Poker News

Tom ‘Time’ Leonard

Let’s continue along the road of identifying weaknesses in our game and then proactively setting a goal to eliminate them. Done properly, this will result in stronger play at the tables and therefore bigger cash outs at the cage. We’ve all heard the maxim of “Play live cards in Stud and high cards in Hold’em.” If you startout with little cards in Hold’em, unless the flop nails your hand, you’re going uphill all the way. What about pairs? Since the odds of being dealt a pair before the flop are 16 to 1, they tend to look pretty good, especially after you have mucked complete rags for an hour. Of course, high pairs are pretty good. What about the rest of the pairs? We’ve all seen players play bottom pair all the way to the river even in the face of over-cards on the board. Bless them—for this is the type of player that adds to our bottom line. OK, so they suck out on the river for a winner once in a while! But if you maintain your discipline they will return those chips.

As a general rule, when you play small pairs from early or mid position you need to flop a set to proceed. Let’s say you decide to play a pair of threes from early position and you’re fortunate to see the flop for one bet. The flop comes 7-7- Jack and now you think, “Well, two pair isn’t the worst hand to have.” The turn produces a Queen and you still have two pair. Are they any good? Well, we’ve all heard the answer to that. It depends. The point I’d like to make here is, how have you found yourself in this position to begin with? The answer, of course, is because you played an inferior holding from poor position.

Let’s set a goal ofnot playing small pairs from early position. Actually folding small pairs in early to mid position! Wow, we’re tightening up now! OK, we’ve set an admirable goal. How might we police what pairs we play from what position? Again, this has much to do with the texture of the game and your knowledge of your opponents which might lead you into playing a hand out of position to take advantage of a situation. However, you might consider adopting a guideline on how to play pairs to keep you out of trouble. Top pairs don’t present a problem. If you’re fortunate enough to snag a big pair— you raise, or re-raise.

Here’s a suggestion on the play of pairs dependent upon their size. Under the gun, meaning you are first to act being to the left of the Big Blind, only play a pair of nines or better. In a full game in this position you are either the first of nine or ten players to make a decision. On that basis, in an upraised pot, play eights or better from second position, a minimum of sevens from third position and so on until you reach playing fours in the cut off seat. At this point if no one has yet entered the pot, a raise with any pair might be in order. At least this system will give you a general guideline to only play lower pairs from later position. Yes, this is rather simplistic. However, if you embrace it and summon the discipline to adhere to it, you will not find yourself in early position with a pair of threes looking at a flop of higher cards and being seduced to continue in hopes of hitting your set on the turn or river. Remember- not putting yourself in harm’s way is much of the battle! Now go to the cage and cash in all those chips that weren’t donated to someone else’s pot by playing small pairs from early position.

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