Expert Insight Poker Tip: Playing Small Pocket Pairs

[dmghoster]

what about flushs i would see that

too.

[123ableTHERollyboy]

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[caposton]

@123ableTHERollyboy

New shuffling machines and eight deck shoes have killed the effectiveness of card counting. At best you were only getting a 1% edge anyway. Unless you're talking about something different than you're full of shit.

Poker and sports betting (and in limited cases video poker ) are the only beatable games in a casino.

[artysmokes]

The strange thing about small pocket pairs is that they can be very profitable against 7 or more people (if you flop a set, the pot can be huge), pretty good heads up (often it's a coin flip on an all-in bet to double up or get knocked out), but don't give good value against 3 or 4 opponents. e.g. 44 is a favourite against AK heads up, but an underdog against AK and JT in a 3-way pot.

[amenKilla]

i hate the fucking donks that shove in trnys with their bs pocket pairs against my AK/AQ or high pockets. they ALWAYS seem to suck out against me. too many ppl have an orgasm over small pairs its such a joke!

[TheRealityattack]

@amenKilla if all in againts AK, and small pocket pair won, it's not a suck out, in fact, if AK odds againts small pocket pair is a little bit smaller, so what u should do if someone shove their chip all in? see the situation, is it cash game or tournament, cash game, u might want to calL, but in tournament format, u have to think whether it's worth to risk all your chip in coin flip at particular situation, u don't want to risk all your chip a coin flip situation at the early blind stage

[ainevek]

I always learned that with a low pocket pair, u need to get as many people out of the pot, because in heads up ur quite good against anything that is NOT a high pocket pair, but since nothing is rlly good vs a high pocket pair :-)

[amenKilla]

@ainevek lol ur an idiot. you raise up to get ppl out of the pot preflop then whoever calls you is gonna be strong unless they are retarded and have called with rags which in cash games is not that often. most the time you wont hit the set and if there are over cards to your shitty pair and they raise you hard flop and turn and river if u call that far what you gonna do??? call pocket 3's or whatever when theres aces n kings etc on the table??? dont think so n if you do you lose more than u win!

[ainevek]

@amenKilla Dude, are you seriously idiot? Fools like you need to know better on their odds: pocket 2's has more than 50% chance to win in a heads-up, you don't even have to hit a set, wheres ur AK if you don't hit A or K (odds you hit under 50%) versus pocket 3's which still have the odds (small though) to defeat a pair of AK. I'd rather play the 3-3 against AK than the AK part. But ye, good luck losing to low pocket pairs due to not hitting your pair and then shouting other people have luck...

[amenKilla]

@ainevek wtf are you going on about????? whoever calls you raise to get ppl out of the pot then youre gonna HATE every card unless you hit that elusive 5% set you fucking moron. dont chat shit to when you are clearly a dumb fuck. low pockets are so EASY to detect at the table as 95% of players pussy out post flop and check the shit out of it. id take youre money all day long knobhead

[ainevek]

@amenKilla Dude, seriously, learn to play poker dude you raise, I reraise, you have AK: flop is 10-9-5, well, heres ur awesome hand versus my pocket 3's, since you called a reraise, I know I'm safe and can raise, unless A, K, Q falls I'm fine, and even if one of those falls u can still read the other players hand. you say I will hate every card but you expect me to believe that 8/7 will call? U just expect me to believe tht ppl with nothing better than pocket pair or rlly good overcards call.

[ainevek]

@amenKilla Please go play something else as poker. Don't take this as an offense, I just do not want you to lose alot of money and it's clearly your style WILL lose alot of money. Leave poker to the people that do understand something of odds, of psychology (how will my opponent react when I do this) because if you only play the best of the best hands, people will very quickly see it and you won't win more than the blinds with your pocket aces

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[EVRickyT]

The best site I've found that has an honest guide to playing online poker is poker201.com.

