Pair on hand - Good or Bad?

Salvete777

Salvete777

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Pretty often I'm stuck in situation like this. I had a small or average pair on hand (2;2 - J;J), whats is the best way to play in this situation, if my stack is average and player before me raises ~5-10 big blinds?
Simply I can't fold them, because there ir pretty big change to get 3 of kind. Ok, with 2;2 - 6;6 I wount call big all-in, but whats with regular raises?
Best move is call or just fold them?
This is the reason why I cant get higher places in final table, I always get busted in ~5-9 place even if I had highest stack in start of final table.
 
stevenright

stevenright

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if the guy is raising 5-10 big blinds something is already wrong there... he wants to get all in or just that everybody folds to him... either you re-raise/shove or you fold.. don't call 5-10 big blinds not knowing what to do in the flop
 
DrazaFFT

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first of all where he raise 5-10 bb? if pre flop i agree with steven i would either reraise or fold, pocket pairs are good hands to play because you have good implied odds if you hit set but preflop cal of 10bb is wrong idea at first but take some time to look at a 10bb raise guy, if he do it often ill wait for a good spot and shove (of course depends of stack sizes) but ill deffo fold the first time i face that bet, later in a session or tourney ill see...

If the raise is post flop i think (but i might be wrong) that 10bb raise should be called specially in a multiway pot, the more player involve in the hand the better the pot odds you have with that 10bb raise, plus the implied odds if you hit...

if my stack is somewhere between 8bb 15bb and and i face a 10bb raise in a tourney ill shove with any pp, there is not really much left for you specially in turbos when 15bb quickly becomes 11bb, go for it!!!!
 
Salvete777

Salvete777

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first of all where he raise 5-10 bb? if pre flop i agree with steven i would either reraise or fold, pocket pairs are good hands to play because you have good implied odds if you hit set but preflop cal of 10bb is wrong idea at first but take some time to look at a 10bb raise guy, if he do it often ill wait for a good spot and shove (of course depends of stack sizes) but ill deffo fold the first time i face that bet, later in a session or tourney ill see...

If the raise is post flop i think (but i might be wrong) that 10bb raise should be called specially in a multiway pot, the more player involve in the hand the better the pot odds you have with that 10bb raise, plus the implied odds if you hit...

if my stack is somewhere between 8bb 15bb and and i face a 10bb raise in a tourney ill shove with any pp, there is not really much left for you specially in turbos when 15bb quickly becomes 11bb, go for it!!!!

I think about raise in pre-flop and stack sizes about 40bb or higher.
 
DrazaFFT

DrazaFFT

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In that case, i would follow the path that steven stated of in my first paragraph, plus to add, raise that big is specific, easy to spot and to remember, watch for that guy betting pattern and try to exploit if he change his bet size in compare to his starting hands, that will give you a lot info if you figure it out...
 
dmorris68

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5-10bb opens are screwed up. Nobody but a clueless fish should be opening that big. *Unless of course there's a clueless fish at the table who will call or raise anything with anything, and you actually have a hand. Unfortunately this is rare. Most of the time such an extreme open is someone either playing their monster face up, or trying to buy a pot with a hand they don't want to see a flop with (air or weak pp's). Either is very bad play, resulting in either lost value from big hands or bloated pots with vulnerable hands.

Fold tiny hands like 22 OOP to a raise unless it's a multi-way pot or against a total LAGtard, or when you're very short and can't wait for a better hand (then shove). IP, especially with several in the hand and if you're not short, it's fine to flat if you think you can get paid on a set/FH but you must fold if you miss.

40bb stacks are not deep enough to be set mining with small pp's. The general rule is effective stacks need to be 15-20x the call amount for the correct implied odds to set mine. So if you're calling a 3bb bet, you need 50-60bb effective stacks after the call to make set mining profitable.

Your bigger pairs can of course be played for value, but how far you take a 1-pair hand depends on the board and villain's action. You have to be prepared to fold AA postflop when it's pretty obvious you're beat. For that matter, you have to learn to fold sets and weak flushes/straights too, but start with the basics. 1-pair hands are not very strong by the river. The most common winning hand at showdown is 2-pair.
 
