10 Aug 2020
Of all the starting ranges of Hold'em, pocket pairs may be the most exciting group. This is because this particular category can be very powerful if used correctly, but it can also seriously damage your live casino online profits if you take the wrong approach.
In this article, we will try to analyze the strategy of playing pocket pairs in poker. We will use these hands to study some of the most profitable methods and some of the biggest mistakes that should be avoided at all costs.
If you are new to poker, please briefly define the actual meaning of the term "pocket pair".
In poker, when you get two cards of the same rank (such as 2-2 or A-A), you will get a pocket pair. Of course, the values of these hands are very different, but they belong to the same category that I am discussing today.
Most poker books and other training materials recognize the three main subcategories of pocket pairs, namely:
Although there may be some minor differences in methods, some people classify TT as an advanced pair and 77 as a small pair, but this overall classification is quite accurate.
Before starting the strategy, let's break down some simple mathematical operations. The chance of being traded to any pocket pair is about 5.9%. So, on average, you will get a pocket pair every 17 hands or so. Based on more specific statistics, the numbers are broken down as follows:
We have already mentioned that these are the three main subcategories of all pocket pairs in poker. Now, we will study each aspect separately to determine their overall value and the best way to use it.
As the name suggests, these are the best pre-flop positions you can get in Hold'em. Although it can still be considered that the pocket jack is somewhat subtle, depending on the situation, the remaining Geminis in this category are very strong.
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The value of high-end pocket pairs increases significantly as the number of players in hand decreases, because the probability of a single player being eliminated is greatly reduced.
In most cases, your plan should be to get as much money as possible before the flop. This is true for most standard tournament scenarios and not too deep cash games (100-150 big blinds).
As trading volume increases, your strategy may change, especially in the lower category (JJ and QQ), but this is a completely different topic.
Of course, you will never achieve your goal before the flop, because you often encounter situations where you raise and face multiple callers. When this happens, you should remember two things:
Although these two points seem to be mutually exclusive, they are not.
For example, with a 10 6 2 situation, even if you face multiple opponents, you are still very likely to lead the pocket king. You should not be afraid of the monster under the bed, but strive for some value.
At the same time, if there are too many moves on the flop or the turn card, and suddenly someone starts to push the action, you must let go.
For example, if the turn is a 9, you need to know that your opponent may have various combinations, two combos, and some complete straights.
Since players rarely go crazy with multiple opponents with just one opponent, even your doubles opponents should be cautious about aggressiveness.
Hold'em can be played on all streets, and in the long run, if you have the ability to fold in absolutely difficult situations (absolutely), you can save a lot of money.
It is difficult to find the exact strategy for mid-sized pocket pairs because they belong to the middle category.
The best advice is to try and fail heads-up. When playing against a single opponent, these hands can easily win the pot, even without losing a set.
However, if you see a few players on the flop, you almost always need to hit a group to win the pot, and most of the time it will only flop.
In addition, depending on the situation, sometimes you should use medium pocket pairs as a reward, and sometimes you choose fixed mining. This sentence seems a bit confusing, so let's look at an example.
Suppose you are participating in a game and you have 40 big blinds. The player under the gunner (you feel tight) opens 2.5 times, then the dealer calls. You sit in the 88-year-old big blind. What are you doing?
Nothing was done except the phone call at the location. The initial raiser range may be large. Therefore, raising your hand will make you bluff, and there is absolutely no reason for a hand like 88.
In this case, you will play pocket number eight like a small pocket (we will discuss later), just call and try to flop a set or other very favorable hands.
In another case, your odds in the big blind are 88, and all the cases are the same, but on the button, very active players face the problem of raising instead of UTG.
Here, you'd better consider playing 88 like a strong hand because you may be ahead of the raising range. And, since you are not too deep, you can even put your chips in the middle to fight against overly aggressive opponents.
Now, we have finally come to the category that most players actually refer to when talking about pocket pairs.
Small pockets are probably the most difficult hand to play, because they seem to have a lot of potential if you hit the right flop, but at the same time, the flop opportunities are not as frequent as we want.
Our small pocket pair (22-77) master plan is very simple. We want to see the flop as cheap as possible, set the flop, and get the opponent's chips if the opponent has over-pairs, or beat the opponent like a top pair.
In theory, this sounds good and straightforward, but there are many pitfalls to avoid in the process.
The probability of any group losing the combination is about one in 7.5 (or about 12%). This seems to be a reasonable number, but remember that you will not fail 88% of the time.
Moreover, even if you do this, it does not mean that your opponent will automatically allocate chips to you, nor does it mean that you will win the pot every time.
Therefore, you need to pay special attention to small pocket pairs. Generally, try at real money slots app:
It may be tempting to see the 33 flop, but when you raise and bet 3 in front of you, you really can't afford it. You don't want to invest a lot of chips with low pocket pairs before the flop.
Secondly, you did not end the game. If the original raiser decides to bet 4, you must either fold or make the wrong call because it is almost impossible to have the correct odds here.
In the end, 88% of the time, you won't get such desired settings. It may entice you to try to bluff into the pot, which is dangerous because you have no obstacles.
This is not to say that you should not use these hands to bluff, but only to bluff a single opponent, and when you have good reason to believe that he does not have strong control.
In most cases, when you are not losing or going crazy, try to play passively-there is better bluffing.
Although these three types of pocket pairs require different strategies, there are some common considerations.
These apply to almost all the hands you play, especially pocket pairs, because these hands provide less flexibility on many flop, turn and river than other cardholders.
1. Effective Stack Size
When deciding how to play pocket pairs, the amount of effective chips is one of the biggest considerations (effective chips is the smallest amount of chips in the heads-up pot).
For example, if the pocket is small, then you don't want your opponent to start with only 20 big blinds or similar short stacks. On the contrary, if the situation is right, you should fold or all-in.
However, if the amount of effective chips is larger, then in most cases you can make money to set up my chips.
With medium and high pocket pairs, you can easily decide on short stacks, and then you can push all the chips to the middle.
2. Position
Although your position on the table is not so important to the high stakes pot, you definitely want to do more set mining with weak pairs relative to your opponent.
When you get the final say in one go, it is much easier to extract value because you can better understand the strength of the other player and the likelihood of their remaining chips.
There is almost no profit from chasing small sets of pairs that appear. You usually check on the turn and let your opponent back up, thus missing value.
Therefore, in most cases the size of the pot is not large enough to keep the chips in the middle.
3. General Players Tendencies
Faced with each of these games and players, there are certain tendencies, and you will learn these tendencies as you fight them more.
How you play pairs, especially smaller pairs, will largely depend on the opponent's general tendency.
If you are participating in a loose field game where people tend to spotlight, then as the implied odds increase significantly, it becomes very profitable to dig out the scene.
However, in a fairly tight game, the value of the deck will drop because it is difficult to stack your opponents even if you flop.
I hope that some of the strategic considerations in this article can help you better play the role of pocket pairs in the future. Remember, these features may be powerful tools in your arsenal, but only if you use them correctly.
Always keep your expectations realistic. If someone has no tendency to fall easily and is very conservative, don't fool yourself into thinking that when you lose your chips, you will be the one who gets all your chips.
Follow the recommendations in this article, and keep your eyes on as your hands keep moving forward. In some cases, you need to let your opponent catch up, and in some cases, putting all your chips in the middle is the right choice.
Poker is beautiful because it is a multi-dimensional game that can handle similar positions in different ways-but a reliable basic strategy based on mathematics is the starting point for everything. This article is provided by IBCbet online sports betting.