[AlexisCapri]

Next in the series will be "Try to win and try not to lose", these videos are shite!

[chri2453]

Thank you, Phil, for all the money I lost slowplaying my trips!!!

[dieselboy87]

what phil doesnt say is that with small pocket pairs you already have a pair before the flop hits, and you are guaranteed a pair on the flop, while your opponent isnt - so its likely you will still be ahead on the flop and can bet out in that knowledge.

[MrPemtot]

Hi, can you recommend me any good source on counting the odds...

thank you

[khesto02]

exactly my man its rigged,shady as with a dash of crap to make a bullshit filled rolled sandwich!! lmao

[khesto02]

yeah do this math.... about a week ago i got pok 4s x2 in a row and yup u wouldnt believe it i got quad 4s both times!!!it happened on facebook zynga poker can u please do the calculations of them coming out please

[rlkavan]

to it the same pair twice in a row is over 40,000 to 1. To hit quads both times would raise it at least to the 10th power.

[derenkoff]

@rlkavan where did u get this information? its way less quads two times in row is less too but its very rare yea

[derenkoff]

@rlkavan i hit trip aces 2 times in a row once and quads aces couple of hours later

[khesto02]

mate i couldnt believe it myself when it happened but it did.i flopped quads then the next hand got a 4 on the turn and river

[aidansparkes12345678]

i had 6,4 of h 3 time in a row, and hit 3 full houses.......live poker as well, i ended up 2nd with £890.00

[nepalipoudel]

@khesto02 zynga poker is shit. I have hit royal flush 7 times so far. and i started playing poker in zynga from november of 2009. Royal flush arent that easy to hit.

[Furthermore23]

lool joe cada xD all in 22 33

[Kakumei]

Did you hear that Joe Cada?

[sienipata]

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[Rumpelstilkyn]

ive only had 1 straight flush :( 0 Royals :'(

i spend like 25 hours a week playing texas hold'em poker :p

[mezlek2]

get a life

[OldSchool9690]

good info phil but what about mid pairs, 8s,9s,10s? Like when you go all in in a FTP tourney and the donks call you with 8-4 off and catch a wheel? Nothing I do seems to work when I get mid pocket pairs.

[2TheDeath]

you shouldn't be shoving in with medium pocket pairs unless you're very short stacked.

if people are calling your 99 all in with rags you should be happy. doesn't mean they won't suck out 10-20% of the time though- that's the nature of hold em.

[Rumpelstilkyn]

1/17 you get pocket pairs.

Its unbelievable how lucky I was the other day, didnt even noticed it till today, i got 7 or 8 pocket pairs in a row! aces, kings, jacks, kings again, tens, queens & eights. 2 hands after my last pocket i got another pocket, fives this time. I ended up being hated by my friends on the table as we were playing for real money, they still think i cheated but i only dealed once during that pocket pair streak... has someone ever been that lucky?

[gwcurve37]

OK Rumplestilkyn...NOBODY believes that and I will tell you why...

A.) The odds of being dealt a pocket pair in hold-em is 16:1. The odds of being dealt a pocket pair in Hold-em 7 times in a row is 268,435,456 to 1...That is a fact! Don't believe that statistic? Get out a calculator and plug in 16 to the 7th power (16^7). Two hundred-sixty eight million four hundred thirty-five thousand four hundred fifty-six to ONE. You have a better shot at hitting Power Ball.

...........

[gwcurve37]

............

B.) Your story conflicts itself... First you say that you got 7 OR 8 in a row...you seem unsure whether or not it is 7 or 8...However, later you somehow remember the exact pairs that you had AND the order you received them in.

.........

[WeLovePureRock]

gwcurve37 has a point there

[Rumpelstilkyn]

hahahaha trolls like you make me laugh, you think i give a fuck about your statistics?

i dont remember if it was 7 or 8 because i kept going all in on every hand pre flop i didnt even noticed till the 5th pocket pair that i was on a streak you had to see it with your own eyes I kept showing my cards when everyone folded automatically my friends saw it, you are just a douche on youtube thinking its IMPOSIBLE for someone to get that many pockets in a row it is posible IDIOT!

