Pocket Pairs - To limp or raise?

I'm wondering what the best strategy to play mid - low pocket pairs before the flop is (22's - 99's). Normally I try to see the flop for as cheap as possible as I have only a 1 in 7 chance of making a set and over cards are going to scare me.

However Ive been reading several articles from well known pros that always suggest to raise preflop with pairs. This strategy never made sense to me apart from the fact that if the board is low then you have the highest pair which apart from a set would be the best situation.

Whats your strat on playing low pocket pairs ?

Well play what suits your style suits you... and if you want to try rasiing with low pockets I would practice it on a low limit table..

ok


dont mean to pick on you but this is a really vague statment. Obviously he dosent have a play style that suits him or he wouldnt be asking how to play them.


ok when those well known pros you speak of raise with them its because they are 1st in the pot and the small pocket pair is favored over random hands to act behind them. They are not looking to hit a set here or improve they are looking to take the pot down preflop or on flop when a non scarry board hits. A non scarry board means something like K47 and you are holding 88, the K is a good card to represent.

usually you limp with them when there are limpers infront of you because you are given good odds both pot and implied of getting alot of money. 4 limpers ahead of you and you hold 66 and flop is AK6, you are going to get paid off big time because someone had to hit that board. So as you see it really depends.

now if you are talking tournament play things change, stack sizes, blinds etc etc.

that gave me a good insight, thanks alot stormswa

This is a really tough one to answer and as usual in poker the answer is "it depends".

Every situation is going to be different and will depend on so many factors: Position, table image, table history, cash/tourney, what stage of the tourney, what are the stacks of the other players, action before it gets to you, etc.

There could be a lot of way s to play mid-low pairs. I will almost never open-limp, no matter what the situation is. If I do that and get raised I have no idea where I stand. That is a sure fire way to waste chips. If I am in late position I will open-raise. If it's been raised before it gets to me I might call depending on who raised and what his stack is relative to mine. I also have to think of who is left to act behind me. I might sometimes call if the pot odds and the implied odds are good.

Good question. Always a tough one to answer.

Small pockets (22-66) are the most overplayed hands I see.

Your chances of hitting a set on the flop are 8%, or 1 in 11 (not 1 in 7)

unless you're on the SB, or there are 5-6 callers ahead of you, you're getting terrible odds.

Shite talk
Edit Mod plz delete

I'll always play small pockets if it costs no more than say 2xBB. This being said, if I don't flop the set they go in the muck on the first bet. You can lose your shirt chasing to improve on the turn/river...

^^Dead on.

This is wrong. You are 7.5:1 against, usually rounded to 8:1 in general discussion.

Also note that "1 in 7" does NOT equal "7 to 1 (7:1)".

"Seven to one against" describes an occurrence one in eight times.

its 13% bottom line.

Small pairs are among my biggest winners at NLHE cash games. A flopped set is so well hidden that you'll usually get paid off by TPTK and/or overpairs. You just need to make sure that the implied odds are there for you, so look at you own stack size and that of your opponents and make an assessment from there.

good point something I forgot to mention, dont play small pairs against small stacks.

Played right these are a gold mine.
95% of my game is at cash tables, i used to limp with small pp's in the hope of hitting the set but have changed slightly due to recent events.
The last two times that i have lost my stack at a cash table came from when i raised 4 - 5*BB with KK or AA, got called by a smaller pp and the flop looks something like 259 rainbow. To the pre-flop raiser with AA or KK this is the perfect flop so if your sitting with pocket 2's, 5's or 9's your getting paid off - and handsomely. This has busted me a few times now.
If there is a pre-flop raise and the raiser has a nice stack then im calling him with any pair.
If i have position then im raising preflop - again with any pp - at least with position i may have the option of a free card and an extra shot at hitting the set.
Ive only recently made this adjustment to my cash game and it has certainly helped.

