We all hope for those pocket pairs each time we check our cards.  But I believe that many people play them wrong and get caught holding the worst hand after the flop.  If in a good position and a bunch of limpers in front of you, and you have 8’s and below pocket pair, a limp is a good call.  Why?  You have to think than more than one person in front of you is holding two over cards, and they most likely will make any call that you put out.  If you are out of position, a raise will eliminate many people, and that puts the percentages in your favor.  One thing I do not suggest to do is make the overbet here.  Most people are not going to play Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks or 10’s for 200+ chips when the blinds are 10-20.  With an overbet, I think it looks like you have a small pair and you do not want to see the flop.  Recently, a good player put it all in for close to 300 chips.  He wasn’t in good position and had 4-5 players behind him.  I had stumbled into pocket sevens, and was definately calling because I had put him on pocket 2’s, 3’s, or 4’s, but the player in front of me made the call.  At this point I knew that if I called we were in a race.  I put the person in front of me on two over cards, and probably AK, AQ, AJ or KQ.  I folded thinking I made the right call.  The person behind me also had a good hand, but thought over it hard and folded too.  When the cards were layed out, the raiser had pocket 2’s, and the other person had KQ.  The KQ was kinda a wild call, and the raiser let him know about it, but the flop had a king.  I mentioned that if the KQ player didn’t call, I was going to because I knew I had him beat.  The player behind me had pocket 5’s and would have bet the initial raiser also.  If he would have limped in, because he was out of position, he could have seen the flop and backed down and still been in the game.

Do you make a raise with the rockets?  Depends on where you at on the table.  In last position, a raise looks like a steal, and a couple players will call.  I personally like to make a raise with any pocket pair higher than 9’s.  I want to eliminate a couple people hopefully and hope to catch the juice on the flop, which only happens once in a blue moon.  In another game, I picked up pocket 2’s.  The pot was raised then re-raised before it got to me.  I quickly folded, and when the flop brought out the other two 2’s, my stomach hurt.  Looking back at the play, I am pretty sure I would have folded again, but then again the re-raise wasn’t that big, and I was the big blind so I should have seen a flop.  I do believe that if you can see a flop with your pocket pair, that it is a good play.  You are hoping to lightning in a bottle, and if you hit it, well then you can put the screws down and win yourself some chips.

Those pocket kings are ace magnets, and you know someone is holding Ace-rag against you.  Play it with a raise, and hope that they get unlucky and put the hammer down after the flop.  But watch the suit of the cards.  If it is rainbow, then your probably in good shape, but when they are suitted and the person checks then re-raises you bet, chances are they have two of the suitted cards and your in more of a race than you might think.  Either you go all in and hope for luck that another one doesn’t come out, but a fold here isn’t the worst thing in the world.  I hate it when people go all in with a possible flush, but I have done the same thing when the odds are in my favor.  Your going to win almost 68% of the time, but it’s that one time that hurts the most.

Good luck and hope you see aces pre-flop.

sc

In most cases, I personally feel that if you have a good hand you should raise the pot 3x the blinds. However, recently I have deployed the limp tactic when playing against certain people for a couple of reasons. One, to disguise my hand. Second, if I know someone is going to call anything that I put in and playing for luck with the flop, and third to set a big trap against many people.

Watching others betting patterns allows me to know when I can bluff and when I am just point blank beat. In a recent hand, I picked up pocket rockets. Since the players that are normally playing for luck had folded, and I was in position, I put out a 3x bet. I had one woman call me. This was a little shocking to me because she limped into the pot. She was also someone that folded a lot and had a tight image in my opinion. The flop came out 4,5,6 rainbow and she instantly made a nice bet of close to half the chips in the pot. With that flop I normally wouldn’t have been scared against almost anyone else at the table, but with her I knew she hit trips. With such a small bet after the flop I felt like she was trying to make sure that I would stay in with her. This time, I made a small raise, just to see where I was at and her reaction, and when she quickly called, I knew that I was beat. Turn was a queen, and she again raised quickly, like there was nothing on the board that scared her. I asked that if I fold would she show, she said yes and turned over trip 6’s. I was just unlucky. Amazing thing about this was it happened the week after, but this time I had a bunch more chips in the pot and took a bad beating.

Certain players are always looking to trap you. They are the players that limp in and then make a serious bet after the flop. Is it a continuation bet or do they have the nuts? Heads-up the first one to have a pair should win, but with many people in the pot the odds increase. I believe you catch part of the flop around 21-22% of the time. This is just my number and looking back over a couple whole games. Other players like to put in an excessive raise after the flop to seem like they hit trips or better, which will usually get a decent player to call, but not someone who knows the game. I do not like the huge raise play. For one, I think that if you happen to hit trips, and several players are in, you can make more money or chips playing it slow. Just calling someones bet lets them think your on a draw. At the same time, if two over cards to your pair comes out, a serious bet makes it look like your stealing, but you will loose some players because of the size of the bet. Slowing down is in my opinion the best bet. Let them catch up and get top pair, or two pairs, your trips are going to be the best hand.

Good luck and hope you pick up aces!!

sc