Pocket Pairs are the hands known to be the most exciting and trickiest hole cards to play because a player has both the options – winning big or getting wiped out. 7 percent. That being said, most players can’t help themselves and c-bet much. With that being said, there is a right and wrong way to play small pairs pre-flop and post-flop. I like to raise the low PP's (22-55) in EP some 60-70% of the time and play them just as I would any big pair. If you’re at a 9-handed table, the best baseline strategy is to fold Pocket Fives from the 3 earliest positions (UTG, UTG+1 and UTG+2). Conditions for Playing Small Pairs. Forum. Tip #1 – Lean heavily towards c-betting with your top pairs Top pairs are strong hands on the flop. If you hit a set then you should play your hand very aggressively. Tip #1: Play more suited hands and pocket pairs (and play them more aggressively) This is basically the opposite of tip #1. But you shouldn’t always just check and fold with an underpair. While it seems like you get dealt pairs a lot, the actual odds of receiving any pocket pair is just 5. That "set flopping potential" is what makes them play good in pots with four or more. If you can get in all the money before the flop, kudos to you, as you’ll likely be ahead of your opponent’s range. The low pocket pairs from 44 to 22 are weak hands that you should never play as a raise first in from early positions. Let’s take a look at one such scenario: Example: The Button raises and the Big Blind. This gives you fold equity and generally wins you the pot on a. The less opponents in the hand the better. That’s not to say medium pocket pairs aren’t valuable. Set mining is only one of many possible approaches to take when playing small-to-medium pairs. Tip #1: Always bet and barrel for value with top pair (unless the board runs out in a very dicey way) If you have Ace-Queen and the flop comes Ace-high or Queen-high, you have a monster hand worth multiple streets of value. 9. The easiest way to play at a low level is to focus on (1). 88%, or odds of 1 : 16. In contrast, you can expect to receive any pocket pair once every 35 minutes on average. When you hit a monster hand on a flop like or , start piling money in that pot! If you raised preflop, c-bet on the flop. You would need to understand what makes a good PLO hand what doesn't. Strong pocket pairs are premium hands in no-limit Texas hold’em, meaning they are the best possible starting hands you can get preflop. Any Ace, King, or Queen on the board threatens to make. The remaining 88%, you will be left holding a weak pair, often with two to three overcards on the board, and limited outs to improve. Combinations. If there are 2 or more players in the pot preflop and you get to close the action (to the left of the last raise) with a pocket pair, this is typically a very profitable spot and you should make the call. The other important notation you’ll often see is “+”, which can mean different things depending on what hand it’s attached to. You’re going to come up against a lot of different scenarios when playing. Let’s say you called a 3-bet preflop and the board comes A-J-5 rainbow. This makes a total of 78 combos out of 1,326. Usually, it's not a good idea to call all-in re-raises, especially in situations when you play cash games, because there's a considerable risk that other players who go all-in will do so with big pocket pairs (often bigger than pocket Queens). How to Play Strong Pocket Pairs Strong pocket pairs are premium hands in no-limit Texas hold’em, meaning they are the. How to Play Pocket Jacks Preflop. 5-to-1 against, so you’ll obviously miss hitting a set more often than not. You play your set or turn it into a bluff when the board supports it. , $240. This time, given that there is a very large ante, they should be playing significantly wider ranges than a standard cash game. Unfortunately, the odds of being dealt pocket Aces is 220-to-1 so it doesn’t occur nearly as often as we would wish. Hello, i've been playing a lot of cash games online lately, mostly 0,05/0,10, and dont really know how to play big pocket pairs after flop when there is an overcard. If you can get in all the money before the flop, kudos to you, as you’ll likely be ahead of your opponent’s range. In this case, Three Aces will be the strongest set, followed by three Kings, and so on all the way down to three Twos. In Omaha Hold ’em, a pocket pair would mean you have two