A small pocket pair is any pair from 22-99. To make it a pocket pair you have to receive them as your hole cards, the cards that no one but you can see. I like to play small pocket pairs in a tourney for the simple fact that they are easy to play. For the most part if you hit your set (meaning you get three of a kind) you have a very powerful hand, that is for the most part hidden. If you don’t hit your set a small pair is easy to fold at the sight of any bet.
The times you may want to play a small pocket pair past the flop is when it is a higher pair than any card on the flop. For example if you have 88 in your hand and the flop comes 2,5,7 you should play the eights, and you should play them aggressively. Now if in that same situation you had 44 you should fold the hand to any bet. The odds of hitting you set after you missed it on the flop is about 8%. Never chase a set after the flop!
Lets go back to the situation with the eights, In this situation your pocket pair is higher than any card on the flop. Since there’s a very good chance you have the best hand on the flop you should bet it very aggressively. I would make a bet no smaller than half the pot and no bigger than the pot. Usually a bet about half the pot or a bit more should get the job done. In this situation you really just want to take the pot right then and there, since you hand could be beat easily and doesn’t have much of a chance for improvement you don’t want any callers. If you happened to get raised in this situation I would toss the hand quickly. There’s no reason to get in a battle with a low pocket pair.
The odds of hitting your set on the flop is about 1 to 9, That means 1 out of every 9 flops when you hold a pocket pair, you will make a set. Because of this you should never call to see the flop with a small pocket pair unless your stack size is at least 10 times the size of the bet. Also remember that if you do hit your set you can still be beat so be careful.
Brough to you by,
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