In-between pairs and low kickers

I have a lot of trouble with putting someone on a mid pocket pair.

Say the board is 25J and it looks like they don't have the J then I almost always assume that when they show strength it has to be the 5. Often it will get to the river and it's not until they turn over their cards that I have any idea that they really had pocket eights.

I also have a lot of trouble with people who play hands with weak kickers, say the board comes out KT7, often K5 looks like a T here and I'll actually try to extract as much value as possible with my AT which makes this a problem for me.

In both situations the hands play like a middle pair, pocket 8's often wont raise pre-flop and on the flop after enough weakness has been displayed for me to know that I'm not up against a J, the 8's think they're good too. Same with the K5 example, they're not betting but they keep making these scared check-calls because there has to be a fair bit of weakness displayed for me to think my AT is good and after that anyone with a K isn't going anywhere regardless of their kicker.


Any advice for these situations?

Sounds to me like you have to be a little bit more aggressive with these players when they are showing their passivity. Try double barreling in some of those situations, many times those people with top pair weak kicker or middle pp will fold on the turn if you're showing that you have a hand, because they might be willing just to pay you off with one bet in order to draw to that other card. If they show aggression to you on the turn, they may have hit their kicker, made trips or hit their set, so then you might want to step away.

I agree with hamm. Also, make a note if they fold on your second shot or if they check/call all the way. The check/callers will pay you off if you have a hidden strength hand like 2-pair or a draw that's not obvious when it hits.