Two Pair

In texas holdem, two pair can be deceptively strong to players who don't know any better. Particularly, this occurs in situations where there is a pair on the board and a player still has two pair if you ignore the board pair. So you would have "three pair", which unfortunately isn't a hand in poker. This is because part of the two pair will become "counterfeited". Here are some explanations of these "three pair" hands...

That second four on the turn was a bad card for you. Even besides the fact the it might have made an opponent trips, it also semi-counterfeited your hand. Now any player with an overpair is beating you. If another player holds QQ, KK, or AA, they have a better two pair and you are drawing to just four outs to regain the lead.

That second ten was a bad one. Now if any other player has QJ or better, they are outkicking you. If any player had KK or AA, they are now in the lead too. Even if they have Q6, you are still just going to split the pot. Your seven was rendered essentially useless. Even if one of the last two sevens in the deck shows up on the river, you are making a weak full house. You'd be beat by any player holding any ten.

There are also times where you have two pair but only because the board has paired. These are tricky hands not only because of the chance that an opponent has trips but also because a second board pair could counterfeit your pair.

The board might look relatively safe here because of the low ranks of the cards. An opponent with any two cards above 6 has flush draw odds to beat you though. If another nine hits the river, you are suddenly playing the board.

Again, here the board looks like it didn't improve anyone's hand, so if you thought you had the favorite hand preflop, you likely still do. Even if you are winning right now, you should be careful because the only way to improve your hand is by hitting your two. You should have the following worries:

• If the turn is a five, it turns your two pair into a two kicker
• If the turn is a three, you have to worry about a river five or three ruining your hand
• Any card except a two or five could potentially improve an opponent's hand
• If the turn and river match (unless they are the unlikely twos), you've been counterfeited again

Enough talk, take me to the featured poker room.

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