small pairs

[MimiMLZ]

Hi guys,

How do you play small pairs in the middle stage of a tournament? You are in the button position and you have the average stack.

 

[Andrew Popov]

Hi guys,

How do you play small pairs in the middle stage of a tournament? You are in the button position and you have the average stack.

In almost every stage of a tournament other than the bubble, you should try to watch the flop on and on cheap, hoping to get a set. Seth always pays well.

 

[Living__M]

I think it depends on the stacksizes of the people in your tournament. If you are first into the pot with around 10-15bb you could even shove the small pairs. IF you have a normal 30bb stacks then setmining or folding is fine. Good luck.

 

[liuouhgkres]

Even with 20-25bb small pocket pairs can be good 3bet shove against loose opens. Otherwise try to call and catch a set. However, when you get very shallow, like 15bb or less, it's better to never call and play 3bet/fold only.

 

[pljosko]

I think that the greatest strength of a small pocket pair is that when we catch a set, we have a concealed weapon in our hands, and to cash it richly, the ideal victim is someone who has caught a top pair (especially with a broadway card). To initiate such a scenario to happen, it is better to just check, so that as many players as possible see the flop, and if a possible unfavorable flop (connected cards, colored flop ...) spoils our plans, it will cost us a minimum of chips.

 

[fundiver199]

You are in the button position and you have the average stack.

The most important parameter is the effective stack in big blinds, not how large your stack is relative to other stacks in the tournament. As others have said, with around 15BB or less a small pair is usually played best as an open shove, and from BTN you can certainly jam any pair for 10-15BB and show a profit doing so.

If someone else have already entered the pot, my decision will depend on their position, the player type and their stack size. Sometimes a rejam can be fine, but often I will also just get out of their way and fold. I will pretty much never flat call a small pair with such short stacks or for that matter any hand.

If your stack is 20-30BB, then small pairs can certainly be open raised from BTN, and then you just play poker, if you get action. Usually folding to a 3-bet, and on the flop you can C-bet some structures and give up on others. If someone else have already entered the pot, usually I will just fold. You certainly dont have to always get involved, just because you have a pair.

 

[Mahereid]

In almost every stage of a tournament other than the bubble, you should try to watch the flop on and on cheap, hoping to get a set. Seth always pays well.

I completely agree. That's the best strategy for low pairs.

 

[Zapahlohotrona]

If we entered the bank and did not get into the set:
- if you were a preflop raiser - c-bet / fold on boards suitable for bluff c-bet and check / fold on heavy boards;
- if you called a set preflop raise - a disciplined check / fold.

 

[WickedFRoST]

Definitely yes.

If it is not a bubble stage, your button range should be quite loose. You will always be in position postflop, thus you get to play more hands comfortably. Inevitably, if your button range is 25% or more, it will surely include all pocket pairs.

However, actions before you do play a huge role. Typically you do not want to call off an all-in with small pockets for obvious reasons. Especially with a medium stack.

Personally, I will definitely call a min raise or join a multipot for set value, as long as I'm 90% sure no one will 3-bet from SB or BB.

Also, small pocket pairs are good for steals and resteals. for instance, if an aggressive player opens from CO, I might shove 44,55 and 66. I will be very happy if everyone folds, while in case of a call, I will have some equity.

 

[steve01991]

the odds of hitting trips is pretty low , and many pairs do beat you, depends on how you feel, if you are a gambler, raise and hope for the best, if you play cautious , just call and hope there you can hit your trips

 

[dorivaldojr]

In my opinion it depends a lot if someone bets, in my position I would just "call" hoping to hit a set more if the opponent's bet is too high sometimes it doesn't pay to continue with the hand the best thing to do is fold !!

 

[ataraxyan]

Small pairs are good for triple.

 

[poliaris747]

I play the way my opponents at the poker table allow me to play throughout the tournament I take notes on each player and in the middle of the tournament I can already imagine their actions on my every action So there is no single answer to your question.

 

[nuttea]

Hi guys,

How do you play small pairs in the middle stage of a tournament? You are in the button position and you have the average stack.

The true strength of small pocket pairs lies in the fact that they can be amplified before the flop is set. A set is a poker combination where you collect three cards of the same rank for your pocket pair, as opposed to trips, in which you have the same three cards, but two of them will be on the board, and only one will be your pocket card ... Sets are very strong and hidden hands and you have the potential to make a lot of money with them since opponents will not often expect to see them from you.Thus, instead of trying to figure out whether we are ahead or behind with a small pocket postflop, most of the time we only need to determine: either we hit the set or we fold. Trying to play a small pocket postflop without improvement is not a very positive and difficult game, so try to avoid it. With small pocket pairs, your main goal is to either flop a set or fall if you miss. The probability of hitting a set on the flop with a pocket pair is 7: 1, which means that we will only get it on one of the eight flops we see. And this probability will not be very good compared to the pot odds given to us. Preflop we rarely get good enough straight pot odds to call for a set mining.

 

[angelamsmith05]

In almost every stage of a tournament other than the bubble, you should try to watch the flop on and on cheap, hoping to get a set. Seth always pays well.

Agree and if you don't hit the flop...fold.

 

[VictorOd]

There are some variables remaining. Depends on how many players are in pot, their strength, aggressiveness. If everybody before D folded, then raise, try to steal blinds. More likely you call raise hoping to catch a set or limp with a same idea. Also it can be squeeze to have an initiative. And reraise is the option against very tight players.

 

[Syltan]

Much depends on the action before us, ideally if one opponent just opened a call.

 

[Zirkzee]

If all the players have already folded before you, I would raise with small pocket pairs and try to steal the blinds. If someone calls you can take the pot with a c-bet. Most of the time the players who defend the blind play a fit or fold strategy. That means if he didn't hit anything on the flop he'll fold on a bet from you. If one or more players have already called before you, I would also just call. You hope that you hit the drilling on the flop. If you haven't hit the drilling you can always fold small pocket pairs to a bet. Most of the time they are worthless after the flop against several opponents.

 

[woodeng]

I fold small pairs if the blinds are high . . . If the blinds are moderate, I may play the small pairs to see the flop and hope for trips!

 

[LFC_yllnwa]

I think, a good solution in this situation is to apply pressure, possibly get a big bet against the blinds, so as not to get a bad player and an easy coincidence on the flop for him.

If there were bets before you, play easy call and watch the flop, this is the best solution that will allow you to get a very strong advantage over your opponent on the flop. But, do not rush to quickly build up the pot on the table, because there are many draws that players do not notice and get disappointed on the river... As a result, there is no perfect strategy, but you need to watch how your opponent play and build your game not only from yourself

 

[sharipov8090]

Just a normal raise or call.We are also looking for hits with small stakes.

 

[YR2311]

I think you should play, because if you get sets, this will be very much not suspicious which is good for u

 

[rachelle2291]

If you are on the button and no one has entered pot yet then I would raise. If someone has did a standard raise ahead of me I would call and if someone has limped in I would also call.

 

[chuckycheese]

Hi guys,

How do you play small pairs in the middle stage of a tournament? You are in the button position and you have the average stack.

if you are raised in two places pitch them sometimes you hit most of the time you don't if you can sneak in for the flop that helps.

 

[mariale_1990]

It depends on how each situation is presented and how the rest of the players play, in general I try to play very carefully, sometimes my intuition tells me that I should risk a little and I do it, but it is as I say: it depends on how I present each play and how the rest of the players are playing