Creating A Framework For Playing Pocket Jacks
Written by: Scott Lum
Pocket Jacks can be one of the most frustrating hands for many recreational players to play. It’s a top 5 hand which many players fear and play incorrectly. On the Forum’s Edition of the RecPoker podcast, the RECing Crew talks about how to create a framework for evaluating the table dynamics and a strategy for playing Jacks. Toward the end of the podcast, we discussed how to use this framework to create poker visualizations for mental training. There’s a ton to unlock in the podcast but here’s a quick guide as you listen to the content:
- We walk you through how to play Pocket Jacks based on the preflop action and your opponent’s tendencies and how to play them postflop based on your position, board texture, opponent profiles and player ranges.
- We provide a framework on how to analyze any hand you have. Once you’ve created a checklist of things to consider (our position, player tendencies, preflop action, board texture and how it interacts with our total range, postflop action, multiway or just a Big Blind caller, etc) then you can use this process to analyze and train for any other hand, whether it’s AQo, JTs, KK, 55, etc.
- Toward the end of the podcast, we talk about a toy game where you are dealt Pocket Jacks on every single hand. Playing this game repeatedly creates a great mental exercise to practice playing Jacks in a variety of situations in a controlled environment. Playing this game has helped make Jacks one of my favorite value hands to play since I’ve practiced it so much.
- This has all led to a process for creating poker visualization. Elite athletes, chess players and musicians use mental exercises to master their games. We’ve heard about the 10,000-hour rule and mental practice helps us minimize the hours of practice we spend on the felt. I found that the process of putting together this framework for analyzing hands and creating this toy game has helped develop mental exercises for any poker topic I’m studying.
As you listen to the podcast, I hope you learn better strategies to think through how to play the hand. But more importantly, I challenge you to think beyond Jacks and create your own framework for analyzing any hand you play and create a visualization process to mentally train yourself as you study the game.
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Let me know if you find this content valuable and what topics you’d like me to explore further.
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