Small pairs

How do you play small pairs in a tournament, 22,33,44...88 early , middle and late?

Playing small pairs in a tournament

Early, I try to both steal the pot and/or build the pot before the flop by betting up to 5 BBs. The way I see it is you've got 100 BBs, so why not risk 5% of your stack? Being the pre-flop aggressor gives you an advantage when the flop comes and, if you had callers, you've got a nice little pot you can try to win/bluff/out-play for.

In the middle of the tournament I fold these up to about 55 if anyone raises. In the middle of the tournament you're trying to survive and you won't do that very long hoping for trips all the time.

Late in the tournament (i.e. in the money) I play them very aggressively before the final table. I want chips and I'm willing to sacrifice 1 or 2 money levels to do it. Afterall, when your money levels are going from $2.50 to $2.75 after 9 players get knocked out, you've already made the $2.50 and your goal shouldn't be another .25 cents, it should be to hit the final table.

If your stack is sufficient(>30 BBs) go ahead and try to set mine. If you're short stacked you probably want to shove or fold, depending on the action before you.

amxvulcan said:

How do you play small pairs in a tournament, 22,33,44...88 early , middle and late?

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The way I play middle pairs is two ways.

1. Limp cheaply see a flop, if its favorable continue to the turn and/or river

2. If everyone folds before you, raise about 3 times the bb to gain table control and if someone calls be careful of the flop and assess the situation. Fold if you sense strength.

Typically, I will rarely play small pairs unless I can get in fairly cheap. To me, it is all position dependant. In,fact just busted a player on ACR who shoved with 4,4.

I don’t even bother playing those if they are too low. There’s a very low chance you’ll pull out with a three of a kind on low pairs

Small Ball

I play small to middle pairs as small as possible and hope to flop a set.

in the beginning of the tournament, in any case it's just a call, if it's from the middle of the tournament and I have an average stack, it's just a pass, but if the stack allows you to play and aggressively, but in any case it depends on the strength of the field

If someone raise i fold .No raise call and i hope for miracle set or straight draw

I like to play small pairs in position. If I am out of position its simply a small call and hope to smack the set.

Middle pairs are dangerous, I will limp for a chance to see the Flop, unless in position, If no one calls, I will 3bet, depending on how the hand develops, I will Fold fast.

I argree with pescaofish. Early I only play top and monster pairs.
Middle position if the price is right I will sometimes try the others but not very often.

Early=fold midle and latr=call

No sooner than I typed my previous response this happened. This is in the Drunken Donk tourney:


55 utg = fold


Three hands later I get 10 10. Now the villian here went allin preflop almost everytime I saw him enter the pot.

I play with caution, because the purpose is to hit a three of a kind. In case I do not hit anything and there is very strong aggression of the opponents, I play without pain.

I like 77 and 88.

I see the flop but fold if nothing hits. I play very conservative.

Try to see the flop cheaply, if not give, easy fold

The way small pairs are used depends not only on your seat at the table but also on the size of your stack. We will talk about the middle stack and the beginning of that. All pairs up to 10 10 I use with care and try to limp at the beginning of the tournament. If you throw a small raise then call. A 10 10 and all that above is already using a raise 3b before the flop. Further on the flop by circumstances.

it all depends on your stack. With a large stack it is possible to raise UTG 22 as well. And if the middle stack, then in the early positions of fold, on the middle and late raises

I play these pairs only on BB, when I can see the flop.

With small pocket pairs, I try to enter the game limp. Small pocket pairs need to be played passively, and try as cheap as possible to see the flop. I can also call a standard raise if I play in a position. If the stack is short, then it is possible to put all-in from any position.

Small pairs are great for cracking Aces.