Obviously, you need to be wary in a full ring, deep stacked game, but jacks should win you money in the long run. Pocket jacks is a strong hand in Texas Hold’em. Any raise and you can be sure there is an over pocket pair or something like an A-10 or A-J staring at you. Four of a Kind: 0. From early position its completely fine to just fold or you can semi-bluff raise a small percentage of the time, I know low pairs make up a limping range for some guys but I personally don’t include them. How to Play Aces. If this sounds like a challenging situation, just imagine being in this spot from out of position. Before you get too excited when getting a pair during a poker game , read this article through because it is going to open your eyes to a few unpleasant aspects. Connectors •Cards that are separated in. It is pre-flop 4:1 favorite over any other hands. How to Play Heads-Up: Any Pair. Small Pocket Pairs are a Drawing Hand. It might not feel like it, but you'll be dealt a pocket pair on average once every 17 hands. Throw all 6 dice and pull out dice that are worth points (1, 5, three-of-a-kind, etc. Pocket Pairs. Play strong hands in an early poker position , good hands in mid-position and a few more hands in late position. Get Bonus £400. With this in mind, the small pocket pairs will give you a good feel of how the game is going to progress without you rushing into mistakes that will cost you the pot. Pocket Sevens are a very strong starting hand, falling within the top 6-7% of all starting hands. How to Play Low Pocket Pairs in Middle Position. Alternatively: 600, 750, 1000, or 1,500 points. 3 tips for playing this small pair when you are the preflop caller. The rest of the pairs, 2s through 9s, cannot really be counted as premium hands, apart from in heads-up scenarios. Pocket pairs and suited connectors are very similar in a six-max game. As previously mentioned, normally the top pairs you hit with Ace-Five will not be not strong enough to value bet with for three streets, so you should often. Playing small pocket pairs can be a challenge as they can give you a false sense of a strong hand, while in reality, their value is relatively weak if not. Pocket Pairs are the hands known to be the most exciting and trickiest hole cards to play because a player has both the options – winning big or getting wiped out. This video offers tips on how to play poker pairs of different strengths. The less opponents in the hand the better. Naturally, the lower down the pocket pair, the less value it has. JJ is such a trouble hand that most beginners actually even hate having it dealt to them. Checking with Jack-Nine on a board like 974 would be a pretty bad mistake. Small pocket pairs go way up in implied value when the stacks are deep at the table. How do you define pocket pairs? There is a 0. engjosh88 • 11 yr. How to Play. Some of the biggest pots are created due to a pocket pair's 'hidden' attribute in a. Small pocket pairs can be very profitable in poker because they can flop a set. --- Latest Poker News at ---With small pocket pairs, the best strategy is to aim to make a set on the flop and play on, or fold if you do not hit a set. Against a single player with a random hand, you win 85% of the time, which equates to an $85 profit. Aside from pocket pairs, all possible hole card combinations have suited and offsuit versions. Flop c-betting range: Sets, two pairs, most top pairs, 2 nd pairs, 3 rd pairs, low pocket pairs, open-enders, all gut-shots, runner-runner flush draws. Still, most players get a twinge of excitement when they see a pair of pocket jacks knowing they're holding a top 5 hand. Do not get too enthusiastic with small pairs. Playing Pocket Jacks - Fishhooks or Jokers. Small pairs will almost always be up against at least one overcard on the flop, and when you find yourself all-in preflop, you will either be crushed or in a coinflip for your stack or tournament life. This time, given that there is a very large ante, they should be playing significantly wider ranges than a standard cash game. Tip #3: Pocket pairs with a gutshot or open-ender should be check-raised very frequently. Such plays should be avoided because winning real money — not temporary chips — is your goal as a tournament player. In this classic Cardrunners poker training video, poker coach Verneer is joined by Matt Doran to look at the "top-secret" MDoranD Database,'" to discuss how. There's a reason for folding low hands. Photo by Hassan Khalid. By contrast hands like suited connectors, suited aces, and small pocket pairs can play well against multiple opponents. There are thirteen different pocket pairs (one for each rank) and six different ways of making each. Tip #2: Always fast-play your trips or two pairs . The turn T ♥ checks through and the river is the 4♣. 