Poker Stars $0.50+$0.00 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t100/t200 Blinds - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP1: t8170
MP2: t260
CO: t8700
BTN: t5780
SB: t3030
BB: t3940
Hero (UTG): t7345
UTG+1: t11690
UTG+2: t3790

Pre Flop: Hero is UTG with J J
Hero raises to t600, UTG+1 calls t600, 6 folds, BB calls t400

Flop: (t1900) Q 2 4 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t800, UTG+1 calls t800, BB folds

Turn: (t3500) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets t1000, Hero folds



Normally I preflop raise a bit more on JJ out of position, but in this case I just did 3x.

On the flop I think my play is reasonable. The turn is where I'm kind of in "no man's land." I don't really want to fire another barrel because the pot is huge, and I don't want to try a check raise because that's a lot of money to see where I stand.

Is giving up here reasonable, or is this too weak?

What are you trying to accomplish with your flop bet?

Well, if I check the flop, I won't really know where I stand. If I check, I can expect a bet. I won't know if it's the queen betting or just a steal attempt.

If I bet and get raised, I assume it's a queen. The flat call kind of leaves me not knowing exactly what is going on.

I think you need to decide on the flop if you're going to take an aggressive line or a passive one. But the combination of bet flop/check turn is no good.

Your hand has showdown value; so, c/c flop and c/c turn would not be bad. This is my preferred line, but it has the negative side-effect of giving your opponent a lot of information about your hand -- either you are checking for showdown value, or you are checking because you have a monster.

The other option is to fire at both the flop and the turn. Practically all pocket pairs are calling your flop bet, and maybe even AK to see if it was just a cbet. These hands will probably not call a second barrel, though; so, if you get two calls, you can probably get rid of it on the river.

Betting the flop but then checking the turn invites a steal. It says "hey, my cbet wasn't successful; so, now I'm giving up." The only way this line could be correct is if you have occasionally bet flop/check-raised turn.

So, summary: choose a line on the flop, and stick to it. As played, double barrel the turn.

I could not disagree with you more. C/cing flop/turn is a bad line to take. You're letting yourself get valueowned hard. Double barelling is bad here, b/c then you're just paying the max to anyone w/ a Q. This flop texture is perfect for a cbet, and not doing so is bad. As played is fine. The only time to 2barrel is if you have a very very good history w/ villain and know that the vast vast majority of his hand range is a float or an 8 or less.