One of the most difficult hands to play in hold’em is pocket jacks. They are just good enough to get you interested and just good enough to get you beat.
However, if you know your opponent and have an idea of what he thinks about you, then you can put yourself in a situation to bust somebody.
At the 2007 World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in main event, with blinds at $100-$200, aggressive pro Shane Schleger raised to $600 from middle position. The cutoff seat called. On the button, Richard Brodie, the pro known as the “Quiet Lion,” found jacks. He had to decide whether to call or raise.
“With an inexperienced player, I might try to flop a set and bust him by trying to figure out if he was playing high cards and my hand was good,” Brodie said.
“But Shane’s a good player, so rather than play a three-way flop where I wasn’t going to be sure that I had the best hand after the flop, I decided to raise to $2,500, a pot-size raise. I was hoping that I’d get it heads-up with Shane or that Shane might fold if he was holding a lesser hand, such as a pair of 9s.”
Schleger thought, then moved all in for his remaining $10,900. The cutoff folded. Another decision for Brodie.
“The most likely holding to be moving in there with is A-K because even if you move in with A-K and get called, you get all five cards to hit your hand, whereas if you just call with A-K and miss the flop, you’d have a hard time playing on,” said Brodie, sponsored by the Full Tilt Poker online site.
Brodie was a 57-43 percent favorite over A-K, but an 80-20 underdog to aces.
“I was looking at his body language,” Brodie said, “and he didn’t seem to have the aces or kings body language, but you’re never really sure.”
Brodie had Schleger out-chipped considerably, but that wasn’t the reason he called.
“I believe that given his opinion of me, he probably thinks I’m tighter than I am,” Brodie said, “and because he hadn’t really gotten out of line, he probably thought there was a good chance that I’d fold jacks or 10s.
“He’s moving in for twice the pot, it’s his last chips, I know he’s a player who likes to accumulate chips, so I figured he was gambling. I figured if he had aces, he would’ve just called and tried to win more money from me after the flop. So, I was hoping that he had A-K and my read was correct.”
Indeed, Schleger held A-K. The board blanked. Brodie’s jacks won.
“The most important thing is to know your opponents,” Brodie said. “If it had been one of the tighter, inexperienced players making that move, I probably would’ve folded the jacks because I would’ve thought that he wouldn’t want to gamble with A-K. He would want to make sure he had the best hand before he put his chips in.”
Table talk
Set: Three of a kind when your pocket pair matches a card on the board.
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EDITED BY DANIEL ELLMAN AND DAMIAN HOPKINS