2. Any Ace, King, or Queen on the board threatens to make. . Set mining refers to the practice of playing a non-premium pocket pair passively preflop in the hopes of flopping three of a kind (a "set"). So despite pocket-pairs being low playability hands this is not the same as saying they are difficult to play. When you have a strong hand in poker, you should almost always lean towards fast-playing to build the pot ASAP. A pair of ladies performs pretty well against Big Slick but winning against A-K isn’t a certainty. A nice flop to c-bet for value with Ace-King. Same as below, the stack sizes are the most critical thing to consider with a baby pair like 55. The pre-flop hand values normalize and it becomes more of a post-flop chess game. Poker Basics. Don t make the mistake of thinking pocket tens or jacks are great all-in hands, they are good hands but need to be played well. This video offers tips on how to play poker pairs of different strengths. Pocket Jacks shouldn’t be a hand you get very attached to. In this article, we will explore unique methods for successfully playing small pocket pairs in live tournaments. 1% – a drop of 52. What. Add a second player with another pocket pair to the hand and your chance at losing the pot doubles. If you’re losing with this hand over a lot of. As with any hand, you can win if everyone else folds. 4) When you hit your set, play it fast. Hands like suited connectors and all pocket pairs rise in value. Try not to get too attached to the hand. Key Points: Fold in early position to a raise; call big blind and late position. There are 13 pairs in Hold’em (22 – AA) and for each there are 6 ways to be dealt. In this video you will learn how to play small pocket pairs in poker. Unless you hit a set or better, pocket Jacks can be extremely vulnerable to both overcards and bigger pocket pairs. The remaining 88%, you will be left holding a weak pair, often with two to three overcards on the board, and limited outs to improve. Paired boards are great for the player who is in position. A pocket pair is when a player is dealt two cards of the same rank, such as two aces or two sixes. The other important notation you’ll often see is “+”, which can mean different things depending on what hand it’s attached to. This guide outlines how the. 4 hand combinations of each suited hand. It should be full of suited connectors and mid to low-value pocket pairs. 33 and 22 are small pocket pairs. I always have trouble playing low pocket pairs (55’s and lower) 9 handed. Three pairs = 500 points. Raising and Betting. If you miss the flop though, then you. How to Play Pocket Nines on Different Board Textures As mentioned in the introduction, hands like pocket nines can be very tricky to play correctly, particularly postflop. In early position it is best to check and see how the others play. You don't need to double up or stack someone EVERY TIME you hit a set, limping in for 2 bucks and winning a 60-100 dollar pot with a set is a great result. Being up against multiple players is a relatively. You can c-bet at a very high frequency and force a lot of two overcard hands to fold their equity. How well do you know your pocket pairs in poker? Learn how to use them to your advantage. A pair of Kings is guaranteed to make every poker player’s eyes light up, and your goal should be to get as many chips into the pot pre-flop as possible. Set Mining “Set mining” is when you call with a (usually small) pocket pair with the sole intention of flopping the set. How to Play Small Pocket Pairs. When you’re in the Big Blind facing a raise, you should: Vs Lojack or earlier – Fold every time. How to play small pocket pairs 22-55 – New No Bullshit 6-max 13. , $240. Another element to the math is understanding how often our small pair will flop a big hand. Medium pocket pairs have some commonality with small pocket pairs, which usually need help to prevail at a showdown. In this article, we’re going to look at some common scenarios to help you play pocket tens more effectively. For an improved article-browsing experience, go to our primary blog page here and use the check boxes at. In