Trouble hands and the correct way to play them...

I have been noticing difficulty playing certain hands because they always seems to take a tough beat, so i would like to get som help on how to play them. All the hands are played on 0.25/0.50 NLTH 50$ max buyin...
1010, JJ: Usually i make a standard raise(4xBB) pre flop and if there isnt a reraise, just calls, i usually bet the pot post flop if it doesnt come AKQ, if there is 3 or 4 callers(no overcards) i make the bet and if its called i usually slow down a little... Should i play them more like small PP and limp and try to hit a set?
AJos: Standard raise followed by a pot sized or slightly overbetting if a ace hits, the problem here is if there´s more than 2 callers and a ace hits you can be in a dominated position and that is where you loose money.
AK: You bet pre and post flop and a guy comes over the top of you post flop when you dont hit = easy fold?
910, 98: Play at all at 6max tables?(both suited and offsuit)
i would greatly appreciate any advice you could give... :lol:

Personally and this is just my opinion so take it for what its worth.

TT and JJ you make a raise in late positions only in early don't and in mid depending on the feel of the table and people liming before you and how aggressive are the guys after you.

Post flop if you hit a set bet it hard especially if there is a flush or straight draw NO NOT SLOW PLAY SETS!!!!!!! If you don't hit it and there is a scary card A, K or Q only bet into it you are in late position and were the raiser per flop. Other wise check and get a feel who bets and how much.

AJos very simular to to the play above.

Don't know how I would play them in 6 max tables because I usually play only full ring games.

I'm raising JJ and TT anywhere except maybe UTG. I wanna find out where I stand. On the flop, I fire again, to find out where I'm at... lay down to any real resistance.

JJ i raise from about anywhere - if I'm in the blinds to a raised pot I'll maybe just call. Depends on the raiser though - i'f he's a loose player, I might repop him with the JJ but I'm very willing to throw it away, especially post flop if overcards hit. With a tight player I want to see the flop.

TT I probably raise from late position but again I'm very willing to throw it away if overcards hit and there's action in front of me.

At NL so much is about feel though that it's hard to come up with any hard and fast rules. Both of those hands are very dangerous, IMO, because they look very pretty but they're very easy to have cracked. In position, play fast, but with caution. Most important though is to try and determine what your opponents are playing with and base your decisions on that.

Best advice i can give is to "See the whole board"

jacks and tens are worth calling lots of pre flop raises, they are solid pocket pairs. if you hit the set, bet it hard. If you have an overpair to the board, bet it hard. those are pretty easy.

what if an ace comes? was your caller a fish? is he the kind of guy to call with any ace? will he call you? check and fold... Was he pretty tight? able to make the "big laydown"? fire again, you might be able to knock him off if he didn't catch a piece of the flop, or he may put you on a bigger kicker... something like that.

if you're calling, you're looking for the set. if you call a big raise and it's all raggy, you're in a tough spot. did they raise with AK? you're a bit ahead or way behind i think.

or you can limp em. you loose the option to rep the ace if an ace falls, but then you play just like a pair of sixes. no set no bet. an overpair to a raggy board without the pre flop raise is a lot more vulnerable, people will limp lots of junk.. resistance usualy means 2 pair... sometimes top pair with an ace kicker. that's a tough spot.

once you know you're in trouble, look for reasons to fold. if you can't find any good reasons, bet hard. if you're gonna try and save the hand, do your best.

forgot who said it

but the proper way to play JJ is to raise preflop, and fold after

/funny

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jmontis

forgot who said it

but the proper way to play JJ is to raise preflop, and fold after

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:lol:

Short-handed game, I raise all of these.

10 handed, as follows:
I've played TT both ways (limping and raising), and over 15k hands, it has never left my top 10 most profitable hands.

JJ, on the other hand, used to be losing me money. Since I started limping it, it's now slowly going up in value.

AJ, I limp (as I believe this gives me the most complete information). Most hands that call a raise beat you, and most hands that beat you will raise. If it's raised behind you, resort to reads on the player. You can get away from a losing hand against tight players and trap loose players pretty well.

AK on missed flop, I don't even always bet. I mix it up so that people don't think "well, he's raising on this just as a continuation bet." That lowers the amount of people who will come over the top of you the times that you do continuation bet (making it easier to lay down). Further, it allows you a check-raise opportunity if you find a player who will make a play for it w/o the cards because of your checking.

I'll almost never play T9o/98o, unless in the big blind or with less than 5 people.

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i was of the mind that slowplaying sets was bad. i still can't decide, i just hate the idea of giving up free cards, and of not getting money into the pot. but i limped one yesterday, and it turned out nicely. so i dunno. the thing i like about it, is 99% of the time they'll just have like top pair or something, which is more or less drawing dead to quads. and, i think you get paid the most in a set vs. aa/kk situation, and in a full house vs. flush/straight situation. so, maybe betting a set vs. someone with tptk isn't really as profitable as risking letting a couple cards come.

I play sets for maximum value; I try to put out a callable bet, based on my read on the player, but if I think he'll fold to any bet and there isn't a flush draw out I'll slowplay to the turn. If the turn comes and still no heartbeat, then take it down there with 1/2 pot.

Slowplaying sets isn't a terrible idea; you have 7 outs on the turn and 10 on the river for a full house or quads, so there will be plenty of times when your hand improves, however, if there's a flush draw on the table and your opponent holds Axs of the flush suit, you have only have 1-2 outs on the turn and 2-3 to full house over nut flush on the river and take their stack (depends if one of your trips hits a card of the flush suit), so in general, if you improve to a full house you're probably just scaring people off more often than not.

But anyway, you have the best hand on the flop pretty much always when you hit your set, so it's best to get in as many chips as possible when you're the favorite. 1/2 pot is usually callable, min raise hoping for reraise is acceptable, it really depends on your style of play.