same cards in your hand. How to Play Big Pocket Pairs in Cash Games Big pocket pairs will usually be your biggest money makers…. Maximizing Profit with Pocket Pairs: A Comprehensive Guide. For that reason it's OK to limp pocket pairs from any position. Specifically, Ace-Ten offsuit is worth raising from every position at a 6-handed table. Let’s split this section into two groups: 1. The next way to play pocket aces is just being aggressive on each street. Fair strategy, but. I have been able to bluff low pocket pairs with even with a high board. Any two cards of the same suit make a suited poker hand. 0. Pocket pairs can also suck out and make full houses. Unopened Pots. 60% chances are that you will see atleast one over pair on the. At a six-handed table, however, the odds another player has a higher pocket pair are reduced to 16. On 8♠ 8♣ 6♦, the optimal strategy is to c-bet around 50% of the time versus the Big Blind. Another time when it makes sense to bluff with low pocket pairs is when you can’t find enough natural bluffs on the river. 7 percent. When small pocket pairs make a set, they should typically be fast-played in a deep-stacked situation. Effective stack size. This article covers: How to play Pocket Threes in common preflop situations. Let’s begin!The best way to play your small pocket pairs in poker is to set mine with them. The following is a list of nicknames for pairs of two playing cards, usually hole cards, used in poker derivatives such as Texas hold ’em and Omaha hold. You can raise in late position, but make your raises big. All pocket pairs can be danger hands, but small pairs are especially so. Pocket Kings is the second best poker hand you can be dealt in Texas Hold’em poker, behind only pocket Aces. A “pocket pair” is a pair that a player possesses in his beginning hand in a Hold’em game. Pocket Pairs •Play big pocket pairs aggressively: raise •Play small pocket pairs carefully –When the pot is big (lots of players) Big cards •Play big cards aggressively: raise •Aces >> kings •Suited >> unsuited. If you face a raise when seated in one of these positions, King-X suited hands are simply too weak to play. You’ll remember the times you got dealt A-A when playing poker online, but in actual fact you only receive them 0. There is maybe a limper or two infront of us, or even a raise, usually to 0,25/0,30 cents. First of all, if he or she has a small pockt pair, they are tended to limp in the pot and try to catch, and likely to fold to moderate. I mean you can play how ever you want, check raise, bluff. One of the most interesting situations in poker is when a player has Ace King (AK) and faces a pocket pair. You square up your hole cards. When you’re dealt a pocket pair your odds of improving to a set on the flop are roughly one in eight. Unlike small pairs, which you usually play for their set value, or big hands that are played for their face value, suited connectors are somewhere in between, and this leads to many complicated postflop spots. I play em pretty much like any other pair. They come round roughly 1 in 220 times and should be one of the most profitable hands for you. 1. How to play pocket pairs. However. But you must tread carefully, as things can go badly wrong. Facing A Cold-3Bet With Pocket Tens. Example: A K , K Q . They are actually very easy to play as 3bets. Low Pocket Pairs. (this isn't…Right now, your 5-card hand is a pair of Aces with a Jack kicker (A-A-J-8-6). * *The solver elects to raise with some of these hands as a semi-bluff raises at some frequency, as I will describe below. Tom’s check is best here even though he has all the pocket pairs up to Aces in his. Want to learn how to play pocket pairs in cash games? Read this guide: How to Play Low Pocket Pairs in Cash Games « View All Poker Terms. So in this article I am going to break it all down for you step by step. If any ace is 52% or better to win, it only makes sense that any pocket pair is even more valuable. If your opponent is holding something like a pair of 4s, eight-seven or six-five, they could squeeze. How to Play QQ, KK, AA – New No Bullshit 6-max 14. 10 out of 49 = 20% - second card - multiplied by. This means you have a 5. The reason for this is pretty obvious—discounting the times you flop a set, the value of middling pocket pairs postflop tend to be, well, middling. Get Bonus £400. This video offers tips on how to play poker pairs of different strengths. Another time when it makes sense to bluff with low pocket pairs is when you can’t find enough natural bluffs on the river. 