Pocket jacks are a hand that troubles many a poker player preflop. It comes as no surprised that such a troublesome starting hand is often misplayed. One cannot help but wonder whether he or she should raise, how much they should raise if so, or should they just limp. You find yourself scared, yet excited all at once. Pocket Jacks are a tricky hand to play.

Playing Jacks from Early Position

When in early position, you should almost always raise preflop. Do not make the mistake of raising too much or raising too little with jacks. Typically, a standard table raise at PokerStar.net will do the trick. Your goal with pocket jacks is to get a few callers to come along for the ride, without either chasing everyone away or allowing the cascading effect of call after call after call to come in behind you.

Should you choose to limp with jacks, you risk being multi-way and out of position with this tricky hand. If you allow someone else to do the work for you and raise, you can easily find yourself playing scared and out of position, which can quickly spell disaster.

Playing Jacks from Later Position

When holding Jacks from later position, you have a bit of room for adjustment. If one or two players have entered the pot, you can comfortably follow suit and call. However, if many players have voluntarily come into the pot, you will want to make a sizable raise in hopes of scaring some of the players away. Depending on how many players have entered prior to you, as well as taking into consideration the pot size, you may be well off by raising in such a manner designed to take the pot down preflop. Again, this varies based on table conditions and the number of callers.

If you end up betting big, and you get a caller or two, you can be pretty certain you are looking at a similarly sized pocket pair, or a player who has a premium drawing hand (usually including an Ace). Of course, you will proceed accordingly from the flop on.

When playing pocket jacks from early position on www.Ladbrokes.com, you must usually raise both for value and to narrow the field. When in later position, you have the luxury of information and choice and may be flexible in your play. Either way, pocket jacks are a powerful starting hand that can easily be misplayed.