Hi All,

I'm really struggling to understand how to play mid and low pocket pairs. I play 6-max 2NL online. I concede that my post flop play is weak.

With mid or low pairs, unless I hit a set on the flop (which I understand to be only one in 8.5 times) I can't see the strength. (And even flopping a set I wonder if the cost of seeing the flop all the other times makes it a possible to achieve positive overall value extracted).

OK I have a made pair but it just takes one of my opponents to pair up with one of the higher cards on the flop and I'm behind.

Also, it feels so weak post flop - If I have pocket Kings I'm only really afraid of a flopped Ace. If I have pocket sixes I'm probably afraid of most of the flop almost every time.

What am I missing?

Thanks for any advice

BJ

there is nothing wrong with playing them just to hit a set and then mucking them rapidly if you don't

Small and medium pockets are one of the most overrated hands by most beginners. I think it may be because most beginners started playing because they saw WSOP and other big tournaments on TV, and they often see pros go all in with hands like 66. They think 66 must be a strong hand. Of course open shoving a 10-15 bb stack in a tourney is a completely different situation from a 100 bb deep stack in a cash game. Yet, I still will sometimes see players open shove a large stack in a cash game, and often it turns out to be a small or medium pair.

Obviously you do not want to open shove your 66 (and other similar) hands. You do want to open raise them, though, using whatever size you normally would for any other hand you open with. (Usually 2.5-3 bb). Why? Well, there are multiple reasons, other than the fact that it is almost always better to be the aggressor in most situations.

First, you might win the pot without a flop. This may not seem significant, but think about your win rate if you could just take the blinds every hand. You would win 1.5 bb per hand for a 150 bb/100 win rate! Small and middle pairs are the type of hand where winning the blinds is not a bad outcome.

Second, you begin building a pot in case you do hit your set. The main profit from these pairs comes from your implied odds. Basically it means you risk a small amount preflop to have a good chance to win a big amount when you hit. If you do hit, you will have an easier time building a big pot if you already started to do so pre.

Third, and relatedly, if someone has a big hand and 3 bets you, your pocket pair can become a good candidate to call, especially with a nitty opponent. This seems counterintuitive, but it makes sense when you think about what I said before— you want to win a huge pot when you hit. Your opponent is much more likely to stack off if he is three betting a tight range. Obviously if you do not hit your set you will fold. If you do hit, though, players with AA or KK will often have a tough time letting it go.

Finally, if you raise PF you can often take it down with a cbet on appropriate flops where you have a range advantage. High card, disconnected rainbow flops or paired flops with low to medium pairs on the board are particularly good ones to cbet.

All this is situational of course. If your opponent is a not who never calls preflop without a top tier hand, then the raise PF is good, but you probably want to be careful about cbets on high card flops. If he is a calling station then obviously pure set mining is best — hit the set or muck it. The station will likely pay you off, but will not fold marginal hands that beat you and that better players would fold. Pure set mining is also not a terrible way to play them, especially until you get more comfortable with ranges and post flop play.