Limit Texas Holdem: Playing Moderately High Top Pairs

One Pair

High Top Pair

Texture and the Top Pair

A Pair as a Drawing Hand

Moderately High Top Pair

UnderPairs

Interactive Tutorial: Playing a Pair

Playing Moderately high top pair (i.e., jacks or tens) is a hard proposition because you are vulnerable to overcard draws to a higher pair, as well as all the usual hands that can beat a pair.

Moderately High Top Pair, with a Strong Kicker

A moderately high top pair would be a pair of Jacks or a pair of Tens.

A strong kicker would be any overcard to your current pair.

For example:

Your Cards			The Board:

These hands should be played very strongly at the flop under almost all circumstances. You want to make people pay to try to draw-out on you. The best case would be to end the hand before the turn. Your hand is likely best, but is vulnerable to numerous draws.

The strong kicker serves as an overcard draw to two pair, and reduces the chances of somebody hitting an overpair (in this case they are drawing only to queens or aces).

At the turn and river you must re-evaluate the strength of your hand, depending on the cards that fall. In general, you hand will only seem weaker on later streets, because there are many cards that can improve other people's hands, but you only have a twenty percent chance of improving to trips or two pair (five outs multiplied by four).

In conclusion, try to end the hand quickly, with decisive action. If you can't, totally re-evaluate your hand at the turn and again at the river.

Moderately High Top Pair, with a Weak Kicker

A moderately high top pair would be a pair of Jacks or a pair of Tens.

A weak kicker would be any undercard to your current pair.

For example:

Your Cards			The Board:

Playing at a full table, this sort of hand is in a world of trouble.

First, you have kicker problems, so another pair of tens may have you beat.

Second, there are many overcard draws that can beat you. A Jack, Queen, King, or Ace could come and give somebody a higher pair. That is fifteen cards (16 -(1 in somebody's hand)) in the deck that could easily hurt you.

By the river, there is a fifteen multiplied by four... equals a 60% chance that one of these overcards will appear!

Even if none of your opponents make an overcard pair, your hand becomes very difficult to play upon the appearance of the overcard because you are uncertain about the strength of your hand.

Third, you have all the normal hands that can beat a pair out there and ready to take you down.

So how do you play this hand?

At the flop, you should try to win the hand outright with a bet, but if your bet is met by a raise then fold.

Versus three or more opponents, only call with this hand if you are getting the correct odds on your draw to trips or two pair (only five outs).

Generally, this sort of hand is a money sink versus three or more opponents; there are so many ways you can be beat and outplayed that it is often not worth pursuing beyond an original attempt to take down the pot. This is especially true if you are out of position or facing a large number of opponents.

With position, you can try to control the action and see a cheap showdown. But that is advanced and tricky playing.

If only one or two players limped into the flop with you, then this hand is much stronger, and can be played aggressively until resistence is met, or the board texture gets too "yucky."

Playing UnderPairs