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loomis311

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It would be nice to know more about villains hand ranges. My experience when people are doing this is that they are mostly wanting to commit all in to a hand. I do not feel that you can call preflop trying to set mine because you are definitely not getting enough odds to call and you probably will not be able to realize your equity on the flop. Depending on the player and his tendencies and your image, you may be able to 3bet these hands. Please tell us more information about your table image and the opponents.
 
alejandro huerta

alejandro huerta

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Pretty often I'm stuck in situation like this. I had a small or average pair on hand (2;2 - J;J), whats is the best way to play in this situation, if my stack is average and player before me raises ~5-10 big blinds?
Simply I can't fold them, because there ir pretty big change to get 3 of kind. Ok, with 2;2 - 6;6 I wount call big all-in, but whats with regular raises?
Best move is call or just fold them?
This is the reason why I cant get higher places in final table, I always get busted in ~5-9 place even if I had highest stack in start of final table.

5-10bb opens are screwed up. Nobody but a clueless fish should be opening that big.

Fold hands like 22 OOP to a raise unless it's a multi-way pot or against a total LAGtard, or when you're very short and can't wait for a better hand (then shove).

40bb stacks are not deep enough to be set mining. The general rule is effective stacks need to be 15-20x the call amount for the correct implied odds to set mine. So if you're calling a 3bb bet, you need 50-60bb effective stacks after the call to make set mining profitable.

Your bigger pairs can of course be played for value, but how far you take a 1-pair hand depends on the board and villain's action. You have to be prepared to fold AA postflop when it's pretty obvious you're beat. For that matter, you have to learn to fold sets and weak flushes/straights too, but start with the basics. 1-pair hands are not very strong by the river. The most common winning hand at showdown is 2-pair.

I agree with dmorris cash to start the stack must be between 80 and 100 bb input whatever level you begin to play.
since the probability of winning with small pairs is very low as 11% as you risk against better hands to pay to see their cards, you think it would be best to play them cautiously and very cheap because if we're lucky to connect the set, do a check raise to eat the opponent.
success at the tables
 
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kmichaels

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I think you overestimate those hands. Play them smoothly and with a lot of caution. Those hands are the most dangerous in poker and cost tons and tons of money to bad players. So play them with caution. Don´t make a big call unless you have a huge huge stack than your opponent or only if you have a short stack. Other situations simply fold after a big raise. The chances to get trips is so low, and even your opponents can make a bigger trips than your´s. Be caution!
 
DrazaFFT

DrazaFFT

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In case you have a pocket pair you can't hit trips, you can only hit set, trips is hand made wit one hole card and a paired board, set is a pocket pair connected with one community card, not that is make a difference in what you were trying to say, just wanted to share because i guess that you thought that set=tripsm but it's not
 
dmorris68

dmorris68

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I was going to post that but didn't. :)

It might be seen as a nitpick, but it's actually pretty significant. A set is a much stronger hand than trips that dictates an entirely different approach, and it tilts me a tiny bit when players use them interchangeably.
 
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matiusaa

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Pretty often I'm stuck in situation like this. I had a small or average pair on hand (2;2 - J;J), whats is the best way to play in this situation, if my stack is average and player before me raises ~5-10 big blinds?
Simply I can't fold them, because there ir pretty big change to get 3 of kind. Ok, with 2;2 - 6;6 I wount call big all-in, but whats with regular raises?
Best move is call or just fold them?
This is the reason why I cant get higher places in final table, I always get busted in ~5-9 place even if I had highest stack in start of final table.
Listen, if he raises to 5 bb, you should do call20, and that depends on stack sizes, but with JJ or TT you could try a call, if 5bb is not a significant percentage of your stack, and evaluate your situation on the flop. If you feel that it is likely that you will get into trouble by making a call, just fold. In final tables you have to get to the better postition possible
 
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