Pocket Pairs-When to raise

I've heard that when you have low to medium strength pocket pairs you should see the flop cheap with them. But, when is the cutoff point? How high does the pocket pair have to be before you raise with them? For me, it has to be higher than pocket 7s, excluding position and situation factors. What's your take on this?

i've upped my limit to a pair of tens now, if its a 9-seater, I'll just limp in with them. Too many people are calling all-ins/raises with Ax and hitting an ace on the board. Jacks, queens, and kings I'll raise 4xBB, depending on my chip count.If I get raised I'll only call with queens and above, depending on the circumstances

For me it is 10's or better excluding position, normally. I will change it according to the table but that is my cut off.

For anything below JJ, the odds are over 50% that there will be at least one scare card on the flop. You are more than likely going to have to fire out a continuation bet when you are only going to get called by someone that is ahead of you. You have a very small chance that your hand can improve since you are really drawing to the two cards to make a set.

High PP are great because even when you don't get the third one you have better chance of an overpair and thus have added value to winning the hand. PP below JJ or 10's make you have to gamble alot more when there is an overcard (50% of the time or greater) and you don't hit your set. The power of lower PP that most of the time nobody gives you credit for them.

I'll (usually) limp in with any pair below 7's from EP if I think I can get away with it, hoping to spike a set. If there's alot of raising going on I won't even play them in a ring game. EP to MP I'll limp with 8's and 9's and call a raise from LP. I'll usually lead out on the next round against a single opponent. Against 2 or more I'll check it, assuming my hand didn't improve. In late position, CO or button, I'll raise with 7,8,9 and be happy if I steal the blinds. With T's and J's I start to get a little more aggressive and will usually raise 3 to 5 x bb from EP to thin the field with the assumption that my pair will probably still be good after the flop. Again, with 2 or more opponents I'll probably check the flop if I see any overcards. AA - QQ I'll raise 2 or 3 x BB from EP and maybe a min bet or call from LP. With these hands I'm not likely to see an overcard on the flop. If someone has raised the pot before me I'll raise more. Value all the way. This is just the way I play and I realize that there's more than one way to skin a cat.

hand

Limit game I wont raise anything below tens. No limit I open it up to 7's. That's just me though see what works best for you.

I'll call a small to medium raise (up to 2x the BB) with between 5s and 9s. I'll raise with 10s and faces. With small pockets, I'll limp in with them, only if I can see the flop for cheap or if it's a BB special.

Depends on the table, depends on position, depends if I want to play 22's as AA's.

I just recently got heads up 22's vs A,K.. Guy was pissed cause he lost. He thought the A,K was the cats meow.

Normally though.. it is 88's and lower to limp. I love hitting that hidden set that nobody see's that I caught. Anything else is usually a raise.

RE: Pocket Pairs

This ought to put things in perspective. The odds of getting any pocket pair is 6%. The odds that your pair becomes a set or better by the river is 17%. In otherwords, most of the time, you will not trip up. When you do, you should get mad paid. With pocket pairs you really want to pick up the blinds and have at most one caller because chances are that theat caller will have higher cards. If overcards appear, be prepared to dump them. Really with small or mid pairs, you are looking to get a set. The otherway to play them is to limp in and hope to trip up. Dan Harrington recommends mixing it up. Sometimes limping sometimes raising to randomize your game. As more people stay in, there is a greater likelihood that some high card will connect. If you are short stacked, go all in and you will be a slight favorite against two overcards.

revsin said:

The odds that your pair becomes a set or better by the river is 17%.

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Actually it's 21%, but it's not a big difference. If a small PP does not make a set on the flop, you should probably get out of the pot.

revsin said:

This ought to put things in perspective. The odds of getting any pocket pair is 6%. The odds that your pair becomes a set or better by the river is 17%. In otherwords, most of the time, you will not trip up. When you do, you should get mad paid. With pocket pairs you really want to pick up the blinds and have at most one caller because chances are that theat caller will have higher cards. If overcards appear, be prepared to dump them. Really with small or mid pairs, you are looking to get a set. The otherway to play them is to limp in and hope to trip up. Dan Harrington recommends mixing it up. Sometimes limping sometimes raising to randomize your game. As more people stay in, there is a greater likelihood that some high card will connect. If you are short stacked, go all in and you will be a slight favorite against two overcards.

Click to expand...

no - because you have such high implied value, you -need- to limp and you -need- to have at least 3 other callers with you to the flop.

that being said, i limp with 22-99 in late/mid position. limp with 66-99 in middle/early position. i raise 10s+ preflop, and shorthanded (4 or less) i raise almost any pp.

if you raise a moderate pocket pair, sixes for instance, you will only be called by hands that make it not a +ev move. anything that will call a moderate raise will be a/x suited (most likely above a/6) and other pocket pairs above 6's. if you get lucky and it's the first situation, he has better implied value than you do, because if any face card comes up, you have to fold - regardless of what one or two face cards he does hold.

if the flop is 4 2 k, you cant call a bet or raise from him, even though he might have something like queen/jack

if you happen to hit your set on the flop with him bluffing at top pair, he will fold to a re-raise/raise, and a call will make him suspicious most of the time. in the other situation (your 66s vs. jj/qq/kk/aa) you are a 4:1 underdog.

see now why you limp?

