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 Pocket Pairs are some
of the trickiest hole cards to play. A player who enters a pot with one of these hands must recognize the potential of
winning big or going broke, and be prepared to make critical decisions on later streets. The predominant concept of
playing any mediocre pocket pair is ‘Win More/Lose Less’. In other words, you want to put yourself in situations that
promote large pots when you hit, and limit the pot size when you don’t hit (or when you’re not sure of where you stand).
A player must be willing to take responsibility as soon as he/she mixes it up with a pocket pair. Deciding whether
or not to raise (and how much to raise) pre flop should depend on how you view your opponents. Principally, you want
to be on top of the situation and ready to maximize value after the flop.
When the flop comes out, you’ll most likely be overjoyed or disappointed. Barring any no-brainer situations, a player
will have to decide how to proceed with keeping the pot under control while gathering
information on opponents’ holdings.
Post-flop play with naked pocket pairs is quite difficult, but there are certain moves any player can make in order to
gain more value from playing these hands.
One very important rule I always follow is “Don’t be afraid to ask.” What I mean by this, is that you want to ask your
opponent for as much information as he/she will give you. For example, let’s say you raised pre-flop with 88 and got
one caller in the blinds to see a rainbow-flop of KJ2. Your opponent checks or bets here; leaving you with a couple
of options. The first option is giving up on the hand. If you have no read, or if it’s apparent you’re beat (and your
opponent is unwilling to fold), then there should be no problem with mucking the hand.
Folding a loser is a great way to “Lose Less”. However, a player should consider another often-overlooked option, which
is asking your opponent just how much he likes his hand. Keep in mind that you would prefer for the chips to be deep and
blinds to be low when playing back at your opponent. Let’s assume we’re playing the early-stages of a tournament and blinds
are 25/50, and each opponent has about 2,500 chips. The pot was raised to 175 pre-flop, and called by one person. Our
approximate pot amount is 400, and our opponent leads out with a bet of 250. Generally speaking (there are exceptions), you’d
better either ask your opponent to give you an answer or fold your hand. In this particular situation, I’d immediately raise
if I felt there was a good chance to take the pot down right there. Calling (without having a reason to call) is a sure-fire
way to lose value on your hand.
The last thing you want to do is play a guessing game on later streets. By raising, you put pressure on your opponent, which
will very often force him/her to arrive at a more logical decision. There have been countless times when I’ve gotten my opponent
to come over the top of my raise; thus providing me with a very elementary decision. There have also been many times when my
opponent simply wasn’t willing to put any more chips in the pot, and folded the hand.
Above all, you must make an effort to stay on top of things in these situations. Pocket Pairs are so troublesome because many
players get sucked into post-flop situations where they get trapped. You want to avoid getting pot-committed if you’re unsure
of the situation. One of the most common situations in the above scenario, is facing an opponent who flops mid pair Jack and
value-bets all the way to the river while the person holding the pocket pair auto-calls. Don’t let yourself get into undesirable
situations like this where you feel you must value-call Turn and River bets.
By raising (or re-raising) the flop, you take control of the pot and force your opponent to make a move one way or the other.
Even if your opponent calls, your flop raise will many times freeze the action and allow you to non-chalantly stroll your way
into a showdown unscathed (where you’ll gain valuable information by viewing your opponent’s hole cards). You Lose Less in the
long-run by keeping a close eye on the situation and playing the hand on your terms.
One other point that’s worth mentioning is adjusting to the way you play pocket pairs as blinds increase. Your options are very
broad early-on in tournaments. The value of seeing a cheap flop with just about any hand is much higher when the chips are deep
and blinds are small. 22 is a wonderful hand if you can see a 3-way flop by getting in dirt-cheap. Just be careful and be
willing to muck the hand if you don’t hit. There’s no reason to get into an ego contest when you can find much better and clearer
situations to make moves. But once the blinds start increasing a little, you’ll have to adjust your game and bring all your ability
to the table in order to have a shot at consistent success. Don’t forget that every single player must deal with the pressure
associated with ever-increasing blinds… you’re not alone.
With experience and familiarity, an improving player can use situations like these to take control of an entire table. The idea
isn’t to project the image of a maniac, but rather to let your opponents know that they’ll actually need a hand to play back at you.
The point I want to make in this article isn’t to influence you to act in a certain way. Feel free to play these hands in any
way you feel comfortable. However, players with positive expectation should seek out opportunities to accumulate chips in situations
where others dare not tread. For those who ultimately refuse to stray from formula-oriented pocket pair strategies, I’ll say this…
don’t forget to fold if you’re not going to play the hand. |
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