subject: Three Preflop Trouble Hands in No Limit Hold em Poker [print this page] Three Preflop Trouble Hands in No Limit Hold em Poker
JJ (Pocket jacks)
Of all the hands players complain about going broke with, this is the the one that rears its ugly head time and time again. You never feel comfortable with it at any point in the hand preflop. You raise and someone 3-bets, what do you do? Someone raises, you reraise, and they 4-bet, what do you do? The question with jacks usually isn't what will you do now, more like, what will you do when someone decides to raise you at any point in the hand? Unless you flop a set with them, jacks tend to be overplayed with such regularity, that to prevent themselves from doing it, some NL cash players will treat JJ as they would 22, looking to simply flop a set cheaply or be done with the hand. However you play jacks, if you ask anyone at your table if you played them correctly, you're certain to get at least one no.
AQ (Ace Queen)
You look down and see AQs and think to yourself, "Hey, I've got a monster." You see a flop in a raised pot, and flop an ace; Ah Jc 9d. If the original bettor leads out and gets called or raised, your AQ shrinks to a barely break even call. Yet, the reason this hand registers as a trouble hand is because of the tendency for a player to get this flop and go, "I flopped top pair with a good kicker, how can I be beat? I played this so deceptively by just flat calling preflop, so I have to raise here!" You raise, and get called or reraised by one of the two players that had AK/AJ/JJ/99 and quickly go broke. AQ is a fine enough hand when you're the one opening the pot. But, when you get into a big pot with someone preflop, AQ is going to rate to be a second best hand most of the time. And when you do flop your ace, you have to have an understanding of when your ace is good, and when it's being crushed. This is why AQ is a trouble hand; most amateur poker players don't have a good sense of when AQ is crushed.
QQ (Pocket Queens)
This is one of the top 5 starting hands in hold'em, according to most poker books/websites. So, how can it rate as a trouble hand? People see a pair of ladies and go, "This hand, I have the absolute nuts. I can't lose." You open to 3 BB's, only to see a very tight player on the button repop you to 10 BB's. The actions comes back to you, and with your queens, you decide, "Hey, he's got position on me, so I better let him know he's beat now!" and raise to 30 BB's. He thinks for about 30 seconds, then moves in for 200 BB's. If you even contemplate making the call here with queens, you're holding a bigger trouble hand than JJ or AQ, by far. The mistakes you make with JJ and AQ preflop can cost you a few BB's. The mistakes you can make with QQ preflop can cost you a few buy-ins.
