Why You Hate Jacks

Nearly every time I go to the casino, I hear someone refer to jacks as “my least favorite hand.” Sometimes it just comes up in casual conversation, but more often I hear that phrase after its speaker has just made a larger-than-normal preflop raise and won the pot without a contest. Then he’ll flash his cards to the table and tell us how how he hates that hand.

I have trouble comprehending this. Sure, jacks aren’t aces, but they are a hell of a lot better than 7-2. They are also better than 10-9 suited or a pocket pair of sixes. No matter how it may seem, if you’ve played a lot of poker in your lifetime, jacks are almost certainly among your biggest winning hands. Online players can confirm this with their databases.

I don’t think that will come as a huge shock to anyone. Even those who grumble about how they “always lose with jacks” know deep down inside that jacks are a very strong hand. In fact, I think this is the source of the frustration: these players know that jacks are supposed to be a very strong hand, and yet they don’t win the pot anywhere near as often as kings or aces do. When you’re dealt jacks, you get that “Alright, a big hand, now we’re talking!” rush of adrenaline, but too often the pot gets shipped the other way, resulting in frustration and disappointment.

The trick is to learn to think of any playable hand, whether it be jacks or a suited connector or even aces, not as a “guaranteed” or “deserved” win, but rather as one ingredient in a profitable situation. With a good starting hand, you’ve taken an most important first step towards winning a nice pot, but you aren’t there yet. You also need a favorable board texture and an opponent who’s willing to pay you off with a second-best hand.

Aces are much less dependent on board texture than are any other starting hand. Even kings, we all know, shrivel up quickly when that ugly ace flops. But with aces, no single card spells disaster in the same way. So with aces, you don’t have to worry so much about what the flop looks like, and it’s relatively simple for an opponent to make a second-best hand, whether that be a lower overpair or top pair on the flop. Of course aces can and do lose, but the circumstances in which they win a medium-sized pot are relatively common and don’t require a lot of effort to create.

Suited connectors are just the opposite: they are extremely board-dependent, so much so that most poker players have learned not to get too excited about them until they see the flop. Often you miss the flop, you fold without risking anything more, and because there was no anticipation, there is no disappointment. When things fall just right, you make an extremely strong hand that will win the pot just about every time. I’ve never heard anyone refer to a suited connector as his least favorite hand.

Jacks are tricky because they fall somewhere in between. Like aces, they are often strong enough to win the pot without any help from the community cards, though this won’t happen nearly as often as it will with aces. Like suited connectors, they can turn into a much stronger hand if they get exactly the right flop.

Of course you can flop a set with aces also, but I usually prefer not to. When I make a set, I want my opponent to have a hand that he thinks is strong so he can play a big pot with me. On a K-8-4 flop, my aces can win a nice pot from anyone holding a king. On an A-8-4 flop, it’s hard for anyone to have anything, and I probably won’t win much even though my hand is much stronger than it was preflop. It’s much easier for jacks to flop a set at the same time that someone else makes top pair or an overpair, and then sparks can fly.

The tricky thing about jacks is that these two sources of value — winning the pot unimproved or flopping a set and winning a big pot from an unsuspecting top pair — are in tension with each other. To win the pot unimproved, you need to focus on making people pay to see the flop, and you’d prefer not to see overcards out there. To win a big pot with a set, you generally want to minimize your preflop investment (so that you have more available to bet once you make your set) and you hope someone will pair an overcard.

The key to playing jacks profitably — to playing any hand profitably, really; jacks are merely an extreme case — is to stay flexible. You don’t know what your game plan will be, and you don’t know whether or how you can try to win a big pot, until you get a sense of what your opponents have, and often not until you see the flop.

Preflop, jacks are generally worth a raise whether or not there have been any limpers. In an extremely loose and aggressive game, there’s a case to be made for limping and calling with jacks. Loose and aggressive play makes it quite difficult to win the pot unimproved, which means you’re mostly trying to flop a set and therefore want to minimize your preflop investment, just as with a smaller pair.

If the pot has been raised, you need to think about the raiser. Against a loose player or a player in late position, jacks are generally good enough for a reraise. You can still expect to be ahead more often than not, and so you can still aim to win the pot unimproved.

Against a tight or early position raiser, it’s better to call. You may have the best hand, but you don’t want to open yourself up to a four-bet, and in fact even in a three-bet pot your jacks might not be too impressive unimproved. Better to call and look for a favorable flop. Ideally that means one where you make a set, though you may be able to continue on others. Do so with caution, though, and be vigilant for signs that you are up against a bigger overpair. Mostly you’ll be checking, calling, or folding if you don’t make a set.

Many players have an unhappy relationship with jacks because they expect to win the pot every time. Consequently, they think in terms of “protecting” the winning hand rather than evaluating the situation and trying to determine whether or not an opportunity for profit exists. Let go of that expectation. Give the other elements necessary to win a big pot the chance to fall into place, so that when they do you can take maximum advantage, but be ready to let go when things aren’t going your way. A good starting hand is only the first step towards a big win. ♠

Andrew Brokos is a professional poker player, writer and coach. He blogs about poker strategy on ThinkingPoker.net and is co-host of the Thinking Poker Podcast. Andrew is also interested in education reform and founded an after-school debate program for urban youth.