Low pocket pair

[blueskies]

The danger with opening from EP with small PP is that when you get 3bet, then you're gonna be paying a larger than necessary fee to try to setmine. Or you can just fold and give up whatever you raised.

Now imagine if you just limped and MP or LP raises you. Then for the amount around where you would have opened, you see the flop.

Yes, you are not "supposed" to limp no matter what according to some ppl, but at micros there are situations where you just wanna see the flop cheaply.

At higher levels yes always just limp calling will make you too predictable. But at micros doing just that is good enough.

Another situation where opening small pairs from any position can be profitable is if you and the rest of the table are playing very deep (200bb+). That way, your opens can withstand 3bets due to the depth of the stacks. It is very important to have implied odds when playing small pairs.

 

[spiderman637]

Low pocket pairs should be played very passively...
In early stages, i advice u to check call the villians only but do not raise, that way its better to trap the villians...Never raise preflop with apair in ur hand...that gives u space to do lot of varitaions in your betting post flop...
Where as in late stages, i advice to avoid playing low pocket pairs at all...not worth at all...

 

[DonV73]

I personally limp or calls a PF raise if it is not too high with low pocket pair and try to catch trips on the flop (it is called setmining). If not, I check/fold on any other board.

 

[aznman08]

In a cash game, you dont want to invest too much money into the hand unless you flop a set. Even then, with a small set you have to be aware of what your opponents may have that can outdraw you on the turn or river.

 

[etherghost]

It's really circumstantial. Stack sizes? Blinds? Your table image? There's a lot of players who think just limping is the best play pre. It's not. Limping is a bad play. Chances are if Ur hand isn't worth a raise preflop u should be folding it.

I agree to a point. This theory changes drastically when you have inexperienced players at the table who call with almost any face card combination or an A with any kicker. It does suck to see any low card on the flop which is higher than your pockets if your raise was called by such a player.

 

[etherghost]

Flop it or drop it!

Best advice ever! Early drop, late flop. Don't be a whimp don't limp.

 

[RickAversion]

You may like this thread

why do people bother going all in with low pocket pair?

 

[jgenest3798]

I strictly adhere to raising if I am first in - I never limp- its raise or fold on first action. UTG and UTG+1 I am pretty much folding anything less than 99, from there to CO its 2.5 -3.5X if first in or call if someone has opened in front of me and I am going to play which is usually 55-99 and not less. CO and button - its 3X to an unopened pot and 3bet or fold to any raise. HOWEVER, there is so much additional information that is crucial to making this a productive play and that is exactly what was mentioned before - stack sizes, stage of the tournament, table image, reads on other players in pot and blinds, etc Overall, I have misplayed these type of hands so many times that I am very cautious in determining my action at any particular table!

 

[rrph3rtbkr]

the best way to play pocket pair is to play them from late position , if there is a raise before you u should fold ur pocket pairs below 10 ,if there is min raise u could think of playing and hoping to flop a monster and if u dont hit a monster u should b ready to give it up as there is no point of keep drawing and hoping to make a set in later street

 

[Karozi615]

You can never have a formula like that if you want to be successful. I'll fold QQ JJ 1010 on the button in some spots. I really hate playing from early position so sometimes I'll fold very small pairs like 22-44 depending on how I feel about the table. Middle-late position facing one raise, especially in position, i'm calling all and tomorrow. If you hit your set that's nice. But once you stop making rules for yourself and you become a "thinking player" you'll realize that hitting the set isn't really that important. They'll Cbet 2/3's the pot, you think for a minute and call. They check the turn and you make a value bet and get them off AJ with an J5K board. That's how you play POKER, pocket pair aside. And you know what would make you great? Play it the same exact way when you do hit a set. Predictability is bad in this game.

 

[TimboJonez]

Play them in late position and see if u can hit that set

 

[dallasroad6000]

small pocket pairs

For me the key is stack size of my opponents. I want to have some confidence that I will be paid off handsomely if I take the risk of playing a small pocket pair. Why play a small pair against a small stack opponent?

 

[numark]

IMO limping small pocket pairs to hit sets is really obvious.

I see it all the time, they limp, I make a 4BB raise & they call.

Then you make a small C bet, whatever the flop texture, and they fold like 80%+ of the time...

Just keep in the back of your mind they may be limping with a monster - but then they've normally 3 bet your PF raise by that point anyway.

 

[Fritz Benedict]

I play small PP with the 5/10 rule to be save:
If I have to call less then 5% of my stack preflop, i calll.
If I have to call more than 10% of my stack preflop, i fold.
Everything in between depends on position, villians, image,... etc

 

[Quasimodo]

To find an answer to any situation you can dream of, this site has an 'odds calculator' at front page. I just now discovered it myself. what a great tool to play with. If I didn't have a tourney starting in the next 6 minutes, I'd be playing it now and the next few hours.

