Pocket Jacks
Jack Jack, Fish hooks, Jay Jay, Jokers, whatever you like to call them doesn’t make them any easier to play.
While Sklansky does have them in the first group of starting hands, experience with them leads me to believe that this is not correct
I think it depends more on who I am playing with and what my position is
In early position against a mixed table, limp and try and make a set or hope for a low flop and you have the overpair. If you are playing against a lot of LAG players who have position on you and will call with suited Aces and Kings, or even Queens, there are just too many flops that don’t look good.
Middle position, pretty much the same, but if it is unraised I may take a stab at it to try and narrow the field. If you are playing with players that can throw away weak Aces and Kings to a raise, then this is definitely the play here.
Late position, raise enough to try and take it down or get heads up, players hand range are going to be more important with JJ; will they play shitty Kings and Aces to a raise? How about KQ suited? If they do you have to be willing to fold to a bet with any of these on the flop. Do they bet shitty Aces and Kings? If they don’t you can check down hands and maybe be good or take a stab at a pot and if they don’t hit two pair they may fold. But if they won’t fold top pair you can bleed a lot of money betting these flops.
Try not to play big pots with them though unless you have a set, controlling the pot size is where you need to be concerned with JJ in my opinion, they are a pocket pair, but like any pair other than Aces, after the flop is where the play really starts.