low pocket cards

[busterstra]

I get low pockets alot and never have much luck. Normally I bet only if they're suited. What's the best stragety?

[Sean_in_NJ]

Fold preflop nearly 100% of the time.

[UrAteUp]

Fold preflop nearly 100% of the time.

and most times even if they are suited. If your playing in a 10 player game you can almost bet someone has a higher card or possibly two of that suit. Those type cards are best played in late position and rarely into a heavily raised pot.

[busterstra]

Thanks alot! late position / low pot good to know.

[72o]

You don't have bad luck. Only about every 10th hand is a big hand. Rag hands are the norm and good players dont't play more than about 20% of their hands. Except if they are bluffing, of course...

[supafrey]

You don't have bad luck. Only about every 10th hand is a big hand. Rag hands are the norm and good players dont't play more than about 20% of their hands. Except if they are bluffing, of course...

I must be absolutely horrible then.

[UrAteUp]

You don't have bad luck. Only about every 10th hand is a big hand. Rag hands are the norm and good players dont't play more than about 20% of their hands. Except if they are bluffing, of course...

I must be absolutely horrible then.

The worst... ...thats why you make such good money playing poker...

[supafrey]

LAG is the new TAG. Hyper LAG will be next.

20% is far too low for my tastes. 30-35% with a fullhanded table is fine if you trust your post flop. If you just want to win money and not "rake it in huge", i'd recommend a % from 10-15%.

[turkeyspanka]

Yeah. I used to tend to limp in or raise a little bit pre-flop with low pocket pair. I realized real quick that it was a bad idea. I think I must have lost everytime I played them. If you think about it it's quite obvious. You'll hardly ever hit trips, and you'll prolly get beat by a higher pair.

[shorn7]

I am with supa here. If I am not seeing at least 30% of flops, then I am having a really bad run of cards. Especially in NLHE where post flop play is much more important than preflop hand selection.

[tame_deuces]

Playing a little loose preflop doesn't make a proper lag.

That's just nutpeddling for advanced players.

[72o]

Usually you throw away small pocket pairs without hesitation. But there are situations when small pocket pairs can be useful. For example, a notorious bluffer raises in early position and you got pocket sixes on the button and everybody else folded. Then it may be a good idea to call. Often the bluffer got only a rag ace or a suited connector and if the flop doesn't show a big card you are likely to be ahead.

But this play is tricky and i don't recommend it to a beginner. The bluffer may reraise you with nothing and without a good read on him you are lost.

[groton]

why fold PAIR's

only if someone i see as tight raises a good amount will i ever fold a pair preflop
to many ways to make a monster hand.

[ToyMachine22122]

Depends on the comparison of the blind cost to your chip stack. If you're up, I'd play em, just to see what comes out on the flop. If nothing helps you on the flop I'd check/fold or, if there is 1 or 0 cards that are a 10 or higher I might decide to bluff (ex a flop of 5 9 2 with pocket 7's).
If you're down, fold low pocket pairs, but try to play middle pocket pairs like 7, 8, and 9 if nobody raises before you.

As for suited hands, I personally play any that contain a Jack or above, and play some that contain a high card of 10. That's mainly because I hate to miss out on any flushes I could have caught, and they happen often enough to be worth it to me. It's kind of an advantage because a lot of people will fold hands like Queen/5 suited, and so there's a good chance (especially if there are 6 or less people at your table) that if you've got like Jack/6 suited you've got the highest flush.

For suited connectors, I pretty much follow the same rule as for a regular suited hand. Mainly because I have bad luck with straights and, for some reason, I catch many more flushes than I do straights. I think the last game I played I caught 4 flushes plus 1 that I would have caught if I hadn't folded PF, but the whole time I caught only 1 straight.

[shorn7]

If you're up, I'd play em, just to see what comes out on the flop. If nothing helps you on the flop I'd check/fold or, if there is 1 or 0 cards that are a 10 or higher I might decide to bluff (ex a flop of 5 9 2 with pocket 7's).
If you're down, fold low pocket pairs

This doesn't make sense. You should never play a hand or not play a hand based on how you are doing in a session. The cards coming up now have no memory, so what has happened in the past is irrelevant to right now. Make good decisions at every point in every hand...that is the goal.

The key decision for whether to play small/medium pairs involves the players already in the hand, how deep they are, if it has been raised, your position, and who is left to act behind you. As a general rule, these hands are big money makers in NL and should most often be played for up to 1 raise assuming that the raiser and you are both deep enough to make it profitable (say at least 20x the current bet or up to 5% of your stack...in more than 10% of your stack, u generally should fold the lower part of the range [22-88], and in between 5-10% it is a judgement call). Exceptions would be if there was a loose re-raiser behind you that could come over the top and push you out of the pot, I might tend to let some of these go (and look for a better table/seat).

Always look at stack sizes before deciding to play these hands for a raise. Sometimes even if you do flop your set and take the raiser's stack, it isn't enough to compensate for all the times you call and miss, so be careful with them.