[Tacomonday]

your good at math... I have a few question I dont know how to calculate these but it would be nice to know... once I saw a guy hit quads 4 times in a row.. two times with pocket pairs and two times with one card... and also I've been dealt aces two times in a row the same suit and the same place (left was heart-right was diamond) :) so if you could calculate that for me it would be nice Tyy

[bohemia187]

Odds of being dealt aces:

1 in 221

Odds of being dealt aces twice in a row:

1 in 48,841

Odds of hitting quads 4 times in a row (two from pocket pairs, two from one card):

1 in 812,799,614,916

[sienipata]

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[Nonniemayrox]

wow , i never knew this before. soooo cool. {sarcasm}

[dotUnderline]

"a good magician never reveals his best tricks" so don't expect to learn much about poker form this type videos

[Fletcherx]

@dotUnderline Unless you dont understand english or breakdowns of percentages which this guy gives great logic to. dipshit. its not like the pros know secret little gameplays that helps them dominate. they use very simple thought processes and understanding your hand techniques.

[dotUnderline]

@Fletcherx

Unless you are retarded or just started playing poker 2 hours ago and never went to school, this video didn't help much. You need 4th grade math to figure out the "breakdowns of percentages" but to you it seems it's "great logic"...fucking miracles. There are a lot of good poker books and video lessons that you can buy, you probably won't find them on youtube.All I said is not to expect much from this free lessons but I guess a buthurt faggot needed to show up and bitch around.

[toyotas2006]

@dotUnderline

This is good for beginners to intermediate players

If you are playing cash games, you are at the wrong site

[4thandinches]

@dotUnderline Also, Phil Gordon is an awful player that regularly ignores these principles that he is preaching. And pot odds are overrated when you are calling consistently calling losing hands, even though the math says it is the "correct" decision. Knowing the player is much more important than a lot of gibberish that Gordon regularly spews.

[mlehj]

ok phil but who the hell would slowplay AK?

[mtavares92]

he didnt mean slowplay AK .. he meant slowplay small pocket pairs though it I advice you all to raise if you are low on chips and late in tournament you need the blinds from others.

[thelukeyman89]

i wish i had the disapline to fold good hands when i know im beat .

say if im asked to call 100 to win 400 thats four to one.

if i have 25% chance to catch my card is that the right pot odds?

the same as four to one?

[stukkrapoel]

25% chance = 3:1

[hendrik04]

25% = 1:3 chance, 3:1 underdog

[Sternumator]

How can you flop an over pair?

[boonce88]

Flop:

258

You hold:

99 (overpair)

[mattdistad]

uh...holding QQ and floping J82 would be one way....

[kivikiv]

hey aaaa ... isnt the chance of hitting the other K about 7%???

[superbadxqz]

it is but if your opponent makes a set of king you will have a full house (fours full of kings). the only outs for opponent are running aces or running kings for quads or AK for a stronger full house.

[watzongoman]

thatldgave you a fulll house

[mattdistad]

yeah but that gives the set a full house, the AK still needs another A or K on the river to win

[simonjeste]

ugh, can't believe Phil says "see the flop cheap" but doesn't mention the benefit of having lotsa limpers before you (i.e. when you are in late position) as opposed to open-limping in early position (usually a bad idea, UNLESS your table is super-passive preflop, like most live $1/2 tables).

Also saying "slow-play your set", ugh, DUMB! Even Doyle suggests betting out -- top pair will RERAISE you! And overcards will likely call too... then shove the turn, hope he has a pair or two.