sum, play the fit or fold for cheap, unless you hit your. The most common and practical way to play middle pocket pairs. You should always start with a bet on the flop, and usually look to bet again on the turn and a final time on the river. Being able to join a limp fest versus being raised. Don’t Slow-Play Preflop, But Don’t Overdo It. Since I know many of you have asked me about playing mid pocket pairs in cash game, especially from out of position, I decided to make this quick Hand of the. Let’s take a look at one such scenario: Example: The Button raises and the Big Blind. In this example, Player 1 DEFEATS Player 2 as showdown because of the superior “kicker” (an Ace). They are both drawing hands that should be played aggressively before the flop. Because of this, you should always raise with Pocket Sevens preflop when the action folds to you, regardless of your position. Low pocket pairs are fairly straightforward to play, their certainly a hand you want to play in position and not multi-way if possible. For example, A ♠ A ♥, A ♠ A ♦, A ♠ A ♣, A ♥ A ♦, A ♥ A ♣, A ♦ A ♣. An example: We have either JJ or QQ and are in late or mid position. Playing Pocket Jacks - Fishhooks or Jokers. Facing A Cold-3Bet With Pocket Tens. Pocket aces, kings and queens all have it dominated, while against hands like ace-king (AKA Big Slick) and ace-queen – both hands players tend to play – it’s a coin flip. In the case of having low pocket pairs, the position becomes even more important and, as usual, several factors need to be considered. A “pocket pair” is a pair that a player possesses in his beginning hand in a Hold’em game. Consider how each hand fairs on the turn and river: With 4♠ 4♣, we have just 2 outs and no backdoor draws when we are behind. In live 1-2, getting tricky with them and trying to steal (after missing) is usually a mistake. All top, middle, and bottom pairs; Most pocket pairs without a backdoor flush draw; All pocket pairs with a backdoor flush draw; All flush draws; Some double backdoor hands (like 7 ♦ 6 ♦). Certainly, hands like 2-2 to 5-5 should be folded to any LP raise. Unfortunately, they’re also very vulnerable hands that can get you into a. Small pocket pairs: Small pocket pairs are the hardest hands to play and bet on. If you miss bets with these types of hands. Many amateurs fall into this bad habit because they are the #1 starting hand. . Your goal is still to flop a set, but your post-flop play will. You can raise in late position, but make your raises big. Tip #3 – If you have top pair plus a flush draw, always double-barrel on the turn. On 8♠ 8♣ 6♦, the optimal strategy is to c-bet around 50% of the time versus the Big Blind. The reason for this is pretty obvious—discounting the times you flop a set, the value of middling pocket pairs postflop tend to be, well, middling. It's a strong hand preflop seeing as how it's the 3rd best hand you can be dealt. 5% of the time (1/8) , which means you’ll need at least 7:1 pot-odds to call opening raises. The reason for this is pretty obvious—discounting the times you flop a set, the value of middling pocket pairs postflop tend to be, well, middling. 1. . In general, a pocket pair refers to a hand in which you have two matching cards, more commonly known as a pair. These tips are for when you’re playing as the preflop aggressor. Besides the usual flush and. It is also possible that pocket aces face heads up with another pocket aces. post-flop in tournaments is to get to showdown as cheaply as. . Medium pocket pairs have some commonality with small pocket pairs, which usually need help to prevail at a showdown. In this article, we’ll try to dissect the strategy behind playing pocket pairs in poker. 78%. Vs Cutoff – Call A9-offsuit and A8-offsuit (fold. 8%. For example, if a player is dealt two sevens or two kings, they have a pocket pair. Since a Set is stronger than a Straight in this variant, you should play pocket pairs more aggressively and not be afraid to call 3-bets with any pocket pair. Want to master Microsoft Excel and take your work-from-home job prospects to the next level? Jump-start your career with our Premium A-to. So don’t play aces this way all the time. Once you get a set, playing passively is the last thing you want to do. For example, you have on . Pocket queens should be one of your absolute biggest winnings hands. With 20 big blinds in an unopened pot, all the small pocket pairs can be shoved profitably from the button or