Playing Medium Pocket Pairs

There are a number of ways to play medium sized poker pairs in No Limit Hold ‘em but this article will outline and discuss the simplest way to play them pre-flop and on the flop. Each player has their own unique style of play, but if you are interested in learning a basic system, but an effective one then keep on reading.

Pre-Flop

In the action before the flop there are 3 rules to abide by here:

• If you are in early position then a flat call is the best option here. You don’t want to raise only to be left with a difficult decision when there is action after you. You also don’t want to commit too much to the pot before you get to see the flop.
• If you are in middle position you have a choice of either raising or calling if everyone before you has folded. From middle position I would still normally flat call, but it is still ok to raise here. If it has been raised before you act I would flat call, if re-raised you can lay them down easily depending on the size of the pot. You can still call if the pot provides great value and if you don’t think someone is going to re-raise again.
• From late position I will almost always raise from here. It is likely that your opponents to act after you will have a weaker hand, and generally speaking a medium pair is a solid hand here.

Flop

The flop is a lot easier to play then a lot of people will have you believe with a pocket pair. People get way too caught up with their pairs then they really should.

If you miss the flop and there are over cards on the board then the best option, by far, is too check/fold. This eliminates any chance of you committing any more chips to the pot and saves a lot of chasing on the turn and river.

If you miss the flop and there aren’t any over cards on the board, then besides 3 of a kind, this is as good as your hand is going to get. Depending on the pre-flop action, in most cases your best option here will to bet it, and bet it aggressively. This way you will find out good information about your opponent and not leave yourself open to them catching an over pair on the turn or river. If someone bets before you act, raising or folding is your best option. If you think that they have a set or a higher pair than you, then you obviously fold. If however you think it is a continuation bet, top pair or on a draw, then you almost certainly should be putting in a raise in this situation.

When you hit a set on the flop or a full house you have two options. The first of which, is to slow play it. By checking or calling on the flop when you have a top hand can really pay off on the right occasion. The best time to slow play is when there aren’t any draws on the board and when you are in late position. This allows you to let opponents to keep on betting, while at the same time they can get a sense of weakness from you. If you are first to act I would suggest betting. This way it gets more chips into the pot early on giving them more of an incentive to call you on the turn and river. The other option you have if you are first to act is to check/call or check/raise. The check will induce a bet by your opponent and make them feel as though they are in front. A check call will also make you look weak, which is a good thing when you have a monster hand. If you check/raise your opponent will be a lot more likely to call you because he can be pot committed. You can get significantly more chips out of your opponent using this method than if you simply bet first. There is more risk involved with this however, because you might be giving your opponent a free check.

In summary, you need to have a set method of playing pocket pairs. They can get you into more trouble than you need and give you difficult decisions to make if you don’t adopt an effective style. Don’t over play them and try to optimise your payouts when you hit a set on the flop.