How do you play low to middle pairs in Texas Hold'em?

Question

I can never decide on a useful strategy for low to middle pairs in poker.

If I call preflop and hope for a set I only hit an eighth of the time on the flop and even then I am sometimes beaten by a straight or flush or whatever.

If I bet big preflop like I do with the big pairs either everyone's going to fold and I pick up the blinds or I get callers with higher pairs or overcards that are quite likely to hit something on the board.

I think I am a reasonably good poker player on the whole but low to middle pairs are a real hole in my game that I want to patch up.

Help me please!

Answer 1

Position, position, position. (I'll assume you mean NL Hold'em, because limit would play completely different.)

In early or mid position, either limp in or just fold them, with only the very, very occasional raise to mix up your play.

In mid to late position, if the pot is unopened, go ahead and raise with them as if they're winners. You might win the pot pre-flop, and you'll be in good position to win the pot post-flop, if the flop isn't too scary. (Also, if you flop your set, you'll be in good position to make a big pot.)

In mid to late position, if the pot is opened with limpers, go ahead and limp along. If you hit, your gonna win a bunch, if you miss, fold cheap.

In mid to late position, if the pot is opened with a raise .... okay, this is the hardest one. It all depends on the raiser's image and yours. Can you reraise him off the hand? Is he raising with strength? Can you get him off the hand post-flop? For the most part, I'd tend to fold my lower pairs and hold on to my mid pairs here, but it's all about the table image.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

A little more information please. In a tournament? In a cash game? No limit or limit? Chip leader or short chips? How many players have called/bet/raised and how are they playing? What position am I in? All these factors determine how I will play those hands.
I think overall position is most important. The later the position the more information you have on your opponents. Almost any pairs are solid in a heads up match, but lose strength considerably the more people are in the pot. The only time I will call a bet with a low or medium pair is:
a) When I'm last in position and I know that the bettor will bet with drawing hands and/or just a high card AND everyone else has folded.
b) When I'm last in position and the bettor has a big chip stack and loves to bully smaller stacks AND everyone else has folded.
So position is very important to me. The more people that I know will be in the hand, the more odds there are of someone catching a higher pair (or holding a higher pair) than me. Not to mention, if someone is calling a pre flop bet, they probably have a decent hand.
The players' playing style is probably my second priority. If I have a generally tight table, again, depending on my position and how many players there are, I will generally either raise or call. If I'm playing a short-handed tight table, this is a good time to raise. Fewer players means less chance of someone catching a better hand, and tight means more players folding. In a long-handed table, especially with loose-passive players, I will call if the pot odds call for it. As you mentioned, you are generally looking to catch a set right on the flop. If you don't, get out. Catching low or medium pair sets on the flop is deadly; people are rarely looking for it. I love this play at a loose table with a high player-to-flop percentage. You can bet all the way down the river and all people will suspect you of is top pair. The key with pairs (this applies to high pairs too, but pairs in general) is to thin the field. Any pairs play very well to brilliantly heads up, but the odds turn to mush against a lot of players. If you're in a situation where you don't feel you can get players to fold up, then do the math: 8:1 pot odds or better, call and rely on the law of averages. If you feel you can get players to fold up, push. This works well in tournaments when the blinds start to get huge and antes start coming into play, especially if you have the big stack. If you have the small stack, beware of bigger stacks. I often find they will call you just to see if they can elminate you. If you have a lot of big stacks you think will call your raise, you might just want to call or fold up. However, if the big stacks are playing tight consistently, a raise might not be a bad idea here, especially if your chips are less than 10x the big blind. It's much easier to take shots at the pot and get players to close down with hands they might be happy to call when the blinds were just $20. This is what you want when holding pairs. This doesn't apply in a cash game, in which case the player's style is more important than the blinds or limits.
Speaking of limits, never never push a low or medium pair in a fixed limit game unless, by some miracle, you're at the button or small blind and everyone has folded to you. This is an exceptional case. Fixed limit games are the science of poker; if the math adds up, go for it. Otherwise, fold. In a no limit game, feel free to use your position to pressure the few players behind you to fold up (preferably if you're in a late position and have no callers before you).

Bear in mind I've just started playing poker recently, but so far this strategy has worked for me. Hope that helps.

Answer 3

It depends a lot on your position around the the table. If you are first to act pre-flop, you may not want to raise, especially if you are at a table where there are some pretty agressive players. In this case you may just want to call and see what others do. On the other hand though if you are on the button then you are in much better position. Watch what the other people do, if someone raises and another person calls, well then you have a tough choice. But if only one or two people limp in then your low to middle pair may be good. In this case you may want to raise, and raise big to push the others who limped in out. The one thing to remember though is there is not set way to play any kind of cards, play them as you feel.

Answer 4

I think this is really a question about position and how many players is in the pot. With no action and button position I would bet as if I were holding the top pair if the flop wasn't to scary. If you are playing a game where players slow play top pairs I would also be a bit more cautious.
If your table image is conservative I would bet more on medium pairs, if loose table image bet less.

Answer 5

at a full table, in early position with any reasonable sized stack, i like to limp with small pairs and just hope to flop a set, and if i don't i dump the hand...it's pretty much that simple...with middle pairs i will probably raise and look to take down the blinds, since i will be representing a stronger hand than i actually have...i think you have one key hole in your reasoning for limping stated in your question, and that is that you don't want to just win the blinds...STEALING THE BLINDS IS HUGE IN HOLD'EM!!! you need to be willing to just take the blinds and move on to the next hand, you don't want action necessarily for a middle pair if you are the one raising it

if in middle or late position, i will raise with any pair, again looking to steal...if someone has raised already, i will usually call and take a flop, hoping to flop a set

at a short-handed table, i will follow my guidelines for playing in middle or late at a full table, with the exception of just calling someone raises...in most cases i still will just call, but i will be more willing to re-raise

these are just my personal general rules, and they can be adjusted depending on the chip stacks and types of players at your table, but i feel like this is generally the optimal strategy for small/medium pair play

Answer 6

I play small pairs one way. call anything up to 5x the BB pre flop. Hope to hit your set. If you don't hit the set on the flop , try and see the turn cheaply. If you can't.. let it go. Your pair of 7's will almost always be beaten unless you hit your set.

Answer 7

I play them Very Carfully they only flop aset about 111% of the time

Answer 8

I play them carefully depending on my position and if I am able to get in cheap.