Small and Medium Pocket Pairs

In a game like $1-$2 No Limit Hold'em, the difference between a winning session and a losing session usually comes down to one or two big pots you won or lost. I like playing small and medium pocket pairs because they provide me the opportunity to win a big pot with a smaller risk of losing a big pot.


It is difficult to discuss how to play any hand because, as always. so much depends on the read you have on your opponents. Still, small and medium pocket pairs are among the more straight-forward hands to play, which is another reason I like them. Or maybe that's the same reason. Whatever. The point is that I will gladly call a pre-flop raise of four times the big blind (or more!) holding only pocket threes if the conditions are right.


What are theses conditions? Well for starters it helps to have a tight table image. If you are very selective about the hands you play, the other players should notice. When they have you pegged as a tight player, they are less likely to put you on something like pocket threes and therefore you increase the chance they will pay you off. So I'm less likely to play a small pocket pair just after joining a table - better to wait until you've established that tight image.

Another important factor is stack size: both my own and that of the opponent(s) I will see the flop with. If I am in a $1-$2 game with 3-3, and a guy in front of me raises it to $10, then he had better have at least another $100 in chips left for me to proceed. Remember the whole point is to win a big pot, so if your opponent is short stacked then calling him doesn't make sense. The only time such a call makes sense is when you are confident that a loose player with a larger stack behind you will also call.

If in the above example my own stack is less than $100, that too will limit my potential reward enough that I should not play the hand - a good example of why it is not good to play with a stack of less than fifty big blinds in a ring game.

Perhaps the most important condition to consider when playing small and medium pair is how loose your opponent is. The looser he or she is, the better the chance of a pay off. If you have seen this opponent go all-in after the flop with an over pair, or top pair-ace kicker, you know you are in better shape to be paid off if you hit your set. So, the looser the opponent the better.

Which leads us to the next condition: position. Obviously it is an advantage to play from late position as you can see which players, and more importantly how many players, are interested in seeing the flop. Ideally you want to see the flop against several opponents because then if you hit your set it is much more likely one of them will also have hit a hand they can't get away from, and that's when the big pay offs happen.

Which is not to say you should not play small and medium pairs from early position. If I am dealt small pocket pairs in an early position, I will often enter the pot with a modest raise. Everyone says that you should try to see the flop as cheaply as possible with speculative hands, which is why I wouldn't limp in - a raise from early position, combined with a tight image, sends out a message that I'm on a stronger hand and therefore I'm much less likely to have someone re-raise and push me out before the flop. My father called this move The Pre-Emptive Strike and I'm a big fan of it. If you raise the same amount from early position whether you have pocket threes or pocket aces it makes it difficult for your opponents to guess what you have.

Those are some of the things I consider before I play small and medium pairs.

After the flop it should obvious to you whether or not continue. The rule is simply "no set, no bet". This a great thing about a hand like 33 - it is very easy to fold after a flop like A 10 9. Holding a "better" hand like A J might get you into a lot of trouble with a flop like that! If the stars align (as they will do 12% of the time) and the flop brings a third 3, you are now in great shape, and the other sucker holding two pair or an over pair is in danger of losing his stack or doubling you up.

Of course this whole post is a gross over simplification. Hitting a set is no guarantee of winning. I trust you have enough brains in your head to know a set of threes is probably worthless when after turn there are four hearts on the board and your opponent seems very happy.

Use your own judgement. I'm just telling you what I find works for me. If you find you consistently lose more than you win with small and medium pairs then it could be that this particular strategy just doesn't work with your style of play. But you may also find it works very well.

You are on your own.