A tight player raises under the gun. Do you play king-jack on the button?
King-jack looks like a hand you should play, especially on the button. Against the wrong range it's a hand that wins small pots and loses big ones.
The hand
$1/$3 No-Limit Hold'em, 9-handed. You have $400, UTG has $400. UTG is a nit: plays very few hands and rarely puts money in without a strong one.
- You
- Button, K♥J♦
- Preflop
- UTG raises to $15.
What do you do?
How to think about it
1. Know your options
Under the gun raises to $15. You can fold, call $15 or raise to $45.
2. Ask what this player raises from under the gun
The raiser is a nit: plays very few hands and rarely puts money in without a strong one. A nit raising from the earliest position, with eight players still to act, is showing a narrow range: big pairs, ace-king, ace-queen, maybe a few more.
3. Ask how king-jack does against that range
- Against ace-king, king-queen and ace-jack, your king or jack is dominated: when you pair, they often have the same pair with a better kicker.
- Against big pairs, you need to improve to win.
- When you do make top pair and the nit keeps betting, how often are you ahead?
Position helps, but it doesn't fix a hand that's often dominated. The question is whether the times you win a big pot outweigh the times you pay off with the second-best hand.
See the engine's answer
LevelUp's poker engine works out exactly what this player holds here, how often each option wins, and its dollar value against this opponent type. Play spots like this at an animated table, explain your reasoning, and find out which of your instincts are costing you money.
The takeaway
Before you call a raise, picture the raiser's actual range, not their best and worst hands. Against tight early raisers, hands like king-jack are often dominated and lose more than they win.