How aggressive to play top pair?

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lost2qandisa

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How aggressive do you play top pair? It seems I overplay it and lose a lot with them. You have KK in the hole, and the flop is 2 6 Q rainbow. In the past, I get really aggressive. No flush draw. Very minimal straight draw. Never seems to fail when the cards flip, other person has 22 or 66 or something like that. Is it correct to play top pair very conservative especially at micros where they will call down with almost anything?
 
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GWU73

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The lower the stack to pot ratio the more aggressively you should play the hand. Top pair does best with effective stacks less than 4x pot. There are exceptions, for board texture, opponent and how the hand has played, but getting all in for around 100bb with top pair and only 7 or 8 bb in the pot on the flop is a losing proposition.
 
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jj20002

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recently everytiime i hold kings or queens then an ace comes in the flop, it looks like is rigged, the last three days has been like amost everytime (i started to gt my own stats about the hands with more impact in my stack) and yes 12 times i got kings and in 8 an ace appeared in the flop, which is way over of expected, and starting with higher pair than my opponent i have lost 15 times out 32 going allin preflop (again out of proportion), yes i´ve won a bunch of hands in the same period beginning way behind and getting a set or two pairs or any other better hand, but i don´t know if this is only a streak or is always like this (not only with me but i follow the game when others shove and it looks that the same story is going to happen, i mean so many hands like 7-7 against J-J, A-J against K-K, KQ vs QQ and so many times the former beating the latter, i know they have a chance to win, like 20%, but still it means one out of five 5 and it looks like the other way around)

now, my point here is that everytime an ace gets in the flop, then your chances to beat any villain are diminished (no matter if the villain doesn´t hold an ace because you have to slow your pace because the chance to be behind are higher), the ace gives the chance to your opponent to complete a set, or draw or two pairs (just saw a hand K-K against J-T and the A in the flop allowed the latter to see all the board until he got the second T so the kings were defeated by a trip but just because the ace somehow, gave protection to the J-T)

still the kings have more than 70% (in theory) of chances against any two, although they are only a pair and therefore just when facing elimination i will risk all chips preflop, otherwise a prefer a pot control if my stack is deep enough and don´t need to risk it
 
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lost2qandisa

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I still over play the top pair from time to time. Not long after I posted this, I had A 4 suited in a cash game. The one other person in the pot had been hyper aggressive for over an hour. I hit an A on the flop with 8 5. No flush draw. I popped a half pot bet. Person called. Next card J. I fired another half pot bet. This was a 0.02/0.05 table. I finally got a little money on Brovada in tonight's freeroll. I made 6 bucks in the CC freeroll. I sat down at this table with $5. I was up to 16.48 now. I was running hot. As said and done, he shoved on the river. Because he was manic, I called. I left the table on the next BB with $13. He had 88 and flopped a set.
 
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AvaloNNN

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How aggressive do you play top pair? It seems I overplay it and lose a lot with them. You have KK in the hole, and the flop is 2 6 Q rainbow. In the past, I get really aggressive. No flush draw. Very minimal straight draw. Never seems to fail when the cards flip, other person has 22 or 66 or something like that. Is it correct to play top pair very conservative especially at micros where they will call down with almost anything?

You don't want to play your strong top pairs/overpairs conservatively, especially at the micros. You should generally play them fast and for value at the lowest limits. Don't be short term results orientated, you will win much more than you lose with your strong top pairs in the long term if you play them strong, but then again you should be disciplined and be ready to fold on the nasty boards (runouts).
TPTK or overpairs are pretty strong hands against random players at the micros.
 
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RickH1983

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How aggressive do you play top pair? It seems I overplay it and lose a lot with them. You have KK in the hole, and the flop is 2 6 Q rainbow. In the past, I get really aggressive. No flush draw. Very minimal straight draw. Never seems to fail when the cards flip, other person has 22 or 66 or something like that. Is it correct to play top pair very conservative especially at micros where they will call down with almost anything?

