Win Poker Strategy

Small pocket pairs poker, and by this we mean pairs of 99 or less, have often been the cause of many bankrolls going across the table. Players will often overvalue their hand and end up losing a ton of money as they simply cannot let go of two matching cards in the hole. We are going to rectify this situation for you and show you how to play these cards to maximize profits and minimize your losses.

IN EARLY POSITION

This is probably one of the most difficult positions to play a small pocket pair. However, if done properly, you can make a lot of money by getting in on the action in this position with a small pocket pair. The move in early position is to simply limp in and see what happens. You do this for two reasons. You may have a chance to camouflage your hand with the right board and only a few players and you can also crush a huge hand if you happen to hit your set.

Assume you are under the gun and looking down at 77. You limp in and the player behind you makes a raise to 4x the blind. You are going to need odds to call here, which means that you want as many callers in on this hand as you can possibly get. There are two very good things happening when you get callers here. The first is that you are getting the 5:1 or better odds that you need to throw your money in. The second is that the more players that are in, the more likely the larger cards have already been dealt out. If you do not get 3 or more callers or if someone else comes over the top again here, you have to let the hand go, simple as that.

Now ideally, you get the callers in there and you have a shot at a monster pot. You are now is a no-brainer situation as to whether or not you proceed with the hand. If you have never heard the phrase “No Set No Bet,” you need to live and breathe but it if you have a small pair in early position. The only time you will bet out in this scenario if you are looking at a board that is all undercards to your 77.

For instance, you see a board of 2-4-6. In this case, you can make a bet that is at least the size of the pot and it will hopefully take down pot. You will immediately know where you stand of someone comes back over top of you. They may have been sitting on a larger pp or they may just be making a play. This is where your instincts and memory recall as to their earlier play will have to take over. It will also depend on how much money you have sitting in front of you. At this point, you may just be pot committed and the odds for your remaining cash will be so great that calling in the only thing that you can do.

Now if you get lucky and happen to hit your set, you are in a very strong position to make a lot of money. You can be pretty sure that with that many players, the raiser is going to make a continuation bet. This is a great opportunity to set up a check raise and make some serious cash. The one exception to setting up this play is when the board has a possible flush or straight out on the board. If that is the case, you are going to need to calculate the odds and take those hands out of play with a huge bet on the flop. You do not want anyone drawing to your set.

Now if you have a board that is not too dangerous, you are ready to make a check raise. Check your bet to the initial raiser and let him lead out. If you are lucky, one of the other players will have gotten something worth chasing. Depending upon how much money you have left in front of you, you may make a sizeable raise or push all in. You will hopefully be able to get isolation at this point and take down a huge pot. A time when you would bet out with nothing on board is when you have hit your set is if your remaining stack is less than half the pot. In this case, you can push right off the bat.

It is never recommended that you play the same way all the time. You are going to have to change up how you play this hand from time to time or you will risk the other players picking up exactly what you have. As a variation, you may make a small value bet on the flop hoping that the initial raiser will come back over top of you. Use the same betting strategy that you use when you have a medium hand and attempt to show some weakness. If they fall for the trap, you will have them guessing on every hand and can use your flop a set strategy to steal some pots down the road.