Pair Of Jacks In Early Position

[APAT]

Okay, you are in early position with average chips and you look down to find  jh  jd.  There is an aggressive player on the button with a similar number of chips as you and the chip leader, who is tight and aggressive, is on the big blind.

You are three levels into the tournament, so there is "plenty of time", but this is the first hand you"ve seen.....

How do you play it?

[kinboshi]

Standard raise - 3 or 4 times the BB.

I guess that as you"ve stated that "this is the first hand you"ve seen" you"ve not played many hands, and so the table has clocked you as a tight player?

[Mikeyboy9361]

Everybodies favourite premium hand! As Kinbo says you obviously have a tight table image and you certainly don"t want too many callers ( hanging on to their ace rag) so I would raise 4 or 5 times the big blind, and hope to take the hand down there and then. If you get called then hope for no over cards on the flop and follow with up with a pot sized bet, if you get called here, you are in deep Doo Doo and should let it go. If you get raised pre flop then depending on the size of the raise I would still like to see a flop, but defo fold to an all in, even if he is an aggressive player!

[Jon MW]

... If you get called then hope for no over cards on the flop and follow with up with a pot sized bet, if you get called here, you are in deep Doo Doo and should let it go...

I wouldn"t necessarily agree that you are in trouble if your post flop bet was called.

It could well be seen as a continuation bet, and the oppo might be waiting to try and steal it on the turn, it could of course be against someone with a drawing hand who is happy to pay "over the odds" to try and hit their flush/straight.

I think you can"t generalise at this stage without knowing the texture of the flop.

[biffa85]

I would probably limp, hoping for a couple of callers and then a likely raise from an aggresive button play, which will allow you to reraise to take down a larger pot and/or giving you far more information with regards to the other players behind you.

It being early if your limp generates too much action before returning to you, you can get away from a potentially difficult situation of being out of position with a difficult hand for the price of a call.

If the expected raise doesn"t happen, then again you"ve kept the pot small allowing you to exit the hand if the flop is dangerous and there is too much action.

By raising immediately you are increasing the cost and making your future decisions more difficult.  Suppose there is a raise from the cut-off followed by a caller on the button and the big blind, you are going to have call, but then you have lost control of the hand, and are left hoping for the jack to flop.

[kinboshi]

You want to play it cheap, and keep the pot small as you"re out of position.

If you"re relying on your hand improving on the flop, you"re more than often going to be disappointed. You"re only going to hit a set 1 in 9 times.  Although when you do, you can kick-start your whole tournament with it.

Just under 60% of the time, an overcard will drop, and 14% of the time you"ll see more than one overcard on the flop.  I"d be prepared to win a little, or lose a little - unless of course I hit the set.

To extend the question slightly, how do you play in exactly the same circumstances with th td, or even ah qh?    

[Phil_Crozier]

With  jh jd i would raise around 4 times the big blind because your still only 3 levels in and 4 times the big blind gets a little more respect than 3 times the big blind from players who like to see alot of flops to try and kick start their chip count early in a tournament.

Ideally i"d want to take down the blinds or get 1-2 callers anymore that that and your probably screwed unless a jack flops.
With  th td, and ah qh i"d limp being prepared to call 1 raise or see a cheap flop.

[APAT]

From time to time I might be tempted to try something a bit different here. 

What about going for the "suspicious" 2 x under raise.  This will save you committing too much to the pot with an average holding from a precarious position. 

If the action is re-popped from a later position you can take a decison to get out (most likely) or push the rest of your stack in and pick up a worthwhile pot without going to showdown. 

[Phil_Crozier]

Or just throw them away, jacks are my nemesis

[RioRodent]

Fold

[kinboshi]

Fold

LOL

[RioRodent]

...... You are three levels into the tournament, so there is "plenty of time", but this is the first hand you"ve seen.....

that can get you busted!!  :"(

[APAT]

That"s what makes this particular question an interesting one.  Lots of variables to consider, and if you are a newbie, not having seen a hand for a while might very well influence you to push too hard.

[nosey-p]

Call

Call to any reraise

check raise on flop if no A K Q

[Jon MW]

Are we going to get a, "you did xxxx, the flop came xxxx, what do you do now?" follow up?