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Poker Articles |
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How to Play
Small Pocket
Pairs |
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Some of
the trickiest hands that you will come
across in Texas Hold’em are small pocket
pairs. They can be fairly hard to
understand and you may have a hard time
making decisions when you look down at a
couple of small matching cards. There is
a way to play these hands, all you need
are a few pointers. |
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When to play Small Pocket Pairs? |
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The most
important thing to know is that small
pocket pairs are not good in a full game
unless you hit a set with them. What you
must also know, is that you are not very
likely to hit a set. However, when you
do hit a set it will pay off quite
lucratively. Most times it is the last
hand your opponent will put you on and
more times then not, it will lead to an
all-in situation. You will get paid off
on sets, more than any other kind of
hand when it is a set made from your
pocket pair. |
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With that
said, you might be wondering when it is
a good time to play small pocket pairs.
There are three things you should think
about before making the choice to play
small pocket pairs. The first thing
would be how much money is in the pot?
The next question would be how much
money is likely to be put into the pot?
Lastly, how much money do I need to put
into the pot? Now, this is really just
basic pot odds and implied odds, but you
may not know what those are yet. So for
now, just stick to these questions. If
there is a lot more money to be made
than there is to be risked; you should
call. |
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When not to play Small Pocket Pairs? |
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This is
basically just the opposite of what was
said above. If you are not getting good
odds, you should fold. The worst time to
play a small pocket pair would be in an
all-in situation before the flop. You
are a huge underdog, most likely against
most all-in hands at a full table. This
is why you only play when you are
getting great odds. If you do that, it
will be worth it to call, because you
will hit a set enough to make up for all
the times you do not hit a set in that
situation. It is all about the numbers. |
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Overall,
smaller pocket pairs are perhaps the
biggest misleading hand in poker. A lot
of people assume they are something
better than they are. If you do not hit
a set, they are going to lose most of
the time. If you play them right, you
will be able to make a lot of money from
small pocket pairs. |
