Pocket pairs

**magic1971** · 11th November 2005, 09:36 AM

Have always struggled playing any pp in early position particularly any up to 10s whatever i do seems to be wrong move advice received gratefully

**Terminator** · 11th November 2005, 03:37 PM

I think this is generaly something that a lot of players are uncomfortable with.

A lot depends on how many players are at the table, how they play, how they percieve you to be playing, and several other aspects of the situation. I have a lot of standard "plays" with various hands from different positions, but obviously, these plays change accordingly to adapt to different situations in different games.

My basic theory is, if you are not comfortable playing your hand from your position (example: pocket 3's, UTG at an 8 seater freezeout), then don't play it, fold it and wait for better position, a better hand, or both. It's always hard to play low pairs from early position, you will nearly always get a caller, if not 2 callers, and you are pretty certain to find yourself up against overcards on the flop.

If you hit trips then great, if you don't, then it's hard to know where you stand. I don't think I've ever raised with a low pocket pair from an early position with 6 or 7 players behind me. I sometimes call (not very often) hope there's no raise and see if I hit trips, this is ok if the blinds are very low (talking about tourney play here), but it's not something I'd encourage as a lot of hands get raised and you can end up losing a lot of chips calling and folding to a raise.

As for post flop play, if you have raised pre flop, then any callers are going to look to you to see what you do, with overcards on the board and a low pocket pair, you have several options, depending on how you feel about your hand, and the hands of others in the pot, and of course about the cards on the flop.

You need to decide what sort of hands any callers have, and then make you move based on this judgement, obviously in relation to the size of your pre flop riase (if any). A large raise, and you looking to be up against picture cards (possible higher pairs) and certainly callers holding aces.

If the flop is low, you can put in a large-ish bet, anyone who calls will more than likely have you beaten, by an over pair or a set. The only other possible callers will be flush draws, the odd fish, or possibly A-K or similar, thinking they might be ahead.

If the flop has picture cards, then you are probably stuffed, and will have to lay it down, although I have pushed people off in these sort of situations with very large check-raises.

I hope that some of this makes sense to you, and if you find it helpfull then that's even better, I'm not a fantastic player of the game, but these are my views on low pairs.

**Terminator** · 11th November 2005, 03:53 PM

My first reply was a very brief insight into how I look at the problem of low pocket pairs from early positions, I could add a lot more because there is so much to be discussed on the matter, obviously because of the number of different situations, (format, point of tourney, players stats, number of people in the hand, flop...etc).

It would be good to read other peoples views on the subject, and see how their opinions measure up to mine, if they agree/disagree etc.

So if anyone reading this thread could post up ba reply with some of their veiws, that would be great, as I would be interested to see what you think!!

**magic1971** · 11th November 2005, 05:15 PM

Thanks for the reply the bit I can relate to is the overcard situation which is why i never seem to know where i am with them still class myself as a novice and eager to learn more all the time have started to look at what position i am in as a greater factor than the cards then maybe deciding what to play and how.

**The Philosopher** · 11th November 2005, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by Terminator

My basic theory is, if you are not comfortable playing your hand from your position (example: pocket 3's, UTG at an 8 seater freezeout), then don't play it, fold it and wait for better position, a better hand, or both. It's always hard to play low pairs from early position, you will nearly always get a caller, if not 2 callers, and you are pretty certain to find yourself up against overcards on the flop.

Hi Terminator - top class picture by the way.

I don't think I have ever folded a pocket pair in any position unless forced to do so by aggressive betting. Mostly I'd check but also - I often make a small bet just to sniff out what is hiding in other pockets by the amount of calls I get and tells me to get out if there are raises and re-raises.

**cuyber** · 12th November 2005, 12:35 AM

If i am on a table with 8/9 others and have been playing a while i get a jist for the table and the players, and who will do what.Higher pairs i raise unless someone has raised before me and then i will generally call and see what happens unless i am holding what i think to be a better hand then reraise.

But as for lower pockets i will generally call and still call if there is a minimal raise no matter how low they are.

**Terminator** · 12th November 2005, 01:34 PM

Thanks mate, I like my picture too (heh heh). I think it's fine to flat call with low pockets, because you can win some big pots with them, because it's quite rare that anyone can put you on trips if you do hit.

I'm just suggesting that you need to be aware of your chip position and the blind levels in regard to how often you do play them from an early position.

I didn't comment too much in my original post about other players style, because it's impossible to list so many different situations, but I agree with Cyber too, if you have information on your opponents styles of play, you can make a better judgement on whether you play them from an early position or not.

For example, sometimes you can find yourself on a table that doesn't often get many pre-flop raises, in this situation it can be good to flat call from an early position as there is a good chance you can see the flop without it being too expensive, and this can turn out to be very rewarding.

Like I have already said, I think a lot depends on the particular game you are playing and the situation you are in in that game. There are too many parameters to take into consideration to make a hard and fast rule on how to play them.

**Top Pair Ace Kicker** · 12th November 2005, 02:32 PM

Pocket pairs are rubbish. Especially pre-flop. I have thrown every pocket pair away upto and including Aces. You can guarantee someone will play with something stupid like Jack 7 and hit a straight. or have one spade against your Ace of Hearts and Ace of Clubs and the board will come 4 spades.

THROW THEM AWAY.