Small pocket pairs can be very tricky to play in the game of Texas Holdem. It is great to have an already made hand before the flop with a pair, but all sorts of problems will arise when you see the next 3 cards come down on the flop. A lot of the time, small pocket pairs are overplayed, and end up getting the person playing them into a bit of a hole. However, with good sound strategy, you can turn your small pocket pairs into big winners.
The biggest problem with seeing flops with small pocket pairs is that there will almost always be overcards on the board, which means that there is the possibility that an opponent has made a higher pair than you using one of their holecards. Whatever strength you may have had preflop has all but disappeared with the presence of so many overcards, and you are left in a position of not really knowing where you stand, especially if you are in a multi-way pot. So you should try to avoid getting into sticky situations post flop when there are a number of overcards on the board with no potential draws.
The small pocket pair’s biggest strength is its ability to hit a set. To be honest, every time we play a small pocket pair we should be looking to hit a set on the flop. This is because in these situations we will have a very strong and it will be very hidden, which is a great combination for making money in poker. So every time we find ourselves seeing a flop with a small pocket pair, we should be preparing to fold to any action unless we make our set.
The probability of hitting a set with any pocket pair is 8 to 1, which is not all too common. Furthermore, the odds we are going to get preflop to make the call are never going to be good enough to make it seem worth it to call to try and hit our set, right? In this case although we will never be getting the correct pot odds to make the call, the implied odds are always going to make it worth it in the long run. The implied odds are what we expect to win after hitting our hand, and in this instance they are huge.
However, this does not mean that we should be calling raises left right and centre to try and make a set. We should try and see as many flops as cheaply as possible with small pocket pairs, and restrict ourselves to only calling raises that are 4BB or under. This way we are giving ourselves the best opportunity to win money, even though the bigger the raise, the more of an effect the pot odds will have on our ability to come out a winner. If we stick to trying to see cheap flops with small pocket pairs, we should be coming out on top as a winner in the long run.