 

[trolaAa]

I raised everytime with them

 

[jj20002]

when playing low level, always limp, but when playing high level fold or raise if in late positions and when everybody folds to you

then if one hits the set after limping then shove if doesn´t then fold any bet

 

[Karozi615]

Pocket pairs are good hands, raise with them, C-bet the flop, and if you are in position depending on opponent you can bet turn or river.
Mistakes people make with pocket pairs:
1. Limping in any position: NO, your doing it wrong and you should feel bad.
2. Min raising in early position, Wow, you min raised utg+1? no way you have pocket 6's. When I see people do this I either 3bet huge and take their weak min raise or let them cbet the flop then come over, even if there is like one over card (a jack) they just fold because they don't know how to proceed
3. not getting max value out of a set. Okay, so you've been running people over playing pocket pairs all night. Sometimes you might have been ahead, other times your betting may have got a bigger hand to fold. However, eventually you will flop a set and you need to get huge value out of it. If your out of position, let your opponent take control of the hand. Just flat both streets and raise the river light. If the board is wet, protect your hand. If your opponent is strong, take the same line but jam the river and make it look like a cheesy weak bluff
4. Playing pocket pairs well just takes experience and practice. As always, there are so many other factors in a hand, such as position and stack sizes. Stack sizes are a major factor in small pocket pairs because you can't flat raises from short stacks in cash games. This is because your implied equity is much smaller if you do improve to a set. You would actually be better off 3betting and hoping the short stack shoves with Ax.
5. Pocket pairs are played much differently in tournaments. In the later stages of a tournament medium and short stacks can get it in with any type of pocket pair if they sense weakness or see a late position raiser.
Pocket pairs are good, undervalued hands and should be played aggressively.

 

[Jblocher1]

when playing low level, always limp, but when playing high level fold or raise if in late positions and when everybody folds to you

then if one hits the set after limping then shove if doesn´t then fold any bet

The limp/ shove when you hit a set is a big no no.... Unless after limping you have less than 10 big blinds in your stack. If that's the case though then you should have just open shoved your low PP pre flop instead of set mining.

For example..... Lets say we are 100BB deep... It's a low buy in, players aren't great. We limp with 55 UTG.... (Very bad also) there are 5 limpers including myself. The pot at that point going to the flop is 5BB. Lets say the flop is AK5.... Yay.... That's a great flop for us, and so I shove 99BB into the pot of 5BB? That's not ok. Pursue value post flop from the set don't just fold out all the limpers.

Low pocket pairs are raise or folds pre.... I'm never limping

 

[GWU73]

I generally play 100bb deep and my strategy is simple: raise 1st in in any position I would play them (usually that is every position, but in an aggressive game or a game where everyone calls I limit early opens to TT+, and if my table is really passive, I'll limp small pairs). Limp behind with small pairs, raise or call a raise behind with mid to high pairs, raise, re-raise and shove AA and KK from any position. Generally look to flop a set or play a small pot.

 

[redcross]

My startegy is to make people pay dearly right from the start. When i have a large bet and they call i know to be weary of the ace and if it never comes i am usually ahead. Dont let people see free cards to chase cause they will win.

 

[DaBrowner]

If first in pot raise your normal preflop raise, if raised before you decision comes into play of raiser is tight or lose. Call if lose fold if tight.

 

[lost2qandisa]

Yeah, I agree with most others here. I raise them unless it takes too much of my stack. If I am shorty stack and the blinds are big, I will shove them every time and pray. I love having a concealed set against an overaggressive player. Let them bet into you and take the chips. One more thing, if they don't hit, play very conservative.

 

[rock0001]

try to play them especially on late positions if no one raises, or many players are involved in the hand assuming no one has 3 bet the pot. This speculative hands could make you win lots of money but you have to be careful preflop because calling lots of your chips with those hands, are unprofitable over the long run, because you will just hit a set in only 10% of the times, so you should enter to the pot if you can see a cheap flop.

 

[RickAversion]

It makes sense to go all in with pocket pair when you're late in position and you think no one will call. That way, you go 50/50 against 1 person, and you get slightly better odds than 1:1 b/c there is already money in the pot (antes and blinds) If there was a pre-flop raise, this makes sense. Here is an example:

10 players, 1/2 NL
Everyone calls the BB, so there's about $20 in the pot.
Last to act, and with pocket pairs, you go all in for $100.
Only one person calls with another $98
Total in pot is $220
You put up $100 to win $120, or are getting 5:6 odds
Slightly better than the 5:5 odds of you winning the pot (if it's 50/50)

Still seems like a stupid and risky way to make a piddling $20.
There are much better ways to steal the blinds than going all in.

I still have not gotten any compelling MATH about why it makes sense to go all in.
I think this is just herd behavior and people don't even question it.
It's basically a toss up, as low pocket pair is just as good (or bad) as any random hand that goes to the river.