[IIhollyw00dII]

at worst a 4-1 dog.........so if ur getting 4-1 on ur money its ALWAYS the right call...dont forget to mention that phil....u jackass

[SilasJah]

no set no bet

[danbrett]

sounds like more of you are playing tourneys and i think personally this rule applies more to cash games where its not as important to steal the blinds ,you play them cheaply for the exact rason of hitting ur set otherwise there practically dead money after that unless u can bluff ur way out of it and u know the player well!!!id prob only play it to in mid to late pos!!

[JoseyWhales09]

he does not even mention position. in holdem position is everything. in early position yes this is correct. but in late position with no raiser you try to steal the blinds. giving you two chances to win the pot. and if you get called you have position. your opponent will be first to act . if he checks bet you will most likely win the pot.and you will get more action on your bigger pairs later on.just my opinion

[Hafesie]

He mentioned position last video idiot

[EdDy4RheelZ]

This video's rule is generally true and obvious but it really depends on who you're playing against. If you're playing against short stack when you're chip leader, you bully the short stack and raise. Most of the time, they'll fold and you can take their blinds away. If they do have something and you're caught, it's still worth it to call and it won't devastate your chips. On average, they'll fold and you win more than you lose through plays.

[EdDy4RheelZ]

For example, I played in 5/10. I was dealt pocket 4s. I was in middle position. I was in the best relative position because all the big stacks were right of me and all the small stacks were left of me. Big stacks folded. I raise with low pocket pairs instead of trying to see it cheap. Middle stacks get out of the way. Small stacks can't afford to put up lot of their chips. Small stacks who has 80 bucks while I have 500, I raise 4x the blind. They can't afford to risk half of their chips on rags.

[EdDy4RheelZ]

It depends. Generally, this is true and obvious. But if you're a chip leader and middle/big stacks folded and you're facing against small stacks. Then it's better to raise and push around small stacks with low pocket pairs. Majority of the time, they'll fold. Technically, I would raise with any two cards against small stacks during pre-flop if my hole cards are barely make straight. Most of the time, they end up folding and you win. But pocket pairs, you're likely in lead most of the time.

[lookylooky2006]

thats why its gambling

you are taking the gamble with those pocket 4's

If I am holding 44 and I havent been intimadated by pre flop raises I want to see the flop

to me thats worth the gamble

[Losturlife88]

thats actually really helpful great vid

[Alghouti]

He doesnt tell anything that isnt obvious.

[BoSoxnation1972]

While it's obvious to people who understand the game, donkeys who learn from watching poker on TV think that pocket 4's is a better starting hand at an 8 handed table than ace king. While 4's in a heads up match are a slight favorite, at an 8 handed table, with a raise and 4 callers, the 4's shrinks to the worst hand and is drawing to 2 outs. Peoplenew to the game have a hard time understanding that part. I've seen a raise, a reraise, an all in...and a pair of 5's call all of their chips.

[simonjeste]

how much did your unpaired AK lose to the rivered set of fives, BoSoxnation1972?

[BoSoxnation1972]

My ace king actually flopped broadway and I came in 3rd at Caesars Palace in Louisville Kentucky. Only Min the Master and Vinny Vihn beat me. I pretty much folded my way to 3rd after taking a huge pot with big slick.

[treezX]

this is all good advice..but its still all about position..and your hand is only as good as the flop

[neechi204]

well i'll rather listen to the guy on the vid cuz he the expert i dont see u guys on TV playin pro poker

[nigel101]

most "im great at poker" videos on here are awful but this phil stiff is good and facts back it up.

[nigel101]

most "im great at poker" videos on here are awful but this phil stiff is good and facts back it up.

[sillynutter]

This is a completly situational decision. Pocket pairs are always going to be strong in a five handed game or lower. The more players there are the more likely someone will out-draw you. Remember you are only going to have 2 outs at best. straights or flushes are rarely going to come. Always raise pre-flop, dont give anyone a free card because YOU will put YOURSELF at risk

[Richenough2]

Listen folks! I've played many times at casinos and seen people play low pocket pairs like they are ACEs and people with best hand fold. Playing pocket pairs with aggression is the best way no matter what.

