Pocket pairs in tournaments

i hate playing pocket pairs in tournaments because often the implied odds are not there and sets are very easy to flop. tell me what you guys think of pocket pairs in tournies.

i dont like poket pairs because most times i play them an over card flops and i lose alot of my chips

Sets have a one out of six chance in flopping.....not very easy. Position is very important with low pp's. If I can get in cheap, late I will. Often I fold them early though because I don't want to call a raise. A low pp that flops a set is by far the hardest hand to get a read on though, so the payoffs can be huge. Late in a game I will push them to steal, or to limit the action to possibly one other player, thereby greatly strengtheing your odds.

Sorry one in six is flush draws....pp's are one in nine at best.

Set odds: 7.5:1 or, one out of every 8.5 attempts.

What's all this I hear about pocket pears? Messy; apples, oranges, and raisins are neater and easier to carry. Umm, I'm sorry.....what?.....oh, pocket PAIRS. Well, that's altogether different......Never mind.

Odds of flopping a set when u hold pps-7.5 tp 1(thanksAG) Odds of flopping a set without holding pps. Gee, that would be less, I would guess.

With pocket pairs I play them in 2 different ways. If I am at a timid table I play them very aggressivly. The same way I would play AA or KK. If I am at a strong table I play them slowly. I try and see a cheap flop so if I miss they can go into the muck. If I hit my set I would play aggressivly.

komargo said:

i hate playing pocket pairs in tournaments because often the implied odds are not there and sets are very easy to flop. tell me what you guys think of pocket pairs in tournies.

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Keep the pot small and try to hit a set in early position.

I play it almost sameway in late position but somethimes I ll make a (small) raise to steal blinds or to try to win the pot at Flop with a C-bet.

Low pp's are horrible. Usually every card on the board is an over, then you have to make a difficult decision if anybody bets. Staying away from difficult decisions is the most important thing in poker. Early position fold em, cause you might call when somebody raises. One out of nine times (when you flop a set) this will be a huge hand....if these odds work for you find a new hobby. To me 55 in the hole (in early position) is almost the same as 57. Early in a tourney when the blinds are low I call, or if I have a chip stack that allows me later I MIGHT.

Sorry, I left out that in late position call em (low 22-66) everytime with no raise....call a small raise with mid (77-99) and so on.....

I raise pocket pairs in tournaments and SNGs about 75-80% of the time. Sometimes I limp, and sometimes I fold (raise in front of me).

Pocket pairs are strong because you don't need to hit anything. Obviously, you generally want to take the pot down on the flop unless you hit a set so that nobody can outdraw you.

Also, be ready to let go of your pair if there are overcards and you face resistance. But don't check the flop just because there's an overcard, that'd be pretty weak. 22 and 33 can take down pots without making a set.

Every pocket pair is among Phil Hellmuth's top 15 hands, and rightfully so.

I don't think it's bad enough to be a hole in my game, but I almost ALWAYS set mine if there isn't heavy action (read: raise and re-raise) in front of me. Only time I don't is when I'm shortstacked and can't afford it.

Chris_TC said:

Pocket pairs are strong because you don't need to hit anything. Obviously, you generally want to take the pot down on the flop unless you hit a set so that nobody can outdraw you.

Also, be ready to let go of your pair if there are overcards and you face resistance. But don't check the flop just because there's an overcard, that'd be pretty weak. 22 and 33 can take down pots without making a set.

Every pocket pair is among Phil Hellmuth's top 15 hands, and rightfully so.

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I agree completely. I play pocket pairs based on the current table I'm on. Some tables, I'll fold em, others, I'll play em. Just depends on how weak / strong the table has been playing. If I know I can raise preflop, even in early position, just 2x the blind, most, if not all of the players at the table are going to fold, either giving me the pot preflop with no work to be done, or leaving me in a great position with first to act after the flop, in which case a bet comes out, and the pressure is then put on the other player to either fold, call, or raise.

