how do you play this. ??

That's a tough call.  Chances were that you had the best hand, and in fact, you did, so in that sense you played it right.  In my opinion, your philosophy tournament wise should have impacted what you did here. If you wanted to win the tournament, then you made the right move.  However, if you were playing just to hang on and make the top 30, i would have just checked, simply because there are a lot of hands that can beat JJ. Even if the guy had something like A2, he could easily outdraw you.

Either way, you didn't make a bad play, you just got unlucky

Unless the amount for finishing 30th is significant to you, it seems like a fairly easy push.  There's a decent chance the opponent will fold, in which case you win 20k or 16k depending whether he was the SB or not.  Since you only have 20 left, that's a pretty desirable result.  If you're called, you'll probably be ahead since, with a hand better than JJ, the opponent probably would have raised.

If the prize for 30th is enough that it matters to you, then by all means, it's your prerogative to play conservatively so as to maximize your chances of cashing (while somewhat reducing your chances of placing higher).  On this hand, you might well end up busting out anyway, but that's not the point.  The right play depends on your goal in that particular situation.

the question here is what was the chip leader thinking?  he must have been riding a pretty good roll to make that call on 55.

Your decision should be based on one question. Do you want to place in the tourney or do you want to win. If you want to place in it i might fold the hand but if i wanted to win you do have to gamble sometimes to move up but thats just my opinion.

If the tourney only payed 30 spots then I think you made a bad move.If you were already in the money then it was still a questionable move.I never like to invest much on JJ.Being you were against the chip leader he is going to call you with most anything and he can knock you out with any AK or Q or in your case another pair.I play JJ like any small pair if I dont catch help and the board shows I can be beaten I lay it down.But thats just how I play it,your gamble could also have payed off.

that was a tough break, but I think you played it right.
I would have done the same thing
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MA

well i would have done the same as you short stacked with poc jacks your not gonna fold you def. made the right move just a bad beat and a bad call by the chip leader turning out to be a good call

I just would have raised to see where i was at.  if he was stronger he would have re-raised and then you would have known

no cause ur short stacked against the chip leader you raise a decent amount and he re-raises ur commited to the pot and you should push all in with pocket jacks bad beat....

you did in fact play it right.  when the chip leader is not trying to force is will by pushing chips around and just limps into a hand, you have to believe he isn't painted and the best he could have is low to medium pockets.  you raising all in was the right move b/c you had the best hand when you put your money in, however the price was right for him to call while at the same time pushing another player out of the trny.

I think it was a good and bad move. You probably knew you had the best hand there. But if you wanted to make top 30 then you should have folded there because chip leader could have called with anything and outdrawn you.

Of course that was the right move.  Even if you saw the flop you would have the top pair.  You would have raised big there anyways.

Yeah, you had to make that move, that is just poker, like how it seems whenever you get pocket kings or queens late in a tourney I always seem to run up against the higher pocket pair. It happens, you just hope it doesnt happen in that situation.

I hate jj too many things can beat it.  I probably would have limped in but even then you would probably think your jacks were still good after the flop so all your chips would have probably ended up in the pot anyways.  So chalk it up to experience that is a hard one