Bottom Pair

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urbanekpyrotic

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I'm always nervous when I get a bottom pair at the flop, especially when their is 2 or more players in the hand, so I wanted to know how you guys play during this situation. Aggressively to get them out of the hand or cautiously to avoid risking more chips?
 
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ThomasDelgado

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Don't worry, while playing bottom player if you made a pair of Kings, you would have top pair. But if you made pair, nines, you would have middle pair. Bottom pair is a weak hand in most flop games, you should be mucked if your opponent shows aggression.
 
TheBigFinn

TheBigFinn

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Bottom pair is only slightly better than Ace high. A lot of how you play them is based on position, number of players, and the pre flop betting. If you are out of position and a tight player raised preflop and there are Aces and Kings on the flop, that pair is headed for the muck.

If you called a small blind bet in the big blind and are now heads up, they may actually be good. The problem is that if you are behind you are WAY behind drawing to only 2 outs.
 
razshahan

razshahan

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for me bottom pairs are most easiest to play with. If i'm the last man and there was no action before me and no action pre flop, and the board is dry as sahara, only then i bet with my bottom pairs and in any reraise i muck. If the board has got draws, i always check even if everyone checks before me. why would u risk get reraised if u can see the card for free :D :D
 
taban13

taban13

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If several players against you it is best to passively. And if a possible aggression. .
 
glades7777777

glades7777777

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generally speaking, play conservatively in this situation and try to read how the other players are acting. If you sense weakness in the players before you, maybe bet to try and get the others to fold but keep in mind that your hand isn't great. Also, it depends upon the other cards in the flop. If it is Ace, King, Three you really don't have any leverage but in a 2, 3, 7 you should feel more comfortable making a bet and hoping the others fold out. In general, play the hand but be ready to fold
 
theRaven68

theRaven68

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i dont like to play bottom pair aggressively preflop, after flop it depends on board cards, you should fold if your opponent is aggressive and you should be aggressive if you hit a set
 
Mase31683

Mase31683

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I originally posted a useless, non-helpful comment.

Instead I will actually try to be productive.

Any time you bet, you should be trying to accomplish one of three things.
1) Make a worse hand call
2) Make a better hand fold
3) Force opponent to give up their equity share of the pot

With your situation, and any situation for that matter, I want you to ask how can I play this hand to make #1-3 occur. And which am I primarily attempting to cause? Once you can answer those questions, your play should be easier.

Betting bottom pair for example (playing aggressively as you say).
Is ace high or king high calling us? What about draws?

Will middle pair fold? What about top pair weak kicker? Is this villain capable of such a laydown?

How much is in the pot? What equity does our opponent's range have? If we induce him to fold here is that +EV for our hand or are we better to check for a free card and possibly induce bluffs from worse?

This is how you need to approach the situation.
 
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hardin

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This is a tough question to answer. It all depends on a multitude of variables such as position, initiative, board texture and number of players in the hand.

But most of the time with bottom pair, we are giving up if we are OOP and not the initial raiser. If you think you can win with a bluff and have initiative IP, then I think a bet is merited.
 
Arjonius

Arjonius

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As others have noted, there's more to think about than just the strength of your hand. What did you do pre-? What was the rest of the action pre-? What flop action has there been, if any? What's the flop texture? How well or poorly does the flop fit with the opponents' pre-flop actions / ranges? And with yours?

And after you think about those questions, you may find they raise more.
 
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bluejay2220

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It depends on the game and players. If you established yourself at the table you can bet and will only get called with good hands. To tell you the truth, I think top pair with weak or so so kicker is worst than bottom pair. Bottom pair is easy to let go of.
 
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thatgreekdude

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Depends entirely on board texture and what your opponents range of cards is, bottom pair on a 942 board is different than an AK2 board.
 
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