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How to Play Pocket Pairs in Holdem

Out of all the possible starting hands that players can enter the pot with, pocket pairs tend to be one of the most difficult for many players to play, both pre-flop and on the flop. From my experience, this is because players either tend to over play or over value their pocket pairs or depending on the strength of the pocket pair, do quite the opposite and play them too passively or not value them enough.

To better explain my thoughts, I have included some examples below as well a few thoughts on how to better approach pocket pairs so that you can be as profitable as possible when dealt them.

A common mistake I see in the approach many players take to playing pocket pairs is play them quite the opposite of what they are worth. What I mean by this is that players will over play their weaker pocket pairs when these hands should really be used for set mining and under playing or passively playing the bigger pocket pairs when they in fact should be bet for value.

Small Pocket Pairs

As I just mentioned, too often I see players over playing or over valuing their smaller pocket pairs. I have seen a player limp in pre-flop with 9′s, see a flop of 10-K-8 and just figure that they must still be ahead and either look the player up and go to showdown or get aggressive on the flop and shove. But often times they aren’t still ahead, if they were to begin with, and will spend more money in the long run by getting their money in with the 2nd or even 3rd best hand.

No, smaller pocket pairs such as 22 to about 99, even 1010, should be played as cheaply as possible because most times a player will miss the flop and will have to (should) fold if faced with any aggression. Since flopping a set is about a 7.5 to 1 shot, players are relying on implied odds, or the assumption that they will be paid off should their hand hit. And most times a player who flops a set will be paid off very well or will even stack another player if that player happened to catch a fairly strong hand, top pair or even two pair.

For example, say you had 6d-6h in middle position in a 6-max $.05/$.10 ring game. There is now $.15 in the pot from the blinds and the player under the gun decides to limp in for $.10 making the pot $.25. Since you should have at least $.75 in the pot to limp in here profitably, you are relying on the fact that your opponents will pay off the $.50 difference to make this play profitable.

So, you limp in for $.10, everyone else folds to the big blind who then checks his option. There is now $.35 in the pot.

The flop is Kd-Jh-8s. The player under the gun fires off a bet; what do you do? Since you missed the flop with your sixes to a bunch of over cards and paid incorrect odds to see the flop anyway, the only profitable move here would be to fold your hand. It would be ridiculous to spend more money on a hand that is surely beat and if it’s not beat, will be beat most of the time. Just fold and move on. Another good way to look at it and is a nice rule of thumb is, “no set, no bet.”

On the other hand, if you flopped Kd-6s-Jh then you’d be in good shape. Since there is a straight draw and is likely that this flop hit one of your opponents, you’d probably bet at this flop to isolate one of the villains while at the same time giving them incorrect odds to chase a draw if they happen to be on one. The best-case scenario would be that one of them shoves with a draw or just top pair where you of course would insta-call behind them and just hope that they don’t suck out on you.

So in short, smaller pocket pairs should be played really for face value and/or set mining. If you miss your set, be ready to fold your hand and if you hit your set, play the flop according to flop texture and the tendency of your opponents. If the flop is super dry with no draws, maybe slow play your hand and try to induce your opponent into betting into you or if the board is pretty connected and draw-y, then bet to protect your hand and attempt to get your money in while you are ahead.

Large Pocket Pairs

Now, many players play larger pocket pairs quite the opposite. In other words, many players tend to play large pocket pairs such as JJ to AA very passively in hopes to slow play their hand and make more money.

While that may be a nice thought, this is actually a big no-no. The reason being is that all that you have is a pocket pair; it’s more than likely the best hand pre-flop but that can change instantly once you see a flop. Pocket pairs will be more susceptible to being outdrawn and/or having a difficult time coming from behind since there are fewer immediate outs that the hand can catch. To put this into perspective, AdAh is a strong hand, but if up against AsKs on a 10s-9s-Jd board, that AdAh is facing some trouble of being drawn out with no outs that can help if the AsKs improves on the turn.

So while you cannot obviously discourage a hand like AK to fold pre-flop, you can make sure all other kinds of ‘potential’ hands do by betting your hands pre-flop. This way, you are protecting your hand while at the same time getting money into the pot, or getting value, while your hand is ahead. So, how much do you raise? Ah, about the standard of 3 to 4 times the big blind, the more money you can get in the better obviously, without betting so much that you might as well be playing with your cards face up.

For example, let’s say you are under the gun and have AdAh in a 6-max ring game. Many players will limp here trying to disguise the strength of your hand; so, let’s assume you do that. The blinds are 50/100 and you go ahead and limp for 100 making the pot 250. The player after you limps, the small blind completes and the big blind checks his option. There is now $400 in the pot and you are seeing a flop with 4 players.

The flop is Ks-10s-8s. The small blind and big blind both check and you fire a bet of about 200 and the player to your left shoves. Both the small blind and big blind fold and now it is up to you to act; what do you do?

Well, ask yourself; what can you possibly beat? There are several draws on the board, many of which probably hit your opponent’s range, especially for being able to limp in. What you would actually do here would really depend on the situation, stack sizes and the read you may have on your opponent. But overall, this would be a tough decision. Your opponent could have top pair, or could have a straight, flush or trips which of course completely dominate your hand.

To try to prevent a situation as the one outlined above, players will want to avoid limping in with monster pocket pairs virtually all the time with very few exceptions. The best play to make in a situation such as the one above is to raise to about 250 at the very least with 300 or even 350 being acceptable. That way if a player calls, they are paying for whatever they are hoping to see creating the most value for you hand as possible while at the same time doing as much as possible to protect your hand.

In the scenario that one player still called and you saw the same flop, you’d still have a difficult decision to make but at least 4 players didn’t go to the flop increasing the chances that someone for sure connected with the flop.

Overall, one of the best ways to look at pocket pairs in my opinion is to play them for exactly their face value. In other words, if it is a monster, then raise pre flop and play the hand aggressively and if it is a smaller pair, then play it for as cheap as possible in hopes to hit the flop hard and if you don’t, simply fold it to any action.

While each situation will definitely vary, playing your pocket pairs in a similar fashion to what we have outlined above should at least get players on the right path either to avoid wasting money on less than par pocket pairs while trying to protect and get the most value possible out of the more valuable pocket pairs.

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