Best Way to Play Pocket Pairs
Pocket pairs are without a doubt are the greatest starting cards, but landing a low are medium pocket pair can be very dangerous to your chip stack and you need to play them very carefully! I would imagine that if any of us poker players landed pocket eights we would be very happy but realistically and statistically they are not as good a hand as we think.
Statistics show that in Texas hold'em poker pairs or better win 55% leaving a high card to win the remaining 45%!! So if your pocket pairs don't make trips on the flop your only going to beat a high card or a lower pair. You really need to hit that third eight as your opponents could be holding two over cards which they could pair on the flop, and further to that they could hit a straight or a flush which you can't if your holding pocket pairs.
There are 2 ways to play medium pocket pairs that will help you make the most of them and hopefully build your chip stack!
1. The first option is to raise the pot and try to force your opponents to fold, the less opposition that see the flop the better as you don't want anyone pairing any over cards, the more people you get to fold the more likely your are to win. This play works best from late position as you can take the blinds from those who limped in, and also if you played this from early position you could get re-raised by those in late position then you really have to some up how strong your medium pockets pairs are!
2. The second option is to limp in by just calling the blind, see the flop and hope you hit trips! This is the option chosen by most. The great thing about this is that if you hit the 3 of a kind no one will know as you just called the blind from the beginning and you could slow play and win a great pot. If your really lucky a pair could land on the board giving you a Full House which should guarantee you the win
The conclusion is be very careful with medium to low pocket pairs as there not as strong as many people think, but played correctly and with a bit of luck can bring you a very healthy chip stack!
Pocket pairs are without a doubt are the greatest starting cards, but landing a low are medium pocket pair can be very dangerous to your chip stack and you need to play them very carefully! I would imagine that if any of us poker players landed pocket eights we would be very happy but realistically and statistically they are not as good a hand as we think.
Statistics show that in Texas hold'em poker pairs or better win 55% leaving a high card to win the remaining 45%!! So if your pocket pairs don't make trips on the flop your only going to beat a high card or a lower pair. You really need to hit that third eight as your opponents could be holding two over cards which they could pair on the flop, and further to that they could hit a straight or a flush which you can't if your holding pocket pairs.
There are 2 ways to play medium pocket pairs that will help you make the most of them and hopefully build your chip stack!
1. The first option is to raise the pot and try to force your opponents to fold, the less opposition that see the flop the better as you don't want anyone pairing any over cards, the more people you get to fold the more likely your are to win. This play works best from late position as you can take the blinds from those who limped in, and also if you played this from early position you could get re-raised by those in late position then you really have to some up how strong your medium pockets pairs are!
2. The second option is to limp in by just calling the blind, see the flop and hope you hit trips! This is the option chosen by most. The great thing about this is that if you hit the 3 of a kind no one will know as you just called the blind from the beginning and you could slow play and win a great pot. If your really lucky a pair could land on the board giving you a Full House which should guarantee you the win
The conclusion is be very careful with medium to low pocket pairs as there not as strong as many people think, but played correctly and with a bit of luck can bring you a very healthy chip stack!
