Hey everyone.

I am new to Poker and the site I have always found poker interesting and when it is on TV I try to watch it although I didn't know the rules tbh. I have decided I am going to start playing poker myself online and I have started on the Playmoney tables on Pokerstars to learn before I play money rounds.

I have a question about the hole cards. Before I got dealt a pair of 4's. Is the best option to fold or see what the flop brings?

I went all the way to the river hoping I would get a 3 of a kind to be beaten by a 2 pair.

Hi Paul

pocket pairs are useful hands to have but it depends on position a lot as to how you play them. Generally low pocket pairs are okay to call with if it is very cheap to see the flop the idea is that if you hit your set you can take the whole stack of someone overplaying overpairs etc.

If you miss your set by the flop and your opponent bets at you then that is a great time to ditch them as to call a bet you have to have good pot odds which generally drawing to a set does not give, the percentages are on this site for hitting one.

PP like 4s should be folded in early positions as if you limp with them stronger hands will raise you and you are easily dominated.

I tend to fold 4s very often as they are not strong cards and only play them more aggressively in the very later stages of a tournament and generally in later positions. You will see people 'gambling' on tv with pocket pairs against AK etc as they are actually slightly ahead pre-flop however I don't advise gambling in this manner as when you call that all in you may see a higher pp or you're whole stack is in a coinflip. 4s are the sort of cards that are good for blinds steals etc but you need to always be able to let them go easy.

Summary if the flop comes cheap see it as although your 3 of a kinds may run into higher sets this is rare and generally a set is a very good hand.

Fold them in early positions to avoid domination by better pp etc.

Pocket pairs mathematically come out together quite often 40% in a ten handed game (full ring) etc so if you are looking at 4s likelihood is someelse looking at another pocket pair this is why people say web poker is rigged lol

I like to raise them if I play them to get info on what other pairs legitimate hands are out there but not by too much.

They are a good hands to play against opponents hand ranges in certain positions but as a newer player I would just try and hit a set with them and fold if missed.

There is a ton of information on this site about when you have the maths to make a call profitably all I have written is basic stuff so advise reading up on here.

Don't fall into trap of needing to win everyhand with a pp don't know about everyone else but I had a folding issue with them when was new to the game.