Cleveland Poker Room

Getting pocket pairs as your initial cards is very common in Texas holdem poker. Most players would land a medium or a small pair. Quite a lot of amateur players tend to get excited with these pocket pairs. However, whether or not they are really good for you is something that you would have to think about before you put in any money in the pot. For example, take a starting hand of a pair of 8s on a site like Poker Stars. Most players would feel either happy or sometimes even ecstatic when this happen. However, when you think about it logically without getting attached emotionally, this is not a very good hand.

Why low pairs are not good?

Out of all the winning hands in poker, statistically speaking, a pair or better would win around 55% of the time. Even a high card can win the hand in 45% of the cases. If you have a pair of 8s and you don’t improve them by getting a set during the flop turn or during the river, you would only be able to beat a lower pair or a high card. The lower the pairs, the worse would be the case. One of the biggest disadvantages of having a pair of 8s is that only another 8 would be able to improve the hand. On the other hand, your opponents would hold two over cards, both or either of them could pair up when the board cards are revealed. Also, they could also have flush or straight possibilities.

The strategy

There are two strategies that you could use when you have a medium pocket pair like 8s. The first is to raise the pot and then try to force your opponents out of their hands. The lesser number of opponents you have to go towards the flop, the better it would be for you. If you could remove all except for one before they see the flop, then you could have a chance to win the pot. This would only work towards a late position. If you do raise early in the game and then get reraised by two or more players, you can be in a lot of trouble.

There is a second strategy which is considered by most PokerStars.com professionals to be the best way to play pocket pairs that are low or mid value. What you would have to do is to call the unraised bets of your opponents and just hope that you would hit three of a kind later on the flop. Three eights is actually very strong and it would give you the chance of playing slow if the circumstances are right. The good thing about this is that your hand would be disguised and your opponents would not put you on triples. There is even a chance of full house.

The conclusion is to be very careful when you have medium or small pocket pairs. The lower the value of the pair, the less chance you would have to hold up against your opponents so you should always be ready to fold.