set play

hi,
i couldn't find the answer with the search button but i'm sorry if there's already a thread on this subject.

i don't know how to play low pocket pairs, how much i should call and how much you're position influenses this. ik know the five and ten rule but is this also good against just one opponent out of position?.. a friend of me told me i could always play them for like 1:4 (callot) but i feel that i'm losing money with them.
i also can't get really much money out of them i i catch, i mostly play them pretty strong and i can't get anybody to call it.

tnx,
Lars

[Pov]

How you play low pairs should be tailored for the game you find yourself in. Many will claim with the number of tables you have to choose from you should simply change tables until you find one that suits the way you want to play your low pairs. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] But it's not always that easy and as you move up in limits it definitely won't be.

Basically, low pairs play best when you can see a flop cheap and get paid off when you hit. So basically you're looking for a table with a lot of limpers and then some fairly aggressive play from the flop onwards. Here's why: The odds against flopping a set are about 8:1. So your pair of fives will be useless after the flop the vast majority of the time. Clearly you're not going to be getting 8:1 on a call pre-flop very often so you're losing preflop money when you limp with this hand. But when you hit the hand it is usually well hidden and now you make up what you lost pre-flop quickly with the double-sized turn and river bets.

If you're playing on a table where players chicken out on the turn, you've lost most of your ability to "catch up" after your losing pre-flop play. You won't be getting the implied odds necessary to make the call getting only 4:1 on your hand so you'd need to wait for something more like 5:1 or 6:1 which may happen much less frequently. Also, if there is a lot of raising preflop and you're in an early position then you may find yourself getting poor implied odds since you'd much rather pay one bet than two. However, you're still better off with a pair than a suited connector (in this type of game) since if you do get isolated you're possibly a small favorite over the raiser whereas you'll pretty much always be behind with the suited connector. On a side note, the suited connector would like the type of table you've described where people *don't* bet and raise on the flop because that increases the chances it can draw turn and river cards cheaply!

So while this answer might not give you a rule of thumb response to your low pocket pairs, hopefully this will get you started down the path of understanding how to profit with them and alter your play for game conditions. Sometimes you definitely can limp with 44 from UTG if the game is right. Sometimes you should throw this hand away with hardly a thought from MP after a limper. Understanding what makes it profitable is the key to knowing how and when to play it.

Excellent explanation Pov!

[4_2_it]

Excellent post pov. OP referenced the 5/10 rule which is applicable to NL. I think I would modify your advice for NL play, but want the OP to confirm whether his question pertained to Limit (which pov's explanation is the nuts) or NL.

In NL (assume normal table conditions), I will usually limp with all pp from any position and call any bet up to 4xbb as long as the stacks are deep enough to give me a 10-1 (Yes I'm greedy) return if I hit. A set is the perfectly disguised hand and unless you are playing against villains who will lay down AA and KK then you should see a profit from this play.

I think this is pretty typical play for a NL set miner, but would be curious if others have comments.

[Pov]

[ QUOTE ]
I think I would modify your advice for NL play

[/ QUOTE ]

Excellent point - so would I - I tend to forget people frequently are asking about NL when they don't say either way and my "default" is to limit.

The same concepts apply of course, this is a hand where you're looking to make a set and get paid off big via large implied odds. I think 4_2_it's rules of thumb are pretty good. I'll just add for others that might be reading this and not immediately see the difference that you should definitely not be playing these hands the way you see it on the World Poker Tour in a cash game.

In tournament play the blinds are frequently very large compared to the stacks and you have time pressures forcing you to take down blinds and win coin flip type hands to accumulate chips before the blind levels kill you. In a cash game the blinds are typically very small and not worth stealing. A big raise with a low pair will typically win you a very small pot or lose you a fairly large one.