It all depends on the situation, how many players are in the pot, and if there was a raise preflop. Top pair is obviously good but it is easily beatable. The average winning hand in Texas holdem is two pair. So look at it this way if you get re-raised chances are you are beat. I am not saying to fold every time someone re-raises you. You cant over value one pair. Other players could always have hit a set, have you out kicked, hit a straight, or a flush. You have to use your best judgement. It is also sometimes good to float top pair to induce some action from players that missed. If you hit top pair and get re-raised that should throw up a read flag to either fold or proceed with caution.
 
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rapidfire1269

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IMHO your bets are too small. Try 70% of the pot at a minimum.
 
trolaAa

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delicate situation
It all depends on what position you are, what players have against you, how big stacks have
But last night I played a tournament that lasted about 4 hours for me, but I dropped the ends with AA(me) against K4s





you can see what are likely % to lose from К4с but it happens....
 
torbush77

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hi! how to play pocket 10 at the UTG?
 
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RickH1983

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hi! how to play pocket 10 at the UTG?
I believe this is situational. Is the table laid back or aggressive? If they are aggressive you might want to limp to induce a raise from a weaker hand or you could see if anyone else is raising so you can see who will limp. Also the raise will give you an idea of who has a good hand. At that point you can call or put in a reraise. You could also put in a small raise to see who calls or you could make a big raise and see if anyone has a better hand or wants to chase. This is an ok hand but it is also not one that you shouldn't fall in love with. If you dont hit the flop or have a draw it should be easy to give up.
 
Arjonius

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kk isn't top pair on a Q-high flop. It's an overpair. Qx would be top pair.

It's situational, but in general, you should be more aggressive with an overpair than with top pair.
 
starting_at_the_bottom

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This knowledge comes with experience and reads.

When all is said and done, top pair is just one rank above high card.

So many microstakes regs overrate TPTK. It isnt all that, so I wouldnt be looking to play for stacks with it, put it that way.
 
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Jdawg0913

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It depends on many factors. Stack size, image, position, etc

For me, I keep the pot small. After all, you have one pair. I may Chet the flop and check the turn. That enables me to catch a bluff on the river or minimize a loss if I'm beat, or value bet when the opponent thinks it is my last ditch effort to buy the pot on the river.
 
pietpeter198

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I`m not an experienced poker player, but most times I fold top pair if somebody raise a lot. In my opinion it`s better to lose a little then losing a lot or in the worst scenario everything.

But because of my low bankroll I`m trying to take no risk, I don`t know what I`m going to do if I have a larger bankroll
 
el_magiciann

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This knowledge comes with experience and reads.

When all is said and done, top pair is just one rank above high card.

So many microstakes regs overrate TPTK. It isnt all that, so I wouldnt be looking to play for stacks with it, put it that way.

I completely agree with you , sir! It is true, in the past even i overplayed TPTK and lost a lot of money on dry boards beaten by trips or 2pairs. This is something i feel as weakness in my game, and even when i got AK early in the tournament i play the hand with big caution.
 
pietpeter198

pietpeter198

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More experience then I thought......

Hello el_magiciann,

In responding on your message....... then I have more experience then I thought..... haha :shakehand

In the most times I play cards with same colors or following hole cards like 6+7
The most time I`m folding cards and maybe because of that I`m getting into the first stages of the money.
 
Erlisauskas

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2/3 pot preflop top pair in nl50 I always do this
 
Arjonius

Arjonius

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When all is said and done, top pair is just one rank above high card.
Are you suggesting that top pair, an underpair to the board and all pairs in between should be played similarly?

So many microstakes regs overrate TPTK. It isnt all that, so I wouldnt be looking to play for stacks with it, put it that way.
There's no shortage of micro players who over-rate hands less than TPTK. It's quite profitable to play for stacks against them with TPTK. The key is to identify them rather than avoiding such situations against everyone.
 
Jokerman66

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I don't play that agressive

a lot of situations you are in bad shape, so sometimes, against some players, that play a solid game is better to play some small ball poker
 
ozmouzer

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Not more agressive than Qx hand (hand with top-pair).
 
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