Limit Texas Holdem: Playing a Pocket Pair

Interactive Tutorial

At a full loose table.

Playing Small Pocket Pairs.

For the sake of this discussion we will consider all pocket pairs tens or lower as a small pocket pair.

At a full poker table with lots of multi-way action, pocket pairs become a method of creating a monster hand.

Your strategy should be to try to see a cheap flop, and hope to hit a set (three of a kind).

• If you miss your set, fold.
• If you hit your set, build a big pot.

The reasons for this strategy are as follows:

Why see a cheap flop?

You wish to only call a single bet before the flop because you will only hit your set eleven percent of the time on the flop. So you are tryng to speculate cheaply and only invest in building a big pot if you hit that eleven percent.

Why fold if you miss?

If you don't hit a set with your small pair, then there will be overcards on the board (most likely). In addition, the board could be paired or allow for solid straight and flush draws.

So your hand is probably not the best and you are drawing to your set. But that is only two outs! And we know that that gives you only (2.2 times 2 ='s) a 4% chance to hit on the next card, which is a very bad draw.

The pot needs to be huge to justify you making a call. Your draw with a pocket pair is far worse than if you have a pair using the board and a kicker to draw to.

Why build a big pot when you hit?

Three of a kind is a strong hand, and it also has the chance to morph into a fullhouse if the board pairs.

In addition when you have a set, nobody can see you have three of a kind!

So should you slow play? Our answer is that slow-playing is one of the worst strategies in low limit holdem. There are plenty of action players and plenty of callers--use the direct approach to building the pot.

Playing Big Pocket Pairs.

When you play big pocket pairs, you enter the pot raising before the flop. You have a pretty good made hand!

Once the flop hits you evaluate the situation exactly as you would if you had a pair using the board.

Do you have top pair? If so, bet hard. If not, be prepared to fold it down if you meet resistence.

And if you hit your set--you have a monster hand make sure you build a giant pot.

When to fold after the flop

This is one of the trickiest situations in poker. You enter the pot pre-flop with a raise and you end up with second pair after the flop.

For example: You raise preflop and two players cold call and the big blind calls.

Your Cards			The Board:

What do you do now? If you evaluate your hand, it is not very good. You have second pair and their is an Ace on the board, which is a likely card to be held by one or both of the cold-callers.

But given you took the lead before the flop, you should likely fire out a bet if you are first to act, or people chekc it down to you. But if you are called or raised abandon the idea of putting more money into the pot. Take your stab at winning the pot, then back off.

If somebody bets before you act, then you should likely just fold! More money is lost chasing this "two outer" than probably any other low-limit hand. Cut your loses and accept the writing on the wall...your opponent has an ace and you have two outs...

A Note on Short-Handed or Very Tight Tables

At these sorts of tables pocket pairs become more powerful so play them much more aggressively before and after the flop. You have a made hand and most opponents will miss their flop.