[johnf]

NL HOLDEM. RING GAME. NOT TOURNY!

Please review my general small pocket playing principles and let me know if you have any suggestions or advise. Hearing others opinions continues to help my game a lot!!!

I generally limp all small pocket pairs from early and middle position. Is this advisable?

Once I have limped them, if they get raised, I generally check whether my opponents stack and my stack will support him paying me 10-1 compared to how much I have to call. If they will, then I call. My theory here is that I have an 8-1 shot of flopping a set. If I flop a set and he either has big pockets or improves, I have a good shot at getting his whole stack. But I bumped it up to cover those cases when my set doesn't win... thus 10-1. I am not thinking about anything other than catching a set here. If I don't catch a set, I am done with the hand (well... most times).

If there is a real raise and a real re-raise, I am dropping them regardless of the amount I need to call. Someone has a really big hand and there is a chance the original raiser will come over the top again. Therefore, I always fold in this case.

I use the same 10-1 rule for playing small pockets from middle and late in a raised pot. I need the foes stack and my stack allow him to pay 10-1 on the amount I call with. Again, catching a set is my priority from late position with small pockets, but if the flop comes out little cards and it is checked to me, I will make a choice whether to bet here regardless of whether I caught my set or not.

If it is folded to me on the button in an unraised pot, I am probably going to raise the blinds with my pockets regardless of their size. This, of course depends on who is in the blinds.

If there are limpers to me, I am just calling from late position with my small pockets.

Finally, I break my own rules every once in a while to mix it up. In fact, the other day, I was sitting UTG with 3's and a $150 stack at a $50 buy-in NL table. I raised! I got one caller who had $80 in his stack. The flop came A63. I ended up taking his whole stack. But, in general, I follow these pretty much to the letter.

Your thoughts?

[ThomasR]

Yes, in a word. Early on with more players round the table, low - mid pocket pairs may actually be worth very little, as there is a high chance for others to have higher pairs which immediately would put you at a disadvantage.

As time goes on, they do become more valuable, and a pair of 3's could just win you a large pot near the end of a game.

Other than that, fairly tight, you play a sensible game and try to play mainly strong hands with some variation to make yourself harder to read. A good tactic that will be rewarded time and time again.

[BigAl]

Initially, I don't touch low pocket pairs unless it's cheap, and that it normally at any stage of the game. The chances of someone having a higher pocket pair are reasonable, so unless you hit a third on the flop or perhaps make a second pair, then it's not generally worth it.

True enough, later on in the game they do become more valuable and big pots can be won with a pair alone, but they aren't something I'd want to take too much of a chance on.

[DeepBlue]

I'll play them around mid - late stages, and even sometimes early if I'm on the SB and called.

I'm not too keen on them, but it's worth looking for a third of a kind if it's not too much of a risk in the chip department. Later on they can win you the game, so although you should still play them with care, they aren't quite as worthless as they can be early on with 6 or 7 people in any given hand and the chances of a higher pocket pair high.