How to play Texas Holdem – Part 3

Playing the small pairs 22-77

The small pairs if played correctly can be the lowest risk and most rewarding hands you can play. Firstly you must understand that in a full game the pair you have does not have much value on its own and will in most cases need to improve to win. The hands you see on TV involving small pairs are played under very different circumstances late in a tournament so please don’t push all in with a pair of 2’s!

With a small pair you are looking to hit a set (3 of a kind) on the flop. The odd’s of doing this are 7 to1. The odds are not great but if you can see the flop cheaply with these hands you can get paid off very well as a 3 of a kind in holdem is a huge hand.
 
So, you know your hand must improve on the flop if you play it and you know the odds. If someone bets too big before the flop you should be folding these hands straight away. The ideal situation is to have multiple players call pre-flop. If you are facing a bet don’t be afraid if it is a small proportion of your stack (around 7% or less), hitting a set against a player with a big pair is a huge money winner.

Playing pairs this way is known as ‘set hunting’ and is best used when you have a large stack which covers most of the other players.

So you have hit a set, what do you do?
Huge chapters have been written on this before. You hand is very strong but still vulnerable to straights and flushes. If the board is not too risky then play it slow by just calling and then look to re-raise them on the turn if you think they are still drawing. Sometimes the best way to play it is just to bet straight out but never too big, you need to make back the money now from all the times you entered the pot and missed your set. If you think players are looking to hit flushes or straights then you have to make them pay for it so make a good pot sized bet.

When you don’t hit a set you should not have a hard decision. You will rarely have an over pair and most of the time you will be against multiple opponents making it less likely that your hand is good. You can simple fold on all these occasions however the occasional straight draw may be worth playing. On a board of 345 a pair of 6’s will be a very playable hand however the same hand on a 578 with multiple players can be tricky and is best folded at this stage.

In part 4 I will cover the medium pairs 8’s to Jack’s