Pocket Pairs on a paired flop.

[OrianasDaad]

I've been having trouble deciding the best way to play these types of hands. Many of my loose opponents are virtually unreadable until at least the turn. Is there a general guide you use for the different types of paired flops?

Let's assume something like 8/images/graemlins/club.gif, 8/images/graemlins/heart.gif for the hero. What's the default play for these hands? Can anyone point me toward a link or some literature discussing this?

--Flops--
1- A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, A/images/graemlins/heart.gif, K/images/graemlins/spade.gif (overcard, overpair)
2- A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, A/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 5/images/graemlins/spade.gif (overpair, undercard)
3- A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 5/images/graemlins/spade.gif (overcard, underpair)
4- 7/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 3/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 3/images/graemlins/spade.gif (undercard, underpair)

[soko]

There is no general guide with the amount of information provided, we need to know how many opponents you have, what position each of your opponents are in, if it was raised preflop, which opponents are big bluffers, how big the pot is, what your table image is, etc etc etc

[soko]

but dont feel bad, this has to be one of the more difficult situations new players are faced with, which is alot of the time you will see in a huge multi-way action pot there is still some fish calling down with pocket 4s, for me it's just experience which tells me what I can do there are situations when I just need to check fold down and situations where I know I can take down the pot with a bluff.

[BarronVangorToth]

Not knowing your opponents, my gut preferences put the best scenario as

#4

(duh!)

THEN #2 ... then #3

And #1 is obviously the worst.

Barron Vangor Toth
www.BarronVangorToth.com (http://www.BarronVangorToth.com)

[djoyce003]

Your question is difficult to answer because what I would do is highly dependent on the number of players seeing the flop. If it's heads up, none of them are particularly frightening just from the odds of them having a hand better than yours at that point. That being said, if there are only a couple of callers, you are probably in front with hand 4. The other hands are tricky because they contain aces and half of the online idiots anyway call with any ace. or even with any king sometimes.

[OrianasDaad]

I did a little work with pokerstove, and came to some of the following conclusions.

I used very loose opponents - any PP, any suited, Ax, Kx, and any connector. About 60% of all starting hands.

- Having three to a flush has a little bit of value, but not much, since it will always be one card.

- 22 was an underdog in all simulations. Best case was heads-up with 334 or 443, with 3 to a flush, just under 50% equity.

- Having the unpaired card be lower than the card in your hand is extremely important.

- Flops with aces or kings in them devalue your hand greatly.

- The more opponents, the more quickly your hand loses value. I'd say against more than 3 opponents, you can let most of the pocket pairs go, situation dependant.

- Lastly, the higher your pocket pair the better.

In retrospect, all of this is fairly self-evident, but self-study does pay dividends when trying to understand the game.

Anyone feel free to add anything I have misrepresented, mistaken, forgotten, or overlooked.

[MrMoo]

Like others said there are a ton of mitigating factors. If I was in a later position, with only a couple of callers yet someone already bet out, I'd probably throw in a raise. If you get reraised you know your screwed and you can dump the hand. If you get called you can assume that your probably beaten. If they're a weak player you may be able to move them off the hand. Again, it mostly depends on your competition.