious bet. If there is a lot of money in the pot, you may face a bet that is weak enough that you can call. But in all likelihood, you have the second-best pair, and are playing behind.

Sure, there are other things that could happen. Your opponent could be on a draw of some sort. Or he could have read you for a continuation bet on the flop, and called it for the purpose of bluffing you on the turn. If that's your read, then act accordingly. But most of the time in poker, when you see an Ace on the flop, and someone acts like they have an Ace, then they really do have an Ace. Not always, but most of the time. One of the ways that you get into trouble with Jacks, or any pocket pair really, is when you refuse to believe that your opponent has hit his overcard and is calling you with The Goods. And next thing you know, you're the one muttering how much you "hate pocket Jacks."

Believe it or not, pocket Jacks are a positive EV hand, and you can win with them, if you play them correctly. But you need to be sure that you raise to isolate pre-flop. Then if you see an overcard on the flop, you need to bet to see where you are in the hand. Finally, if your opponent tells you that you are behind, then you need to have the intelligence to do the right thing and fold. You'll be leaving a lot of chips on the table, but there's no use throwing good money after bad.

Sometimes, you will get into a situation where you cannot play your Jacks this way. Maybe you are playing in a limit game, or a pot limit game, or even a crazy no limit game, where you cannot possibly keep two or three other players from seeing the flop. There is an alternative way to play your Jacks, and it is much like you would play a smaller pair, like eights or nines.

With smaller pairs, you are trying to see a cheap flop, hoping to flop a set. If you do, then you are way ahead in the hand, and can bet comfortably or check-raise on the flop. If you don't, then you can get away from the hand cheaply and easily. This is the way that you want to play Jacks when you cannot isolate. See the flop for a low price against several other players. If you don't see any overs, great. If you hit your set, even better. But if you see overs and still only have a pair, then you are folding to any serious bets from your opponents.

So next time you hear somebody moaning about how much they hate pocket Jacks, tell them that you "love playing them, especially against a single opponent." Go on to say that "even if I can't get heads-up with them, I still don't mind, because I find them easy to get away from." You may get a look like you're from another planet, but you'll get some respect at the table, I guarantee it.

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