Pocket Pair

Author: Simon Dexter

The question of how to play pocket pairs comes up time and again on poker forums and strategy sites.

As usual in Texas Hold’em there is no correct answer due to the many variables involved including the amount of players, whether it is a limit or no limit game, the usual style of your play and the playing styles of your opponents.

Many players get pretty excited when seeing pocket pairs as their hole cards. This is natural, a pair of anything has a pleasing to the eye feeling and with many players a sense of invincibility hits them.

Some players still get overwhelmed by a low to middle pair – almost believing that if they have been lucky enough to get such a hand they will automatically hit three of a kind. Whether playing online or in a tournament it is an important fact to know that your chances of hitting that third card are about 7.5/1.

Once the flop comes down you must look to see whether there are any cards higher than yours that would give anybody still in the pot a better pair. The safest move when confronted by higher cards is to fold.

Of course, it is still possible to win the hand but your odds are lessened and unless you really have a line on your opponents a dignified fold is the order of the day.

Trickier situation arise when you have good pocket pairs like queens and the flop comes down with an Ace. It’s tough luck and many people are tempted to stay in the hand as they are committed to it.

However, though the position of the game is also important, the cleverest thing to do is once again give up your hand – especially if there are plenty of people still in the pot. It may feel horrible to turn your back on the poker gods who have blessed you with this great starting hand but the odds are now against you and it is time to walk.

Tags: newbie players, poker guru, poker history, Texas Hold ’Em, Theory of Poker

This entry was posted on Monday, May 28th, 2007 at 10:47 am and is filed under Poker Strategy.