9%. See the flop and then act! Another way to approach pocket tens might be to consider your position first. 12 hand combinations of each unpaired offsuit hand. How well do you know your pocket pairs in poker? Learn how to use them to your advantage. Playing Big Pocket Pairs. It's not uncommon to see three sets of trips at showdown, or a couple boats, a flush, and top two pair. Same as below, the stack sizes are the most critical thing to consider with a baby pair like 55. When you have a strong hand in poker, you should almost always lean towards fast-playing to build the pot ASAP. The rest of the pairs, 2s through 9s, cannot really be counted as premium hands, apart from in heads-up scenarios. Read about playing pocket pairs in No Limit Hold'em. Learn how to play pocket pairs in an online Texas Hold'em tournament. Why? These are the main ways your pocket pair can lose: Hitting at least one of the overcards. Enter the Pot With. The rest of the pairs, 2s through 9s, cannot really be counted as premium hands, apart from in heads-up scenarios. When raising with A-K, you are primarily doing it for the third reason, whereas when raising with a hand such as AA, you are doing it for the second. There are 1326 total combinations of all hands that can be dealt pre-flop, from Aces to 3-2 offsuit. How to Play Small Pocket Pairs. You only have like a one in ten chance of hitting a set, which means on average you should try and make 10x your return of your preflop bet to make the strategy of set mining profitable. Tips for Playing Middle Pocket Pairs After Calling In Position vs 3-Bet Tip #1: After hitting a set on the flop, do not raise You’ve hit. For example, A ♠ A ♥, A ♠ A ♦, A ♠ A ♣, A ♥ A ♦, A ♥ A ♣, A ♦ A ♣. Consider how each hand fairs on the turn and river: With 4♠ 4♣, we have just 2 outs and no backdoor draws when we are behind. How to Play Heads-Up: Any Pair. The best hands to play in poker preflop will always be big pocket pairs (such as Ace-Ace, King-King and Queen-Queen), followed by big suited connectors such as Ace-King, as well as medium pairs. How you should play small pairs is mostly dependent on your stack size and the effective stack size in the hand; that is, the smaller stack that can be put at risk. Small pairs will almost always be up against at least one overcard on the flop, and when you find yourself all-in preflop, you will either be crushed or in a coinflip for your stack or tournament life. But, limping UTG lets you draw more opponents into the pot and. I would avoid calling raises over 7BBs to see a flop. Pocket Twos have the best efficiency of all the pocket pairs because almost every hand has two overcards against it. These hands are. Pocket Jacks will make an overpair on the flop only 43% of the time. Having showdown value means that checking behind will never be too bad of an option on most board textures. When to Raise. --- Latest Poker News at ---Middle position you can open, but I wouldn't limp or call any bet. Playing Pocket Jacks - Fishhooks or Jokers. I like to raise the low PP's (22-55) in EP some 60-70% of the time and play them just as I would any big pair. If you miss the flop though, then you. JJ is such a trouble hand that most beginners actually even hate having it dealt to them. Ace-queen. Poker Rules; Poker Hands; Poker Games; Poker Terms; Online Poker with Friends;Pocket eights are to be played to do one of two things: trip-up on the flop so that you have a very good set, or steal the pot by managing the hand as if it is, or could be, stronger than it really is. . In the good old' days of poker when edges were slightly bigger and players weren't punished for their mistakes as severely as they are today, the recipe for success with 22-66 was pretty simple - always raise first, always cold call, try to flop a set and get a big payday. Even though they are pretty weak hands, playing them wrong will cost you expected value continuously. . How do you define pocket pairs? There is a 0. Related Reading: How to Play Small Pocket Pairs in 6-Max Hold'em; SnG ABCs: Small Pocket Pairs; Top-Pair Hands. Mostly call to see a cheap flop as the chances of hitting a Set (Three of a Kind) is 10. Making a Fold. UTG is seated to the left of the big blind and is the first player to act. In live 1-2, getting tricky with them and trying to steal (after missing) is usually a mistake. Paired boards are great for the player who is in position. 