small blind. The reason for this is mostly math. If I hit the flop hard, then it depends on the action of the table, but I usually end up with a big pot. The deeper our opponent's stack the. A small pocket pair would be considered as 22’s to 77’s. How you should play small pairs is mostly dependent on your stack size and the effective stack size in the hand; that is, the smaller stack that can be put at risk. However in No Limit Holdem there are a number of things that should limit how you play them. The easiest way to play at a low level is to focus on (1). Poker Articles. Fair strategy, but. Photo by Hassan Khalid. Mostly call to see a cheap flop as the chances of hitting a Set (Three of a Kind) is 10. 9% (once every 17 hands). With a small pocket pair you’re generally not going to have an overpair to the board. Specifically, Ace-Ten offsuit is worth raising from every position at a 6-handed table. If you think you can get paid off by an opponent it can be profitable to take a flop and go set mining. See the flop and then act! Another way to approach pocket tens might be to consider your position first. Pockets Kings are the second-best starting hand in poker. You should always raise with Pocket Fives preflop when the action folds to you in a 6-max game. Never play suited connectors (98s or lower) from Middle Position or worse when you have 30 big blinds or less in your stack. Once you hit a Set, try to maximize your profit by. If you hit a set then you should play your hand very aggressively. How to play ace king evaluation. Now, time for the tips. So you’ll be flopping a set fairly infrequently but when you do you’ve got a very good chance of winning the hand. This article covers: How to play Pocket Threes in common preflop situations. How to play KQ, KJ, KT, in single raised pots as aggressor or. This means you have a 5. How to Play Aces. The odds of hitting a set when holding a pocket pair is 7. Aces with weak kickers are back in play, as are medium pocket pairs. Your goal is still to flop a set, but your post-flop play will. While you do already have a made hand, I recommend keeping the pot relatively small preflop. Pocket Pairs (99-22) Pocket pairs make huge hands when they flop sets. Instead, your strategy should be to scare the opponents into folding, even if it requires a bit of bluffing. Particularly in Texas Hold’em poker, the position at every hand is key in making a strategic decision. Tip #1: Always c-bet for value when you flop top pair. The Rest: 2s - 9s. By the way, just to be clear, I’m referring to the numbers 22, 33, 44, 55, and 66 in this post. Against a 3-Bet. You can c-bet at a very high frequency and force a lot of two overcard hands to fold their equity. Remember that pocket Aces are not indestructible. Try not to get too attached to the hand. The deeper or larger your stack is, the more profitable it becomes to play small pairs due to the high implied odds on hitting a set. If we miss our set, we check/fold. Middle position gives players a little more breathing room to play low pocket pairs. You should focus on value-betting with very strong hands, as well as some vulnerable made hands if you have many of them (as it was in our second example). When you hit a monster hand on a flop like or , start piling money in that pot! If you raised preflop, c-bet on the flop. How to play with pairs on hand? How many times to raise, for example, with pairs smaller than 10/10? Forum. As mentioned, it all depends on the situation when playing Texas Hold 'em. 3-bet if another player has raised. Pairs are important in all forms of poker and in the other variants of poker. The ability to go all-in profitably with small pocket pairs when short-stacked makes them straightforward and easy to play. Your goal with KK in early position pre-flop is to take control of the pot and gather information about your opponents' hands. About 70BB+ should do the trick. For example, A ♠ A ♥, A ♠ A ♦, A ♠ A ♣, A ♥ A ♦, A ♥ A ♣, A ♦ A ♣. This first rule is something you should immediately apply to your game. In all cases, if you don’t hit your set and are facing a raise, be prepared to fold. That’s why calling 3-bets with small pocket pairs is usually a losing play. On this board, your normal bet size should be on the. The Rest: 2s - 9s. 1. Pocket Kings is the second best poker hand you can be dealt in Texas Hold’em poker, behind only pocket Aces. At a six-handed table, however, the odds another player has a higher pocket pair are reduced to 16. Q–Q is usually worth a raise or three-bet (this. Pocket Twos have the best efficiency of all the pocket pairs because almost every hand has two overcards against it. 1. However, when you are the player making the last big bet you have the added benefit of fold-equity. No matter what. Do not slowplay. 