Pkr.com – How to Play Small Pocket Pairs
www.pkr.com – Small pocket pairs are certainly not the worst of hands to be dealt, and if you are shortstacked it can be a relief to look down and see a reasonably solid hand in late position, that you can push all in with. I do not mind playing small pocket pairs, but I certainly handle them with care, as they can sometimes get you into a lot of trouble.
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I personally do not usually raise preflop with them in middle or early position on a table which has around six or more players on it. If I am down to three or four players in an STT, then I will certainly raise with this hand, sometimes heavily, in order to try and pick up the blinds.
If you do this and find yourself being called, you know you could still get lucky and catch a set, or have middle pair when some low cards fall. If you have the courage, you could even push all in on a flop that contains cards eight or lower or thereabouts, because if you raised preflop, it is likely your opponent would call with high cards and will have not paired their hand.
This would be risky of course, and as a general rule with smaller pairs, I like to see cheap flops. If you manage to see a flop cheaply, the hand is quite easy to play from there.
Personally, if I make my set then I am looking to get all my opponents chips in, and if I do not make a set, I am likely to be facing overcards and will probably fold if raised. This is because if I have not raised preflop, I cannot calculate it to be more likely my opponent missed the flop with two overcards to my pair, even if the flop comes down with relatively low cards.
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