22-66 Fold 77-99 Raise to standard for table, figure out how deep you are to see if you can profitably set-mine if 3-bet, fold to 4-bet. When you hit a monster hand on a flop like or , start piling money in that pot! If you raised preflop, c-bet on the flop. 5-to-1 against, so you’ll obviously miss hitting a set more often than not. Slang for pocket fours because the number 4 looks similar to a sail. Chapter 1: Understanding the Strength of Small Pairs . What are Small Pocket Pairs, And How to Play Them? Small pocket pairs range from 2-2 to 6-6, anything higher is regarded as medium or premium pairs. Aces with weak kickers are back in play, as are medium pocket pairs. Tip #3: Pocket pairs with a gutshot or open-ender should be check-raised very frequently. With a small pocket pair you’re generally not going to have an overpair to the board. This is a pretty simple explanation though. If you hit a set then you should play your hand very aggressively. g. This includes both single-raised pots and 3-bet pots. The last thing you want to do when you hit your set is to slow down and start checking and calling. Simple enough! Playing Against a Raise. For pocket pairs, there will be 6 combinations of each value. Middle position gives players a little more breathing room to play low pocket pairs. How to play pocket kings. 2. IMO pocket pairs is a must play in fishy 1/2 stakes. Pocket Pairs are strong hands but stacking off with the baby pairs can be risky as there are many. Analyzing situations when it’s worth opening with. So don’t play aces this way all the time. No matter what. Middle pocket pairs refer to pairs like 8-8, 9-9, or 10-10, and they can be tricky because they are not as strong as high pairs (e. Pocket Sevens are a very strong starting hand, falling within the top 6-7% of all starting hands. If you are checking and calling, you are missing out on a prime opportunity to force. Ace-king is almost 50% to win against pairs Q-Q and below and 30% to win against pocket Kings. Four of a kind = 2x (double) the 3-of-a-kind value. Playable in any position - Stronger opening bets mixed with limps or calls, Play this one fast if you are ahead on the flop. There are only 3 higher pocket pairs so you can expect to have the best hand before the flop most of the time you’re dealt them. EV= 0. In this video we are going to talk about how to play with low pocket pairs on the pre-flop. The whole concept of PLO preflop hand selection and hand strength is a bit more complicated than in holdem. Pocker Pairs are the most profitable hands to play in the game of poker. There are 3 types of positions you are going to be in, in relation to your. Firstly you need to be aware that you’ll only hit a set on the flop 12. 1. If I have Aj, KJ, QJ or any jack im raising Any 7. You can c-bet at a very high frequency and force a lot of two overcard hands to fold their equity. Trips and two pair are bread-and-butter value-betting hands. Try not to get too attached to the hand. Raising from early position pre-flop gives your opponents the impression you have a premium hand. I always have trouble playing low pocket pairs (55’s and lower) 9 handed. Certainly, hands like 2-2 to 5-5 should be folded to any LP raise. But if the a player squeezed to a very small size, say 2. Pocket pairs in Omaha are a good hand, but not nearly as valuable as in Texas Hold'em. In Texas Hold’em, the aforementioned A♠ K♠ and 9♥ 7♥ count as suited hands. Know this, though, there’s a roughly 12 per cent chance another player will be dealt a. Factors influencing the value of small pairs . The 9-high top pair is very vulnerable, which makes betting on the flop preferable because of how much the hand benefits from protection. A middle pocket pair isn’t the type of hand to get involved in a large pot. Pocket pairs always have the potential to flop sets and, generally speaking, if you can flop a set you can bust someone. Here are some tips on how to play middle pocket pairs effectively:Here is the advanced pocket pair strategy you can use to start winning much more. If we hit our set we play for value. 3 tips for playing this small pair when you are the preflop caller. Do not get too enthusiastic with small pairs. There is a lot to learn about how to play. Many players try to play middle and smaller pairs from early position. It reduced to 30-35% if all players stay till the end of. Let’s do some quick math assuming all players start with $100 stacks. 