9/9, 10/10, and J/J

[rigor mortis]

There is no straight answer to this question. It depends upon your position, the size of your stack, the number of players in the pot, whether or not there have been any raises, the style of your opponents etc.
In early position I would simply raise; in middle position give a 3x raise; in late position a 4x raise, with the proviso I am first to speak, and see wat happens.

 

[fantata666]

up to the point that the card has been stolen
and that it has been spared but not all of it is soft

 

[HAMC81]

Just play with caution, play aggro if you hit a set. there's no overcards (or just one for that matter, hopefully no ACE), or if you have a solid read on your opponent

 

[spr0ck3t]

They're a coinflip at worse against anything but QQ+; so far what I've read/studied says they're usually worth a 3bet/3bet call, should be played basically like top pair on a small board, and played like a set when they are one.

That said... I always still feel lost when playing these, and always feel like I'm just donking away when I cbet into a board with a higher card.

 

[MatMackenz]

I know I'm not the greatest with pocket pairs 9-J.


I have a hard time understanding their value in context.
Often, you see at least one over-card on the flop and usually a call is by someone with a J/10 or better. It appears to be so risky and with a continuation bet, the chips fly. I typically represent any high board pair with caution for the caller and push all under cards. Often, I look for a flip with a short stack.


Any help on these hands would be appreciated. Thanks

Always going to be entering with a raise, evaluate the flop, to see what kind of equity we have against our opponent.

If there is 2 overcards to your pair, then perhaps check-calling one street would be optimal.

If 1 overcard, C-Betting would be good, but check-calling for pot control is also an option.

If no overcards, Bet for Value.

 

[Queenlimp]

Cool cards to have when your short-stacked.

 

[UncleConRon]

My opinion

You want to bet a pocket pair a third of the time. If a pocket pair hit trips with pocket pair 9s though jacks then it is a good idea the trips are coming if you have pocket threes though fives. See you hit in upper mid range now lower range do to hit. I say you hit trips a third of time because there are five cards on table and thirteen different cards. Five out of thirteen or a third of the time.

 

[Queenlimp]

Match ups are ideal. If you got someone stacked, a great time to flip.


In position, against one or two, you have great potential to c-bet.


Someone has you out stacked, a flop over card can be deadly.

 

[cleder7]

As I do: pre flop I make a good bet, to ward off speculative hands of the move. Post flop I analyze position and community cards, decide if I keep increasing or check.
Depending on the villain's reaction, I make an aggressive bet on the turn to avoid getting on the river.

 

[andsws]

I always raise pre flop. If im vs 1 I can go all in, depends how many chips do I have.

 

[Adi8877]

Play for a set before ITM, if I have a high stack then of course aggressively against the low stack players and straight away we reached ITM

 

[Cherepashkakry]

Depending on the opponent, these hands are easier to fold. Sometimes I call a 3-bet to get a set, if they bet a high flop, I fold to my opponent's bet, if the opponent doesn't bet, I go to the showdown without increasing the pot. You can also bet one low flop.