Pocket Paired to Death

I just finished a live NL holdem tournament that I got to about 1/2 way in and I realized I just got pocket paired to death. I saw AA, JJ 10sx3, 8s, 7s, 2s and 5s in about an hour and a half.

I saw AA early on and did not win much with it.

I got JJ when someone in front of me went all in and I took it down when his KJ did not improve and won like 500 chips.

Both times I saw 10s I raised preflop and at least two overcards came both times with an A present (most likely I am now behind). I was in position both times and someone would bet the pot and forced me to lay it down.
8s, 7s and 5s I tried to see for cheap and forced to fold when not improved.

I finished the tournament with my third time getting 10s. I raised to try and steal the the blinds and someone that I know plays Ax reraised so I called. He had AK and spiked the A on the flop.

I gave away lots of money by trying to see the smaller pairs cheaply and was resorting to a coin flips with the rest.

It seems to me I see a lot of these at Stars in the MTTs. I usually fold the smaller ones and get cracked with the bigger ones. I'm not sure why I've seen so many pocket pairs lately. I guess it might just be because I've played in so many MTTs over there. To see all those in 30 mins. is awesome and I hope your luck stays good with only higher Pocket pairs.

Pocket pairs are a strange beast. People have bestowed upon them an almost mythical status, that I think exagerates (in most cases) their actual % chance of victory.

Against a full table of loose call stations, even pocket aces can't be expected to win the hand more often than it loses. When less players stay in to the end, smaller pairs aren't much help.

I think the issue here is that we view pocket pairs -- especially face pairs -- so highly (we're so excited to get them), that we tend to expect more from them than they can deliver. If a pocket pair is good it might win 55% of the time for you (for example), but to do that it still has to lose 45% of the time. Etc...

All we can do is bet them hard, scare drawers off the pot, hope they hold up, but fold when you're beat...

I know what you mean, though, it sucks sometimes. According to Card Tracker, AA is one of my lowest % victory hands on the showdown, and I thought I knew when to fold them!!

I just realized that I got so many in a short period of time and none of them improved to the winning hand. It bled my chip stack away from when I needed it later. I had so many that I payed to see and did not improve. It was almost one every ten minutes that I was throwing away 1BB or more and not improving on.

This was the first time that I have seen so many pocket pairs in a short period of time. You never know when your next one will be so you just play them and by doing it this one time I ended doing a slow bleeding death in the tournament. I just was suprised that in the 9 times I got them, not once did hit the flop.

Beriac said:

According to Card Tracker, AA is one of my lowest % victory hands on the showdown, and I thought I knew when to fold them!!

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Are you slow playing AA too much?

In my opinion, there is only one way to play them. All in preflop, at any time. You either win the blinds & antes, win a big pot in which you are a huge favorite, or you lose a big pot on a suck out (but you have the psychological advantage in knowing you got your money in with the best hand).