1. These starting hands can be very profitable to play because if you are lucky enough to hit trips, if you play the hand well, you can scoop a really big pot. TYPES OF POCKET PAIRS. In this vlog, I discuss how to play big pocket pairs and when to consider 3 betting and flatting preflop. This is a difficult hand for the draw, because. The problem with this is you’re out of position for the entire hand. Play pocket pairs aggressively . 3 Tips for Pocket Sixes in 3-Bet Pots as the Preflop Caller Tip #1: If you have a middling pair and a backdoor flush draw, call even if the bet is large. Before you get too excited when getting a pair during a poker game , read this article through because it is going to open your eyes to a few unpleasant aspects. But you shouldn’t always just check and fold with an underpair. When someone plays back, I can fold without any real worries. 45%; this means you will be dealt them once in every. A small pair is going to flop a set or better about 12% of the time, which means it will also miss the flop the other 88% of the time. Pocket Tens. If you’re losing with this hand over a lot of. Middle position: 22-44: Fold 55-99: Raise to standard for table, figure out how deep you are to see. Pocket aces will almost always beat any other pocket pair. The number 1 discussed poker hands in forums, groups, podcasts and all other possible types of communities. Note: If you want to win at poker, you need a solid preflop strategy. Pocket Fives stand among the top 7% of all starting hands. Pocket Pairs. in a HU situation AK is better than low pocket pairs and also easily to play after flop, actually against more than one villain. It’s subjective and depends on a lot of different factors including table position, chip stacks, the blinds, and, of course, how you assess your opponents. However, they put $100 each, so that’s 48% of $500, i. Being the one who initiates the action, or someone who follows, determines how to enter a hand. The ABC way to play this hand is to open with a raise. But if you misplay them your chip stack could be seriously suffering. Let’s run through every common preflop spot one by one. going to have some sort of showdown value. There is maybe a limper or two infront of us, or even a raise, usually to 0,25/0,30 cents. You’re almost always going to see an overcard, and it isn’t always easy to know where you stand. If we miss our set, we check/fold. 5. The one hand that gives beginners more trouble than ace-king or even ace-queen has to be pocket jacks. post-flop in tournaments is to get to showdown as cheaply as. 6 possible combinations of each pocket pair. Middle position: 22-44: Fold 55-99: Raise to standard for table, figure out how deep you are to see. Tip #2: Always fast-play your trips or two pairs . You’ll remember the times you got dealt A-A when playing poker online, but in actual fact you only receive them 0. Being the one who initiates the action, or someone who follows, determines how to enter a hand. Tip #3: If the board is paired, always fire a c-bet. However. Big pots are meant for big hands, and by betting and raising with sets, the pot can be inflated before an opponent realizes just how far behind they are. You can c-bet at a very high frequency and force a lot of two overcard hands to fold their equity. The effective stack size is one of the biggest considerations when deciding on how you want to play a pocket pair (the effective stack being the smallest of the two in a heads-up pot). For this reason, you should always raise with this hand preflop when the action folds to you, regardless of your position. 77+ means play all pocket pairs including 77 and better, so this range excludes the pocket pairs 22 through 66. Pocket 7s down are pretty much set mining hands, unless the blinds are very high relative to stack sizes. So, be wary of straights and. Flop c-betting range: Sets, two pairs, most top pairs, 2 nd pairs, 3 rd pairs, low pocket pairs, open-enders, all gut-shots, runner-runner flush draws. Because of this, you should always raise with Pocket Sevens preflop when the action folds to you, regardless of your position. Obviously, you need to be wary in a full ring, deep stacked game, but jacks should win you money in the long run. 1% – a drop of 52. You only have like a one in ten chance of hitting a set, which means