I like to pressure those sitting at the tables with me. I end up taking down most of the pots that I see flops for, and it keeps everyone guessing. I like the agressive / maniac approach. Basically what I call the boderline insanity style of play.

I always play pocket pairs agressively.... If i dont hit the set and i have position, i bet even if i've missed completely the flop (if im the preflop raiser of course).

If im out of position, i still bet (if im the preflop raiser) cause most of the time the others players will fold.

Best regards

i tried a style about a year ago where i was only playing pocket pairs and AK until i had to play other hands. It worked pretty well but u need to make a lot of hard decisions if any1 raises preflop

After the flop its pretty easy to fold if u miss so just dont commit a lot of chips preflop unless u have kk or aa

also if i didnt get hands id lose for sure

To all you that are saying limp pockets in late, and saying its hard to make a decision if every card is over, then that is irrelevant - what matters is whether you believe the others have hit.

How I play pockets:

- AA-JJ significant raise pre-flop - maybe $1 at a 2/5c table, then a continuation bet of pot sized or RR (unless you hit a set then you slow play and push out some value bets if you think it would work).
- Low pocket pairs raise say 4/5BB say 20/25c pre-flop to limits callers to between 0-3 then continuation bet of pot size unless the board is awkward (e.g. AQ9) in which case I may just give up on this hand unless in position and everybody checks make 1 attempt at the pot - because they are likely to put you on high cards and have hit. If a weak bet is made e.g. 3BB on the flop, try a RR and if they make it clearer they have hit then fold.
Don't limp (unless out of position maybe) with pockets just because you're scared of overcards - there is more chance of them missing than hitting - and with a PR you have less people who may hit!

If in position, and somebody puts out a small bet appearing weak, then I may call just to see what they do on the turn - as if they check then they are either slow playing a good hand or it was a failed attempt to take down the pot - in which case you can make a bet (non-weak) to take down the pot.

Not sure if the better players would agree with my strategy here though.

tonymaclennan said:

To all you that are saying limp pockets in late, and saying its hard to make a decision if every card is over, then that is irrelevant - what matters is whether you believe the others have hit.

How I play pockets:

- AA-JJ significant raise pre-flop - maybe $1 at a 2/5c table, then a continuation bet of pot sized or RR (unless you hit a set then you slow play and push out some value bets if you think it would work).
- Low pocket pairs raise say 4/5BB say 20/25c pre-flop to limits callers to between 0-3 then continuation bet of pot size unless the board is awkward (e.g. AQ9) in which case I may just give up on this hand unless in position and everybody checks make 1 attempt at the pot - because they are likely to put you on high cards and have hit. If a weak bet is made e.g. 3BB on the flop, try a RR and if they make it clearer they have hit then fold.
Don't limp (unless out of position maybe) with pockets just because you're scared of overcards - there is more chance of them missing than hitting - and with a PR you have less people who may hit!

If in position, and somebody puts out a small bet appearing weak, then I may call just to see what they do on the turn - as if they check then they are either slow playing a good hand or it was a failed attempt to take down the pot - in which case you can make a bet (non-weak) to take down the pot.

Not sure if the better players would agree with my strategy here though.

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I would never raise 20bb into a pot where I want one or two callers, a 5 MAYBE 6bb raise is sufficient (and that's only if the table is really loose, otherwise the standard 3.5-4bb works for me).

The reason for limping with pocket pairs is to set mine and hope your opponent catches a slightly worse flop than you so you can get some value. I rarely play low-mid pp's with overcards unless I'm sure that they aren't much of a threat, but risking the blinds is more than paid off by the implied odds you're getting.

I dont like pocket pairs because i will raise with them and then 99% of the time i wont get crap. So i try too avoid pocket pairs unless they are high.

Once again......to each his own. I hate em. If I see the flop cheap and flop a set, great. Otherwise I feel like something safer will be coming along shortly, I'll wait for that. Some of my firiends say I play too tight, at the same time I say they play too lose...

I usually play the freeroll tourneys so if I have a pocket pair, I go all in.