Poker: Playing Medium Pairs (8-8 - J-J)
Playing medium pocket pairs properly can help you win some nice pots. But be careful and don’t get attached to these very vulnerable hands. Medium pocket pairs are, in my opinion, some of the most difficult hands to play. When you are get dealt these hands, you are usually going to hold the best hand preflop. But you always have to watch out for premium pocket pairs. It’s easy to raise these hands because they look so pretty and strong until that Ace comes on the flop. How should you play them? Many tight-aggressive pros like Dan Harrington recommend a mixture of mostly raises from middle to late position and some calls with medium pocket pairs. Occasionally they will recommend folding these hands to strong raise from the right type of player. Mostly these will be good guidelines to follow, but I often play more conservatively with these hands, especially in online play. If you don’t flop a set, these hands can be very vulnerable and trap you into staying in when you’re probably beat. Since these hands are so vulnerable, I recommend smooth calling more often from early and middle position. Your real goal is to flop a set with these hands, although you will sometimes win a large pot when three small cards flop. At times I just like to analyze and play the flop, which is why I would just call even with pocket Jacks. However, from late position, I will usually raise these hands. Note that most of my strategy is focused on no-limit. If you’re playing limit, you probably want to raise even more often to drive out the mediocre holdings. Position is so important in hold ‘em – especially playing dangerous hands like these. Consider playing this type of hand in different positions. Hand #1: I’m on the button holding pocket Jacks. Three callers come in for the minimum and I’m going to raise about 3-4 times the size of the pot. The blind folds and the three relatively conservative players all call my raise. The flop comes out 10-8-4 with two hearts. The first player checks, the middle player bets the minimum, the third player folds, and I raise it the size of the pot. This is an ideal flop for you, besides the heart draw. You have an overpair to the board, and it’s unlikely that they have a higher pair as they didn’t reraise you preflop. Maybe one of them is holding A-8 or A-10, and you can get them to stay in or even raise you back. Because of the heart draw, you should definitely bet out to discourage draws. You’ll be in power the rest of the hand because of your position. Hand #2: You’re in first position holding pocket Jacks again. I would just call in this situation a lot of the time, but let’s say that you raise. You get 2 callers and the blinds fold. The flop comes A-Q-7 rainbow. Not a good flop for you. Anyone with a Q or an A has your beaten. But you took control before the flop, so what do you do? It’s not too wise to bluff here, as one of them probably has an Ace. You have to check it down, and if one of them has the Ace, he’ll probably bet at you. You’ve got to fold at this point. You didn’t gain much by raising in this situation. Sure, it is usually correct to raise in this situation. But you might consider just calling and seeing what the flop brings. You’re risking weaker hands getting into the pot, but sometimes you can afford to take that risk, especially in a third Jack comes on the flop. The key is that position and the flop are defining aspects to playing these medium pocket pairs. My examples used pocket Jacks, and you get more and more vulnerable as you go down to pocket 10s or 9s. There will be more overcards that can beat you on the flop. No, if you’re holding pocket 10s and the flop comes A-10-6, you’re in an excellent position if you just smooth called preflop. Someone holding an Ace will think that his pair is good, but you’ve got him dominated. Raise him back and don’t slowplay too often. Aim to hit a set with these pairs. It’s really the only way to know where you are in the hand. Even if the flop comes out with cards smaller than your pocket pair, what if your opponent hit a smaller set? He’ll probably get you for all of your money. That is a tough read to make, but if there are 3 rags on the board and your opponent is going all-in, you’ve got to put him on for at least 2 pair. Not always, but usually. Nick Kisberg is the administrator of the Cardschat poker games forum which has numerous articles on a range of poker strategy based topics as well as an in-depth guide on how to play omaha poker and a great poker screensaver that is available for download. |
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