on average you should try and make 10x your return of your preflop bet to make the strategy of set mining profitable. How to Play Strong Pocket Pairs 1. Set Mining “Set mining” is when you call with a (usually small) pocket pair with the sole intention of flopping the set. There is a min-raise from MP2, a small 3bet from the button, and hero decides to call. Q–Q is usually worth a raise or three-bet (this. JJ is such a trouble hand that most beginners actually even hate having it dealt to them. Key Points: Fold in early position to a raise; call big blind and late position. The larger your pair, the bigger favorite you become. If you look at the odds of flopping a set, you will be looking at a probability of about 8 to 1. Playable in any position - Stronger opening bets mixed with limps or calls, Play this one fast if you are ahead on the flop. You should often be willing to get all of your chips in the. Tips for playing pocket aces. While a deceptive second pair, it is still a second pair four times out of ten and a weak pair once out of every ten times, resulting in a 50-50 chance of susceptibility to being outdrawn. Playing and Bluffing with Smaller Pocket Pairs. Remember, the majority of hands heads-up are won by a high card or a single pair. engjosh88 • 11 yr. In poker, low pocket pairs are considered to be the cards from a p. Pocket pairs are a rather polarizing hand in that you either hit the board pretty hard or you miss completely. So on the flop a pair of jacks must be played aggressively to weed out players. 3% to 11. Your goal with KK in early position pre-flop is to take control of the pot and gather information about your opponents' hands. To increase pot size while having the most equity. Note: Do not play another hand without this $7 Postflop Playbook! With such a low price tag,. Set mining means calling preflop with a small pocket pair with the intention of hitting a set postflop and taking down a big pot. For example, you have on . In PLO, the 1/8 times you hit your set, you can still lose enough times that it doesn't justify playing it. , or one in three. This guide outlines how the. Single Pair Hands: This encompasses overpairs to pocket pairs below the third pair, constituting the other 88% of flop outcomes. With 20 big blinds in an unopened pot, all the small pocket pairs can be shoved profitably from the button or small blind. When blockers are in play, we can use two simple rules to count up specific combos. You can use it as a bluff when there are not many other natural bluffs in your range (straight draws, naked ace of spades on a three spade board, etc. Tip #1 – Lean heavily towards c-betting with your top pairs Top pairs are strong hands on the flop. For example, Q-Q vs A-K, and the final board is K-J-7-5-2; A straight. This first rule is something you should immediately apply to your game. Small pocket pairs might look nice as a starting hand, but you should be dumping most of them in early position. Broadway hands. How to Play Suited Poker Hands. Facing such a bet, a player on the big blind should defend these poker hands:Depending on how loose or tight they play, various players will have varying beginning hand needs. It is important to be able to properly play the flop when you do not connect. Im finding this 10/1 implied odds is a load of rubbish, the chance of flopping a set is 1/8 i believe, now some of those times you wont win and you will probably lose a big pot, and the times you. Most people on button have a wider range, which means a weaker range. #11. The odds of flopping a set with a pocket pair are 7 to 1, which means that we will hit a set 1 in every 8 flops. Double-Paired Boards As the Preflop Raiser from the Button. After the flop you need to put your opponent on a range and analyze the strength of your hand before deciding how to proceed. ), whereas top-pair hands go down in. The deeper or larger your stack is, the more profitable it becomes to play small pairs due to the high implied odds on hitting a set. How ICM Should Impact Your Play at Final Tables with Different Stack Sizes. The Lowdown on Sets. Just remember this type of play works maybe half the time at best. If this sounds like a challenging situation, just imagine being in this spot from out of position. Remember that pocket Aces are not indestructible. It’s very intuitive that Pocket Queens are a strong hand preflop since it’s a strong pair before the flop. Here are some sample probabilities for most pre-flop situations:In this set-up, each player starts with 75 BBs, so you can generally afford to play more speculative hands (e. In hold'em it can be profitable to play pocket pairs because the 1/8 times you hit your set, you can really stack a dude. In this video you will learn how to play small pocket pairs in poker. 