When most players have pocket jacks in late position, they’re willing to at least make a call. And why not since pocket jacks is one of the best hands you can have before the flop is turned over. But there are times when this decision doesn’t turn out to be the best one as a raise, and re-raise hit the table.
Once the raiser and re-raiser have made their move, the action comes around to the player who is holding pocket jacks who must then decide whether or not it’s a good decision to call. Those who simply muck their hand understand the gap concept, while those who would call in this situation don’t understand it.
Any player who makes a call in this case is almost assuredly going to be facing pocket kings and/or pocket aces. So it’s definitely a good idea not to make the call if you are the player sitting in early position. As to the reason why, let’s take a more in-depth look at the gap concept.
Assuming the re-raiser in the aforementioned example is competent, they’d have to hold a really good hand to risk 3-betting. After all, if there are one or two raises in front of you, it would be foolish to make another raise with a second rate hand. So if you’re the person who is holding pocket jacks, you’ve really got to beware of the player who 3-betted.
Sure you could call in this instance and assume that the 3-bettor is trying to be overly-aggressive, however, this is a risk that’s not worth taking. More times than not, the player who 3-bet is going to have some excellent cards; even the initial raiser could be holding a hand that’s better than pocket jacks. Now you have two players who are potentially holding better cards so, provided you know the gap concept, your best option is to fold.
One advantage online poker will always have over live poker is the fact that people can play multiple tables at once. By playing several tables at the same time, people can play a large amount of hands per hour.
The concept of managing a poker bankroll is usually reserved for those who are really serious about the game. In fact, most poker strategy books and articles focus solely on semi-pro and professional players when giving out bankroll advice. The casual player is always looked at as an afterthought in this discussion since they mostly play for fun anyways.
Congrats to Maciel85 for his dominant poker play throughout November and December in the MTT Leaderboard and Finale at CarbonPoker. He took down the tournament on December 5th at Carbon.
Nicely done, Trevor.
The top 128 players in the Thanksgiving Leaderboard faced off on Saturday to play for $21,713 in real cash prizes at CarbonPoker.
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When you’re holding a big pocket pair, drawing is a little easier since you know the payoff will be big assuming your hand hits. Even if the board doesn’t give you a set, you’re still in pretty good shape with a high pair. However, holding a middle pocket pair is a different story since you are left with little if your card doesn’t land on the board.
Let’s say you’ve just made it through a good size field to get to the money. Now let’s say you’re a medium stack. How should you play that stack? Under what circumstances should you click your chips to the middle of the table?
Pot odds are certainly very useful in poker since they give players a good idea of whether or not they should call. However, pot odds only get you so far because you also have to know what your chances are of winning a hand; this is where equity comes in. Here is a very simple way to calculate your equity, and avoid lots of detailed math.