IMO, and it has been said before, depends on your position, but if you are intending on playing low-mid PPs and want a good strategy, one that I find that works is to have a set betting pattern that makes you feel comfortable(one your willing to lose sometime, but at the same time, one that makes others think you have a marginal hand).

In order for this to work you have to set yourself with an image of a TAG player and the "comfortable bet"(CB, which I like to call it) has to be a bet your willing to use for every hand(you decide to play) regardless of the strength of your hand. Why the same bet?, you may ask, and the answer is simple, "consealment".
This strategy may be hard to play at all times, but at the right table it works perfectly.

Now back to OP using the strategy described above: Say you have 33 in EP and make the CB, [and on the right table(TAG preferably) you may get a few callers but not too many raisers unless they have monsters, which you can fold to any aggressive, solid TAG players], the flop comes 3Q7 rainbow, now because of your preflop bet(say 3xBB) most players will put you on high cards or a strong PP but not a low PP because you had bet OOP (because you have set yourself up as a TAG player ealier in the game, and a solid TAG player doesn't open betting preflop OOP unless he has something good and only checks low to mid PP OOP), now you will feel safe to check/raise, hoping someone has hit the board(dont worry too much about another player hitting a set, as Phil Gordon has mentioned in his "Little Green Book", the chance of set over set happens 1 in 100 times) and bets, and this is where you can again check or raise because the only cards beating you now are QQ,77. If the turn comes out one of the suited cards in the flop make the chaser pay for his draw.

IMO, this hand is a no brainer and there are definately flaws in the way I play my PPs and most on this forum will disagree with me and I'm fine with it, but my point is , do not limp with low to mid PP when in position and if on a TAG table and feel you have a good read on your opponents then bet those PPs because when you hit your set they will pay you off nicely and if you don't hit your set then it's an easy fold or steal depending on your reads on the table.

This is actually one of the easiest hands to play in NL cash or Tourneys. The only thing I look for is deep stacks. Implied odds are the key. I will limp all day with PP's. If I dont hit a set or get a great hidden draw (i.e. 6-6 with flop 4-5-7) im out, and I only lost 1 bet. I don't see any value in raising unless you are varying your play. The 1/7.5 times you do hit your set you are in good shape to gain alot of chips.

I was reading a good article yesterday that focused on small pairs in early position. Some of you might have seen this article elsewhere on the net. It was talking about what they called the 25 and 5 rule. It also was just focusing on small pairs in early position. It basically was saying that if your stack size is 25 times the BB or larger that you should limp with a small pair and get away if it gets raised. If your stack size is 5 or less BB then you should push with a small pair, and if your stack size is in between 25 and 5 BB then you should fold.

I didn't totally agree with everything that the article mentioned but the thinking is good with it. The part that I didn't really agree with is the fact that you should pushing with them if your stack is 5BB or less. Hopefully you are already pushing (picking spots in LP preferably) before your stack gets this low. Also the limp in EP is something I wouldn't necessarily do. I understand their thinking that people will take the limp as a monster hand, But I would just rather throw a standard raise out there so I can represent the flop with a c-bet (depending on it's texture), even if I don't hit.

I agree that in cash games playing these hands is all about the implied odds and playing them for set value.

I think the reason most pros raise with small pairs is for several reasons (assuming first in the pot of course).

You can win the pot right there. If you get callers you can bet the flop and represent a big hand and win then plus if you get called you can still hit your set` later. If you do hit the set you are disguised and can win a big pot. If you are betting big pairs and limping with small pairs that will be quickly figured out and give the other players a read on you. And if you are reraised it will be easier to put your opponent on a range of hands.

Plus most pros and good players almost never limp into an unopened pot they either raise or fold.

Now if the pot is opened and there are several players in and i have position I will prob just call.

Limping with sm-mid PPs is a bad idea for the reasons stated above.

Call 1 small raise maybe, depending on position. Into the muck if I dont hit a set