Hand No. 12

This hand demonstrates the inherent danger of playing less than premium hands.

Blinds are 100/200, and its still early in this tournament. I have already devoted a lot of space in prior entries discussing how the rebuy option affects play and strategy, so I won't further belabor the point, other than to say all the players involved in this hand still had the option to rebuy. Each player has close to their starting stack of 16,000 chips.

Player A folds. Player B raises to 600. Player C raises to 1,600. Player D folds, Player E calls. Play folds around to Player B, who calls the extra 1,000 chips. The pot is 5,100.

The flop is Q J 4, with 2 clubs. Player B bets 2,000, Player C calls, and Player E folds. The pot is now 9,100.

The turn is the 8 of diamonds. Player B bets 4,000. Player C goes all-in for another 7,000 chips. Player B calls and just has Player C covered. The pot is 31,100 chips. Player B shows J 10, with no flush possibility. Player C shows pocket Jacks. Player B needs only a 9 to make a straight and win the pot.

The river is a 10. Player C's trip Jacks beats Player B's two pair, and Player C wins the pot.

My thoughts on the hand:

Player B makes a raise from early position with J 10. This is a pretty marginal hand to play from early position. You are only going to be called by hands that are beating you. Or worse, you might get a re-raise and then be forced to either dump the hand or commit more chips to the pot with a losing hand. In this case, Player B saw a re-raise and a call of the raise. Nevertheless, Player B calls with likely the third best hand.

A lot of players like to play with J 10. The player hopes to flop a straight or a draw to a straight with high cards on the board that pair their opponent's holdings. You see this type of play online quite often. Players will call a pre-flop raise with J 10, hoping their opponent is playing A K or something similar. The player has two live cards, and the player is hoping to make a pair on the flop while their opponent misses on the flop. This play can be quite profitable, because a lot of online players holding A K become committed to the pot and will often go all-in after the flop, even if they don't make a pair. At the end of the day, A K is still just two unpaired cards, and a lot of players get busted committing themselves to the hand. But this entry isn't about A K.

The flop gave a Player B a pair, which might give him the lead if Player C re-raised with A K or a smaller pair. Player B decides to see where he stands and bets 2,000. Player C just calls with a set of Jacks. The call by Player C disguises the strength of his hand, and may have given Player B the impression Player C was playing a flush draw. There is an argument for Player C to raise on the flop due to the presence of straight and flush possibilities. But those possibilities are unlikely, and a raise might scare away hands like what Player B is holding.

The turn gives Player B a inside straight draw to go with his pair. Player B bets 4,000 chips. Player C decides to go all-in at this point. Here, I think going all-in is the right play. Player B had already committed almost half his chips to the pot, and its going to be hard for Player B to get away from the hand unless he has been bluffing the whole time. Player C is also making Player B pay to draw if he has been playing with 2 clubs or something like K 10. It is probably correct for Player B to call the all-in. Player C is unlikely to be holding three of a kind (although this time he is), so Player B may believe his outs include the remaining Jacks, Tens, and the Nines. Player B still has a rebuy option to boot. Unfortunately for Player B, his only outs are the four remaining Nines.
Even if Player C only calls the bet on the turn, all the chips would have gone in on the river, where Player B makes two pair.

Playing hands like J 10 take a lot of discipline and skill. Even if you pair your Jack on the flop, there are a number of hands that have you beat, including higher pairs and Jacks with better kickers. Raising with hands like J 10 may be appropriate, but you have to be able to let the hand go if you meet resistance of if your straight potential is low. Alternatively, these hands can pay off well when you do make your straight. For some players, J 10 is their "favorite hand," and I admit I like to play the hand as well - just not from early position.

What's your favorite hand or hands? Sound off in the comments section, and thanks for reading.