2. The medium pocket pairs are 10-10,9-9, 8-8, 7-7 and 6-6. You should always raise with Pocket Fives preflop when the action folds to you in a 6-max game. Pocket Pairs •Play big pocket pairs aggressively: raise •Play small pocket pairs carefully –When the pot is big (lots of players) Big cards •Play big cards aggressively: raise •Aces >> kings •Suited >> unsuited. How to play KQ, KJ, KT, in single raised pots as aggressor or. . Have an overpair to the board (your pocket pair is better than all the cards on the flop). As previously mentioned, normally the top pairs you hit with Ace-Five will not be not strong enough to value bet with for three streets, so you should often. #13. 86. In these situations, the small pairs can realize their maximum equity by going all-in preflop. You have a 12% chance of flopping a set (making three of a kind on the flop), and you have fairly good odds of making an opponent with an overpair or top pair go bust. Two of the most profitable ways to win with ace-king are as follows: 1. Pocket pairs are a rather polarizing hand in that you either hit the board pretty hard or you miss completely. In this classic Cardrunners poker training video, poker coach Verneer is joined by Matt Doran to look at the "top-secret" MDoranD Database,'" to discuss how. How To Play Pocket Pairs Knowing what to do when you’re dealt pocket pairs can help you make the most of this hand, even if it’s not always in your favor. The less opponents in the hand the better. If you get any of these pairs in your hand, you have a reasonably strong chance of winning a one-on-one confrontation. If you play pocket Jacks in a tournament, you can expect players to call all-in in later rounds, even. Many times, though, Pockets Kings are forced to see a flop. Pocket pairs are one of the most exciting. In Omaha, A♠ K♠ 9♥ 7♥ would count as an example of a double-suited hand. Pockets Kings are the second-best starting hand in poker. A “set” refers to three-of-a-kind using pocket pairs and “trips” refers to a three-of-a-kind using one hole card and 2 community cards. Our guide to will help you here, but first, here’s a rundown of the different poker positions and what they mean. A wired pair is similar to a pocket pair, except in five card stud it refers to a door card that pairs the hole card. If I hit the flop hard, then it depends on the action of the table, but I usually end up with a big pot. How to play against a re-raise. Unopened Pots. You should always start with a bet on the flop, and usually look to bet again on the turn and a final time on the river. This applies to almost all hands you play, but especially to pocket pairs due to the fact that they don’t offer much flexibility on the flop, turn or river versus other hands. You cannot call large three-bets pre-flop if you want to have a positive expectation. You can raise in late position, but make your raises big. To help you understand the best starting hand in Texas Hold’em and how to take advantage of your good fortune. Usually small pocket pairs are played for the principal objective of catching a trio, cause what that happens you have the real potential of earning, hopefully from someone with a good hand. EV= 0. Pocket pairs and suited connectors are very similar in a six-max game. Suited connectors are probably among the most complicated hands to play correctly in Texas Hold'em. That’s a lot of missing, but the 12% of the time we. 3-bet if another player has raised. Small pocket pairs might look nice as a starting hand, but you should be dumping most of them in early position. 7%. Poker Basics. This video offers tips on how to play poker pairs of different strengths. The probability of hitting a set once a Flop is dealt is 18% compared to 12% in regular Hold’em. Middle pocket pairs can be tricky cards to play in tournaments, a lot of players consider pocket jacks to be a top pocket pair, this usually costs them lots of tournaments in the long run. The other important notation you’ll often see is “+”, which can mean different things depending on what hand it’s attached to. 3.