Small Pocket Pairs inSH

[brianmarc]

In another post I ran "Complicated Hand" the related issue of how to play small pocket pairs (55-88) in SH (5-6) came up.

Here is my take. Comments welcome:

I have found that in SH raising with 55-88 preflop is generally a good strategy, since 1 pair will often win. If no AKQ flops and there are no scary draws a bet by me will frequently clear the field down to one or two. Other flopped mid cards may induce a limper with overcards to stay in who figures my raise to have been unpaired high cards and sees my flop bet as more of an automatic response. Most players do not play as if thet conside poclet pairs a real possibility unless there has been a preflop re-raise. In case where rags flop, opponents likely have 2 overcards and have more of an incentive to limp (not a great play, but many of these guys I play against do this), so I bet the turn and check the river. Any action from the other side and I fold.

Finally, if I'm HU against a (TA) good player I am MORE likely to semi-bluff by betting the flop even with a high card showing (since if he hasn't hit a pair he can be expected to take me for one) and fold. If he stays around for the turn or the river I simply check/fold.

[Ginogino]

Brianmarc:
The question, it seems to me, is how many players see the flop when you raise preflop. Say you raise UTG with your smallish pair and 3 players call. With 3 hands against you, any flop with two cards 8 or above confronts you with a substantial risk that one of your three opponents has made a better pair than yours. This makes it hard for you to bet your hand as strongly as you'd ordinarily like to. So often in shorthanded play you are betting your opponent's cards rather than your own -- with each extra opponent you have to give up that strategy to a greater extent.

If your raise gets the hand headsup, then you can play aggressively -- especially when the flop comes rags or when there's just one high-ish card. I find that pocket 6's (or the like) is a good hand for a re-raise against a solid UTG's open-raise (and it helps if UTG is predictable enough that you know what a 4-bet means).

Of course, the poker gods rarely give you the ideal hand at the ideal moment. But if you find that your raise (with small-ish pocket pairs) isn't cutting down the field enough, you might want to save this strategy for another game.

Gino

[stripsqueez]

I'm with Ginogino - smallish pairs are generally a poor holding against 2-3 opponents so if you cant reduce the field throw them away

i play heaps of shorthanded and play the smallish pairs very much as you describe which seems to work well - your description of players chasing you to the river with overcards is accurate and for that reason i often think its right to bet the river despite an overcard or 2 as the $$ in the pot will often get them to call with ace high - a common holding