Limit, I'll openraise pocket deuces on the button and not even flinch. That's the only set guideline I have for lower pocket pairs - the only place where I play them the same regardless of who's in the blinds. If it's checked to me on the button, I'll raise 2-2 everytime. Then again, I'll openraise all sorts of crap on the button.

i have almost 0 experience with limit.

I remember Lederer or someone on the Full Tilt show saying you should raise with a small pair before the flop. It pushes people out...of course. But, I think it only applies well when know the table and everyone "knows" you play like a tight ass. Half the time, or probably more...someone's going to rape your small pair or raise you because they'll take a chance with their j 3. Probably because they don't care or don't know any better. For me, it's easier dodging bullets than a table full of morons.

Hell I'll limp in with a 7-2.

If it's cheap play it, illregardless of what cards you have. You can't win if you don't try. Of course take into account your position...

Based on that, we'll say we're under the gun hypothetically...
I'd ride with every set of pockets, but if the table is prone to raise
we're looking at 6's and up.

Thats just my personal opinion

For me, it really does depend on the table and my position. As a rule, I'll take a look at any pocket pair for 2X the BB. I also go along with what someone else said prior to me; I'll raise 4X the BB with 10-A. Obviously if I"m short stacked, I'm going all in with any pocket pair. Another rule I like to follow is that if I don't hit trips by the turn, I'm gone on the next bet. Obviously the exception to this rule is if I'm getting pot odds too good to turn down!

Sometime's I'll re-raise someone I know is on overcards like AK or AQ just to shut everyone else out of the pot. Then if no overcards hit i'll call their C-bet and usually lead the turn... and if i get raised there I know they're on a higher PP and I can fold.make sure you have a good read though

Yep Pocket pairs can be tricky to play, me personally will try to limp in with up to 6's, think of raising not more than 2x the blind with 8's to 10's(depending on what may have been bet in front of me i may just call), and then be more agressive with the Paints and Aces. But if i get no help by the turn and the betting is crazy i will get out of the hand and hopefully i didn't lose too many chips.

That is my take on pocket pairs.

lot depends on the table .. how long have i been on it are they playing tight ,loose .. where i'm at in the chip count.. is he/she a call/raise all the time.. have i seen the cards there holding Q 3 , K 2. are the telling everbody how to play..FOLD.. LIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER BATTLE HATE POCKET PAIRS..NOW..i'll play all pp just to see a flop most times, get in cheap.. OR GET OUT.. SMALL PP, BIG PP , 4XBB or more get limpers out hate to see slow played AA LOVE TO WATCH THEM GO UP IN FLAMES to small sets:hello:

side note don't beat shit out of your key board when you fold pre flop and it hits a set its OK LIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER BATTLE ...GOOD LUCK

If I limp in with small pockets and they don't hit a set on the flop. I am out of there unless you let me see the turn for cheap cause it is only an 8% on the turn and 4% on the river to hit my set. No need to bother to call the 2:1, 3:1 bet when I am not getting correct odds to call, unless I am CO or Button and UTG bets with a few other callers in between.

I normally play based on the table. I like to raise PF with most PP(55 and up) b/c if you dont everyone is going to try to limp unless they have a hand and then you have no idea where your pair is at!!! I also run in the other direction if i didnt improve on the flop! I also like to call little raises with PP b/c most of the time people are raising with higher pp or overs and that means more little cards for me to improve!!
You need to know your table and play how you feel comfortable. Good luck!!!

With a small PP 22-99, I normally will limp-in if i have to call like 3xBB or smaller and more than 4 players to the flop, otherwise I usually fold 'em. The reason being is that I can get a lot more out of the hand if i flop a set. I don't like getting into dog-fights heads-up with a small pair, even though i'm probably a small favorite... very hard to know where I stand if flop misses. Every once in a while I will go all-in with small pair before the flop, if it's been raised and I put them on overcards AK, AQ, KQ etc..

TT-AA, normally will raise 3-4x BB, might go all-in if someone reraises and I don't put them on a higher pair than i have of course.

limp in Late with any pocket pair otherwis jacks or better to many hit with Ax

it depends on the table.

Your decision on whether or not to raise here should have less to do with your cards and more to do with the table you are at...if you are sitting in the middle of a super aggressive table and you raise you 7-7 you may find yourself faced with a tough decision of whether or not to call a massive reraise, might be better to limp here with hands that you are not willing to devote a large amount of chips to...on the other hand if you are at a particularly tight table raise with every pocket pair you get and you will probably win alot of uncontested pots and build your stack that way.