Playing Small And Medium Pairs In NLH

By Philip Tuck

18 October 2007

Getting dealt a small pair can cause all sorts of problems in holdem. Make sure you do the right thing...

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Getting dealt small and medium pocket pairs often seem to cause people a lot of trouble in no limit holdem. Either they are thrown away too liberally or are called in spots where they probably should be thrown away. This article will try and establish some good criteria for when to hold and when to fold small and medium pocket pairs before and on the flop.

Pre-flop

In deep stacked no limit holdem (50 big blinds or more) cash games all pairs should be played into all normal size raises (obviously you probably should not call 50 big blind shoves pre-flop with 22). The massive implied odds when you hit a set are worth losing quite a small few bets pre-flop. Also many boards can be attacked with small pairs - if a solid player raises pre-flop and you call with 33; boards such as 8c4s2d can often be taken away on the flop with a bet.

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At the higher limits it is probably worth re-raising any pair into any normal size pre-flop raise - good players will not just stack off on dodgy boards like they do at lower limits - building a big pot for when you hit that set is crucial (as well as the ample bluffing opportunities pre-flop re-raising provides).

If first to bet in deep stacked no limit holdem it is often worth raising all pairs - they are very powerful holdings as they develop into hands you can put a lot of money behind (folding sets is just not profitable - often folding top pair with a hand like AJ is). They also give you ample opportunity to take down many small pots. Most of the time players will miss the flop in holdem, and these can often be picked up as the pre-flop and flop raiser. Remember that ultimately, what ever the strength of your hand, you do have at least a made hand when holding any pair.

When playing in tournaments and holding a small stack pairs take on a totally different power. Here they become perfect hands to shove or re-shove with. Most of the time (especially late in tournaments) a pair will be the best hand at the table - this is especially true for hands like 77-JJ - where you will often be called by big stacks with inferior hands. They provide the perfect opportunity to get your chips in and hope to double up and get back into the running for 1st place. Remember that this also has to be taken in context; if two big stacks raise and re raise and you are in the big blind with 9 big blinds - you probably don't want to get it in with 33.

The area where you must watch out for how you play small pairs is when you have between 10 and 20 big blinds. Here it is often unwise to call bets with the smaller pairs - you will only hit your set about 1 in 10 times on the flop - and your stack is too short to give you decent implied odds; yet too large to just shove in pre-flop. Here it is often wise to fold all small pairs but just re-shove any of the medium pairs (77 upwards) into a raise.

Post flop

How you play the smaller pairs after the flop depends on three key questions. Firstly, have you hit a set? If you have you should nearly always bet. These are hands you will be willing to put a lot of money behind and as a result must be adequately protected. There is nothing worse than checking with the intention of trapping someone only for them to check behind and hit a gutshot or backdoor hand.

Even on boards with three of a suit or three connectors you probably still want to go with your set - even if the other person has flopped a flush/straight you will still win (drawing to the full house) 34% of the time - and a lot of the time the money goes in you will actually be ahead (against people with the naked suited ace or open ended straight draw).

If you miss your set you must question how the board affects the player(s) in the hand. Boards like KsKcAh can often be bet at and taken down if you are the pre-flop raiser (after all you are representing a bigger hand than say, 33) - opponents will often fold an ace quite happily in this spot. Boards full of low cards also play well against solid opponents. As they mostly play high cards low boards will rarely hit their hand and can also be taken down with ease.

The worse boards for when you miss your set seem to be boards with two high cards and a low card (KcJc2s for example) these will not only often pair your opponents cards - they will often give a myriad of draws encouraging them to stay in the hand (remember the over cards actually radically improver their chances - Q10 on the example board is 52% favorite over 77, yet only 23% over AA).

The last area to consider is when you flop an absolute monster. Flopping quads or full houses requires a radically different strategy from just a naked set. Here there will be no real draws you need to protect against - you in fact want to do the opposite and encourage players to stay in to catch up. Imagine a player calls your raise with Ah7h (you have 88) and the flop comes 8h8c4h - here you want the player to hit their flush and hopefully gain some extra bets out of them. Checking with these types of hands is probably the best strategy.

As a final thought for those of you playing the higher stakes, when you flop quads or a full house, bet out immediately. This strategy often works because it disguises your hand so well. Players will ask themselves "there is no way they would have bet quads or the full house there" and often re-raise you with draws. This tactic is particularly good if you flop the under full (say you hold 44 on a 884 board) - here a bet will often get some action from someone holding the naked eight.

Remember whatever you do to protect your hand and attack when you smell weakness - pocket pairs should be your amongst your most profitable holdings in no limit holdem.