Going Beyond Set Hunting with Small Pairs

Small pocket pairs are fun hands to play.  They’re also relatively easy to play if you play them to either hit a set or fold.  The funny thing about them is that even though they start out as small favorites over any other unpaired hand, they rarely make it past the flop without hitting a set.

The thing that makes small pocket pairs so hard to play (if you don’t hit a set) is the flop usually brings overcards.  Since you have no idea if those high cards hit your opponent’s hand or not, it’s usually smarter to play your pocket pairs as fit-or-fold hands instead of trying to guess what your opponent has and calling him down on scary boards.

If your small pocket pair strategy consists of nothing more than limping in and hoping to hit sets, you’re not doing anything super wrong but there are a couple things you could do to increase your winrate.

Stop limping in with pocket pairs from early position

One of the most common mistakes I see people make with small pocket pairs is limping in with them from early position.  This is a huge mistake for several reasons.  First of all, you have no initiative in the hand.  Anyone with position on you can just make a preflop raise and bet the flop and win your money.  You’re only going to hit that set 1 time out 8 so it’s a losing proposition for you to just limp in from early position and hope you hit a set.

The second problem with limping in with small pocket pairs from early position is that it’s pretty obvious to decent players what kind of hand you have.  Here’s how it looks from your opponent’s eyes: you’ve limped in with something from early position a couple of times, called a preflop raise and then check-folded the flop.  The next time you do the same thing again.  You limp in from early position and call a raise.  But this time you put in a big checkraise on the flop.  Hmmm….looks like you finally hit one of your sets.

There are two different plays you can choose from that are better than limping in.  First, you can just fold them and avoid the trouble.  It’s not profitable to call raises from out of position in the hopes of hitting a set.  Even if you do hit a set, it’s hard to extract money with it because you’re out of position.

The other option is to come in with a raise.  By raising with these small pocket pairs you take the initiative in the hand and you control the action.  This also gives you a way to win the hand besides hitting your set: you can make your opponents fold by betting.  It also helps disguise your hand the times you do have a set.  Your opponents are more likely to put you on a couple of high cards than a small pocket pair.

I recommend you reserve this option for tables that aren’t particularly aggressive or unpredictable.  Aggressive tables will put in preflop re-raises against you or try to steal the pot from you after the flop, making it difficult for you to make a profit with these hands from out of position.

Stop calling preflop raises with small pocket pairs from out of position

Let’s say you’re in the small blind with a small pocket pair and someone from late position puts in a preflop raise.  You might be tempted to call here in the hopes of hitting a set but this is an unprofitable place to set hunt.

The problem with calling here is that late position raisers have such a wide range of hands.  You’re going to call the raise and miss most of the time and end up having to fold.  The times you do hit your set aren’t going to get you paid off very often because your opponents have such a wide range of hands that they won’t often have something strong enough to give you any action.

Instead of calling in this situation, just fold your small pair and wait for a better time to play it.  You’re not going to get paid off enough to make it worth the trouble.

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