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Jacks and queens: Deceptively strong pre-flop?

Certain situations can be frustrating in poker. You know you’re playing your hand right, you’re betting correctly, yet you still go up against that stronger hand that drops you quickly out of the hand, and sometimes out of the game altogether.

I just talked about going in on a draw vs. a made premium hand, so this is a compliment to that article. Here’s a situation. You’re sitting pre-flop with a pair of jacks or queens, there are only four or five folks left at the table. It happens time and again, you make a move, even if you’re a conservative player, only to get knocked out by someone with a single ace.

So now you start to question yourself. Should I have raised more? Should I keep the bet low and limp in? I’m sure anyone who’s been burned has considered the latter more seriously each time it happens. The emotions can get right to your core after raising 5, 6 times the big blind only to get quickly knocked out by someone catching a pair of bullets on the flop. And, as we know, especially in a low-limit or low buy-in game, you’re crazy if you think you’re getting these guys with the single Ace to fold before they see the flop. Hell, would you fold? That Ace leads to some stubborn behavior, even at the professional level.

Well, one thing to pay close attention to on no-limit Hold ‘Em games, at least, is everyone’s stack size. You know you should be monitoring this during the game, but often it falls down the priority ladder. Well, revisit it. If you move all-in on a pair of queens, the odds are strongly in your favor, and you have to know your opponents. If they’re the type of players to play smart unless their backs are against the wall (i.e. chip stack size), they’re going to fold up against that with anything but perhaps A, K or, of course, A, A…K, K.

The short-stacked players are going to take chances because they’re in do-or-die mode. You should know, you’ve no doubt been there yourself. When you have less to lose, you take bigger chances. And the results are often not “fair” to the guy holding the strong pair pre-flop. In the end, though, you should know the tendencies of a short-stacked player and take that into account before making your initial bet. Waiting to see the flop against a weaker opponent isn’t always a bad thing.