Art of Deception: Playing big pocket pairs

In one of my first hands ever as a poker player, I was dealt pocket Aces and I was so excited, my hands were shaking.

I raised and everyone folded; one person even commented that my Aces must have looked really pretty. I like to think that I’ve come a long way since then, thanks to mentoring from my poker pro friend, so today I wanted to talk about playing big pocket pairs.

At the table, you’re often dealt hands that are pretty much unplayable and the bottom line is simple, if you play too many bad hands, you stand to lose lots of money over time. Obviously, more often than not, you should be folding pre-flop.

Things aren’t always so bleak, however. Every once in a while, in the sea of mediocrity, you look down and see a monster hand. By monsters, I’m referring to the big pocket pairs, AA or KK. Of course, there are other notable pairs but we’ll focus on the big ones.

When a monster pair comes up, you won’t win with them, or get full value, if you always play them the same way. For example, if you always raise from an early position, you’ll become too predictable and won’t make any money.Even worse, your opponents will adjust and beat you out of a lot of money.

There are several factors that come into play when deciding how to play your big pairs. Often times, people will ask me how to play them and it all depends on the situation.

Here are the situational factors:

• Pace of the game
• Type of opponents
• Number of opponents
• Your position
• Chip stacks

Depending on the combinations of these variables, it will influence the specific way you play big pairs.

First things first, why raise? The more people you allow to see a flop, the more chance that you will end up losing the pot. The bottom line is that you don’t want to lose when you start with these premium hands. They don’t happen very often and when they do, you should not take a big loss with them, as is usually the case when they get cracked.

If you have a fast and furious game with lots of pre-flop action, your betting should be larger than in a passive game since no one is fearful of normal raises. For example, if you observe instances where someone is raising to $12 is met with six callers, than you may want to raise to $20-$25.

On the other hand, if the table is fairly tight, you should tailor your raising strategy as such and perhaps only raise to $8. You’re raising strategy and amounts should match to how you perceive your table.

You should also factor in the types of opponents you have. Much like the type of game, you should let the more aggressive players trap themselves while putting pressure on the passive players. Try these tips and next time I’ll tell you how positioning should affect how you play with big pocket pairs.

Today I wanted to talk about something different; playing with a short stack.

When I was first starting out playing cash games, I would always buy in for the maximum. Then, my poker pro friend advised me to try playing those games with a short stack.

I argued against it at first, suggesting it would put me at an immediate disadvantage. He claimed that was nothing more than a myth and, at any point, I could only risk the amount in front me. He suggested I not pre-occupy myself with stack sizes as it is not a tournament and if I go bust, I can simply re-buy.

That brings me to today’s article. It’s been a rough afternoon, you’ve taken some bad beats and you’ve played loose when you shouldn’t have. Whatever the case may be, you find yourself in a very unenviable position. You’re playing at a cash game and you have a short stack. What are you going to do?

One option is to re-buy. But, what if the chips at the table are all you have left. You need to adjust your strategy or you’ll be going home very soon.

Just because you’re short on chips doesn’t mean all is lost though, so long as you don’t become desperate and do something foolish. At this point, you should become selectively aggressive. You need to be finicky when it come to your starting hand requirements and when you do come into a hand, you need to be very aggressive. No more checking and calling and more betting and raising.

The mindset I like to tell myself in this spot is that it’s either raise or fold. No more time for chasing. You either have it or you don’t. I’ll give you a couple of examples and you can see what you would do under similar circumstances.

For each example, assume you are at a $1-$2 No Limit Hold’em game and you have $100.00 in chips.

• Example #1 – You are on the button with Ace King suited. The player Under the Gun raises to $20.00 and is called by two players. The action is on you and there’s already $60.00 in the pot. What do you do?

Well, by just calling here, you’re committing a fifth of your stack into this pot pre-flop, making that action very weak. Plus, if you miss, chances are someone hits something and you don’t have a big enough stack to bluff, putting you in an ever worse position.

I recommend going all in before the flop. You may win the pot uncontested and add $60 to your stack. Plus, if you are called, you may win the pot knowing you got your money in with the best of it.

• Example #2 – You are in the Big Blind with King – Queen of Spades. The flop comes with 3 Spades including the Ace giving you the nuts. There are six other players in the pot. What do you do?

Without question, this is a great time to slow play your hand. Someone outdrawing you here is highly improbable. If you bet out, you can scare away your opponents and lose money.

I suggest checking and calling as long as possible. I even recommend doing so on the River as you want to have overcalls. Then, if someone raises on the Turn or River, you can then raise later on.

Remember, you are short stacked and you want to maximize your money-making pportunities.

• Example #3 – You are Under the Gun with Pocket Aces. You limp in and a middle position player raises to $15.00 and the Small Blind makes it $30.00. The action is on you. What do you do?

There’s already $45 in the pot and you hold the best starting hand in Hold’em. You must go all-in here and get your money in before the flop. If someone calls and you get outdrawn, you still got your money in with the best of it and if you do get called, you stand a good chance of doubling or even tripling up.

Would you have done the same thing in these spots? With a bigger stack, maybe not, but these strategies will maximize your profits when playing with a short stack.

Until next time, may the chips fall your way.

Carrie