[Richenough2]

The reason: If you let people come into a hand without raising like pocket 3s and somebody gets in with 7 5 offsuit the flop can easily give them a straight draw when u make a set. You raise and they call and get their magical card. If you had raised preflop, they wouldve never called and you would minimize someone drawing out on you.

[Richenough2]

No matter what! You still have to play everything situational. Poker is about assessing the situation and making the best play as possible -it could be folding.

[jziskid]

i understand what your saying but phil didn't say you shouldn't raise he just said u should be cautious because when you have a hand like 2's 3's or 4's almost any two cards are either 50% to win or a huge favorite. So what he's saying is don't extreamly large raises with small pockets because more likely then not the flop will come three over cards

[maxkorsoer]

In case any disagreements to this. all i got to say is, study and learn the game, prove to yourself you can win in it. BEFORE YOU START COMMENTING! Ive been on the track of poker for fare longer than you will ever get :)

[maxkorsoer]

DONT EVER SLOW PLAY the trips if they are low. reason 1, an over-pocketpair could draw for free and get their trips, and they can draw you out, and beat your trips. Besides. pure mathematicly, in allmost any poker game, including shorthanded cashgames, every pocket pair belov 7s should be folded regardless of the situration. but if you do play them, dont show your cards your apponants, and play weak!... RAISE THE POT.

[maxkorsoer]

Zomg... what a n00b pro to tell u guys that shit...! Raise allwais preflop, if you got a small pocket pair. Cause if you dont hit, you can take away the pot on the flop anyways, and you will most reguarly know if you should lay it down against a re-raise/raise. Besides...

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[PMantisKF]

"Try to hit one of you cards on the flop"

LOL.. I ALWAYS TRY!

[SithNite]

me 2

[stephenlandrum]

@PMantisKF LOL same here

[devill1am]

Such bs. It all depends on what type of table you're playing at. If i'm playing at a tight table and im in late position i'll raise with small pair.. and steal the blinds easily. If I get called.. so what, I can escape easily, and if I do flop a set.. I've good equity to win a lot.

[torontobluered]

sorry for being a n00b... but waddya mean by tight table?

[ogmonster1985]

Players who don't play many hands, except really strong ones like big pairs and big aces

[TigersmithGU]

they do

[1robert1hill1]

nice, i see lots of people betting half their chips on a low pair... they usually lose it all

[freewill1978]

Well, I never make a large raise with my small pocket pairs, but I rarely try to get in "as cheaply as possible" either. If I hit a set, I'm going to want a big pot, and it can be hard to build that big of a pot if it wasn't raised pre-flop. If I miss on the flop, I can fold to a bet and just be out the small raise.

[mvogt]

right. i almost never raise with a small pocket pair ( maybe sometimes on the button or cutoff), but cold calling up to 4bbs can be profitable with those hands. i think cold calling is even better than raising, because when somebody raises he probably has big cards that he wants to protect on the flop.

[simonjeste]

but that "big cards" hand will often raise to more than 3 or 4bb, since there's often 2 or 3 limpers he wants to chase out. Calling 6-10bb to set mine is dangerous, and bad math, unless you have at least 70+ bb in your stack, and KNOW he will re-raise when you donk-bet your flopped set, letting you felt him with his overpair.

[simonjeste]

agreed, SMALL raise is best, say 2.5bb (or as I like to think, 5sb, easier math that way) ... especially after a few limpers, now you've got a "sweetened" pot, and in late position likely have "bought the button", even if not you will likely have those tight-weak opponents check to you on the flop, now you can bet 3/4 pot if no Ace or King on the flop (since they often limp-call with, AT, KJ, etc.) and it's usually yours (they presume you have 88+, since AK missed and would check back usually).

[slackeriii]

knew that already ... good tip though

[icharmer]

playing small pocket pairs