Playing Small Pocket Pairs (22-77) in 6 Max Cash Games

I see a lot of people posting on the Cardrunners forums about how to play these hands, which are admittedly difficult to play, especially from early position.

Here's my take on how to play them, I'd be interested in your comments as always. One assumption I'm going to make throughout is you are playing in a $1/$2 cash game, using a standard TAG style, e.g. 20/15 and your image is pretty decent but aggressive.

PREFLOP:

UNOPENED POTS:

When playing small pairs, I believe the correct strategy is to raise an unopened pot, regardless of your position. Yes - that does mean raising 22 UTG - which I always do.

This is for several reasons:-

1 - It builds a pot. It's so much easier to stack someone in a raised pot than in an unraised pot.

For example, you raise to $7 with 55 from UTG. BB calls with KQ - obviously his play is questionable but I'm not going to go into that.

Flop comes 5 8 Q rainbow. BB checks, you bet $11 (about a 70% pot continuation bet), he checkraises to $33. You call, wanting him to lead the turn, which is a 2. He leads for $55 into the $81 pot. What you've done is you've got your opponent to put in almost 1/2 a buyin pretty much drawing dead.

It's highly unlikely that if this was an unraised pot (perfectly possible if you have limped), that the betting would escalate as quickly, and you'd probably be looking at no more than winning an $80 pot by the river, when in a raised pot the pot is $136 when it's your turn on the turn.

2 - You often get to see all 5 cards (especially when you have position).

Imagine the flop was now 4 8 Q rainbow, but the BB calls your c-bet instead of checkraising (again possible). He checks a blank turn (2) to you, and you check behind. River is a 5. He bets, figuring his top pair is good, especially as you have shown weakness on the turn. You raise, and he calls. You've just won the pot by hitting on the river.

If you limp, you'd check/fold the flop whether the pot is limped or someone else raises, and you don't win this fair sized pot. I've lost count of the amount of times I've hit a set on the river and stacked someone in this way.

3 - You can win without hitting. I.e. everyone folds to your raise preflop, or to your c-bet.

4 - It keeps up your aggressive image. This enables you to get paid off with your big hands.

5 - It makes you harder to read. For example, if you limp pp's and raise all other good hands, even the less observant players may notice this after a few sessions playing with you. Obviously then, if you limp or limp/call a raise, and you come out betting, you'd be telegraphing your hand somewhat. This makes it easier for them to fold their strong hands. Even @ $1/$2, I play against the same players on a regular basis - and if I did this, I know it would be picked up on.

If your open-raise was 3-bet, I'd call or fold depending on stack sizes and my opponent's tendencies. Is he is willing to stack off with top pair/top kicker or an overpair? Does he have more than 10x the raise in his stack? Obviously then I'm pretty much always playing for set value only.

That summarises with my strategies for unopened pots.

LIMPED POTS:

I tend to give limpers little respect on a general basis. It's a weak play, which is favoured by weak players.

I'd raise a pocket pair behind 1 limper, that's for sure. Behind 2/3 limpers, I might limp. I might raise too, it depends on the table and my image. I think in that situation, both plays are ok. I'd often also do this with suited connectors/gappers though, so I wouldn't be telegraphing my hand in doing so.

In limped pots when I am in the blinds, I'd complete or check. I'd open-raise from the SB if it was folded to me. I'd raise from the BB if it was folded to the SB who completed.

FACING A RAISE:

These kind of scenarios are the most difficult to face in my opinion. This is where your PokerTracker stats can help...

If a 14/11 player raises from EP, you can be sure his range is pretty small, and his range will almost always mean a strong hand. Here I'd just call the raise (with or without position) and hope to hit my set against his tptk or overpair and stack him.

If a 30/22 raises from cutoff/button and you are in the blinds, I'd almost always 3-bet. This scenario was explained in my article 'The Mathematics Behind 3-betting' which you can read on here too.

However, the same player raised from EP, I'd be more inclined to call.

That pretty much summarises how I'd play pocket pairs preflop.

POSTFLOP:

Postflop, apart from in very extreme circumstances (e.g. 66 on a 345 flop), whether I have raised or not preflop, I'm not putting any more money into the pot apart from a c-bet unless I flop a set. Remember if you call a raise with 77 and the flop is 2 4 5, this hand is not a lock and should not be treated as such. Sure, you may put some money in with this hand, but please do not get stacked with it unless you have a huge read on the guy.

If I raised preflop and flopped a set, I'd make my standard c-bet and see what happens after that. I might call a raise for deception purposes, or I may 3-bet the flop. It depends on the board and the opponent, and what I think they have.

If I called a raise, I may lead out, I may check/raise, I may check/call. It depends again.

And that's about it for playing small pocket pairs. I'd be interested as always in any feedback.