Hi,

Was just wondering what your strategy is when you are dealt a low pocket pair? ( | | etc ). I believe if you play it through you have a 20% chance of catching your set.

My old style, i used to play this hand extremely aggressively, betting preflop to eliminate limpers, and then betting again on the flop regardless of what comes up. I have found this to be effective at times:

- Preflop bet makes others think i have a strong hand (AK, AQ, etc) And another bet on the flop will sometimes scare them off. Furthermore, if there is anyone who calls, and i happen to catch the trips, then i have them trapped.

On the other hand however, i find this play to be devastating when either your opponent catches any decent hand and you do not catch your trips - so i dont think this is the best way to play it.

What do you think?

it is called "set it or forget it"

If you can limp in in late position, fine, but if you don't hit a set on the flop, do not call any more bets (unless you have some straight draw too)

they are unprofitable short handed, especially if you get stuck calling a raise.

yep - agreed.

I think it is better to have a few limping into the pot than expect that more will limp behind you - everytime they don't it is a -EV play.

In NL, you can call a small raise if you both have good stack. Classic hand is AK vs 44 or 55 and the flop is A 5 4 or something. You can usually get all of the AKs chips.

Thanks for the input. In a head to head match, its a whole different story. I believe the odds are almost even (the pocket pair has a slight advantage) correct?