J-10 Suited

A lot of players tell me that J-10 suited is their favorite hand. Well, it’s better than the 6-9 suited that I hear a lot — and a coin flip against a pair of eights, which many players like because there are eight letters in good luck. I’ve got a favorite hand, too — aces; and a second-favorite hand — kings. J-10 suited doesn’t even crack my top 10!

Yeah, I know that J-10 suited makes four nut straights, which provides value in volume situations in which it generally takes better than one pair to take down the pot. And, it looks pretty. But looks are often deceiving. Many players overlook the fact that what makes those volume situations is that many of the players are playing suited hands. And the likelihood of the jack-high flush draw to be up against the ace-, king-, or queen-high flush draw devalues the hand greatly. When you put in bets while drawing dead to a flush, it takes a lot of overlay scenarios to make up for that dramatic loss of expectation.

Plus, J-10 often has “kicker trouble,” which is not a spot in which you want to find yourself. I’m not saying that I fold the hand a lot, but I am saying that I attach less value to it than most players do.

I was playing in a loose, mostly passive, nine-handed $30-$60 limit hold’em game at Bellagio in Las Vegas. This is my favorite type of game, as I can play a lot of hands and still have some ability to manipulate situations. Two players limped in front of me, and I called from the six hole with the J 10. One player called behind me, and the button, a local lawyer named Joe, raised. Both blinds called the raise, including PJ, a local woman in the big blind, as did the rest of the field. We took the flop off seven-handed for $60.

The flop came K Q 6, giving me an open-ender, but with a flush draw present. When drawing to a straight when a flush draw is present, you must adjust your pricing to the fact that two of your straight cards make the flush. Plus, you can make your straight on the turn and still lose to a flush on the river, or the flush can come on the turn, leaving you with an assessment of whether or not you’re drawing live. A flush draw present makes pricing your straight draw tricky.

Since the board was a strong one, the likelihood of it hitting Joe’s raising range was high. It was checked to me, and I checked, not wanting to lead into Joe and have him raise, folding other players and cutting down my price on a draw that I already thought was shaky. Joe fired, and not getting much in the way of respect, he was called by the entire field, including me.

The turn card was the Q, pairing the board and giving me a flush draw. PJ fired a wager into the field. I was pretty sure that she had trip queens. Two players called, and with more than $800 in the pot, I called, getting more than 13-1 pot odds. I wasn’t sure how many outs I had, but I felt that it was worth the risk, as PJ most likely would have raised the flop with two pair or a set. My risk increased greatly when Joe raised from the button. PJ called, as did one of the other callers.

Now I was getting about 1,100-60 on a call. If Joe held K-K, K-Q (if PJ held a queen, she blocked four queens), or the small possibility of 6-6 (he was less likely to raise preflop with this holding), I was drawing dead. If he held A-Q, it took away four outs. PJ also had a kicker to hit, and I thought it was likely that the other caller held a club draw. I called the extra $60, knowing that my price was greatly condensed, but believing that the pot was large enough to overcome the risk.

The river was the A; I made everything, both the straight and the flush, but I was not in love with my hand. If Joe held A-Q, I was beat. PJ checked, the player in between us rudely mucked his hand, and I checked to Joe, who fired $60. PJ called, and it was on me. Intuitively, I didn’t like my hand at all. I thought through Joe’s plausible hand ranges, and couldn’t beat much. I looked at Joe; he was surveying the pot with a grin on his face, and was probably happy for a reason. I was pretty sure that I was beat, but the pot was huge, offering me more than 20-1. Could he have a hand like Q-J suited? Q-10 suited? I tossed in $60, and Joe, still grinning, turned over A-Q for a full house.

Did I misplay my hand on any street? I reviewed my decisions while I painfully watched Joe stack the chips. It sure seemed to take him a long time, and he was obviously enjoying every moment. I would have enjoyed it, too!

The hand speaks to assuming risks when you know that you may be drawing thin or possibly even dead. You must adjust your price based on your read of the likelihood that you’ll make your hand and lose. Of course, in order to accurately assess your price, you need to be correct in your read of the situation. Conceptually, the greater the risk, the more you must adjust your price. And while I was never in great shape in this particular hand, I was in good enough shape to take the risks based on my read of my opponents’ range of hands. And I know that if I read the situation right and analyzed my odds correctly, I played my hand well, and that is all I can ever ask of myself.

Longtime poker pro and author Roy Cooke’s Card Player column has appeared since 1992. A successful Las Vegas real estate broker since 1990, his website is www.roycooke.com. Should you wish to inquire regarding real-estate matters — including purchase, sale, or mortgage — his phone number is (702) 396-6575. Roy’s longtime collaborator John Bond’s website is www.johnbondwriting.com.