playing small pocket pairs late in tourney

[jwvdcw]

Ok, so say theres 3 or 4 people left in a tourney and the blinds are significantly high. You're dealt a pair of 5s. These types of hands I really struggle with how to play. Heres my problem:

You most probably have the best hand at the table. Ideally, you would like to just win the blinds. This is one hand that you don't really want to see a flop with because you're most likely not going to improve(you want to see a flop with these types of hands when the blinds are low early in the tourney and there are many people in the pot). Its such a tricky situation when you see the flop because say its something like 7,9, Q rainbow. If he bets, can you call? If he checks, do you bet into him?

Usually, what I've been doing is simply making a huge preflop raise that lets people know that I'm willing to go all in with this hand. If they call, thats fine because I'm most likely a favorite and they are practically committed to going all in. If they fold, then thats great. However, I realize that this isn't the best move. Going all in(or close to it) preflop is generally a move for people who feel like they are outclassed or don't have the skill to play the hand out. They are scared to see a flop against the better opponents, so they simply steal the blinds when they get hands. And since I have no idea how to play these hands, I usually fall into that category.

Now obviously, if you are shortstacked, I think you can just move all in. And, conversely, if you have a huge stack then you can make a moderate raise such as 3x BB and feel fine laying it down if you don't improve. However, what do you do when you are medium stacked and losing 3x the BB would significantly hurt you? What is your general strategy for playing these types of hands in these situations?

[juris]

Your quote:

However, I realize that this isn't the best move. Going all in(or close to it) preflop is generally a move for people who feel like they are outclassed or don't have the skill to play the hand out. They are scared to see a flop against the better opponents, so they simply steal the blinds when they get hands. And since I have no idea how to play these hands, I usually fall into that category.

My reply: If you are going to play a small pocket pair late in a tournament where the blinds are large, I give you three options: (1) fold. (2) All-in (3) check if you are in the big blind. (Ok, you could argue fill if in the small blind but that, like most things, falls into the "it depends" category of your opponent in the big blind and stack sizes).

Like you said, if shortstacked I'll usually (but not always)push with a baby pp. The rest of the time I'll fold. I don't see much sense in playing them any other way. If I have a large stack, I'm much more prone to go the route of folding them. But again, it depends on who my opponents are and I have pushed with the small pairs when I felt I had the best of it (sometimes I've been right, the rest not).

[ThaSaltCracka]

I too have serious problems with this hand late in a tourney. I have been dealt something like pocket 2's, my stack is around 8k, with blinds around 1200/2400. With a couple callers in front, do you call and hope for the set, or do you push and try to take it down right there? or do you simply just fold? I know that if you push here, you are most likely to get called by a hand that has you dominated(if they hit). I agree with you these hands are disasterious late in a tourney.

[jwvdcw]

Juris, my real questions is how to play them when you have an average stack...so are you saying that you'd fold them with a stack of lets say 2250 against stacks of 2250, 2750, and 2750 when the blinds are 200/400? See, the problem here is that the blinds are so high that you really want to take advantage of your good hands, yet you don't want to risk all that on a hand that is 50/50 at best and a huge underdog at worst.

Anyway, thanks for the reply and more thoughts are appricated.