3. While it seems like you get dealt pairs a lot, the actual odds of receiving any pocket pair is just 5. You can use it as a bluff when there are not many other natural bluffs in your range (straight draws, naked ace of spades on a three spade board, etc. Keep rolling until you “farkle” (run out of dice and lose your score) or decide to stop and keep your score. How to Play Pocket Nines on Different Board Textures As mentioned in the introduction, hands like pocket nines can be very tricky to play correctly, particularly postflop. For this reason, you should always raise with this hand preflop when the action folds to you, regardless of your position. In this vlog, I discuss how to play mid pocket pairs and why it's very important to understand their SD value post flop. Small pocket pairs might look nice as a starting hand, but you should be dumping most of them in early position. If I have 2 hearts, I’m check raising If I have 8-9, 8-10, I’m bluffing. Poker Rules; Poker Hands; Poker Games; Poker Terms; Online Poker with Friends;Pocket eights are to be played to do one of two things: trip-up on the flop so that you have a very good set, or steal the pot by managing the hand as if it is, or could be, stronger than it really is. Many amateurs fall into this bad habit because they are the #1 starting hand. Always keep in mind that big pots are for big hands. Knowing the above information, we can then do some basic math to determine the likelihood of getting certain combinations of hole cards. If no set and no cards over 10 flop. Pocket tens can be a confusing hand to play. If you miss bets with these types of hands. Maximizing Profit with Pocket Pairs: A Comprehensive Guide. A: There are 6 combos of each pocket pair, meaning across 13 different card values, there are 78 combos of pocket pairs. Pretty simple. Once you play online higher stakes, stealing with Pocket Pairs becomes necessary to show a profit. Tip #1 – Lean heavily towards c-betting with your top pairs Top pairs are strong hands on the flop. How do you play a small pocket pair in middle position at: 1) Deep stack tourney with more than 10 blinds 2) Turbo tournaments with less than 10 blinds. Tip #1 – Lean heavily towards c-betting with your top pairs Top pairs are strong hands on the flop. Small suited aces though are very powerful hands and they are often misunderstood. So what this means is that every 9 times you see the flop with a pocket pair you should flop a set at least once. The notation 22+ means you should be playing 22 and all other higher-ranking pocket. Pocket Pairs •Play big pocket pairs aggressively: raise •Play small pocket pairs carefully –When the pot is big (lots of players) Big cards •Play big cards aggressively: raise •Aces >> kings •Suited >> unsuited. Tip #3 – Always c-bet with flopped top pairs. Ace-king has an interesting relationship with pocket jacks. Each one is remarkably simple but effective. I'm a bit of a newbie to poker and started playing online, this situation seems to be one that has screwed me over more than a few times. With deeper stacks, hands like these function well against as 3-bet bluffs for three main. Here are the table positions for your reference: Unopened Pots. Your opponent should bet very large here, like 75% of the pot. Let’s say you called a 3-bet preflop and the board comes A-J-5 rainbow. The less opponents in the hand the better. One of the most interesting situations in poker is when a player has Ace King (AK) and faces a pocket pair. Playable in any position - Stronger opening bets mixed with limps or calls, Play this one fast if you are ahead on the flop. In this video you will learn how to play small pocket pairs in poker. It is important to be able to properly play the flop when you do not connect. They have very little potential, but if the right cards open on the flop, you can win big. Sets will hold up versus a premium pair like kings or aces roughly 90% of the time, which are some of. 2. To isolate the hand against one or a few opponent/s. In this vlog, I discuss how to play big pocket pairs and when to consider 3 betting and flatting preflop. Unopened Pots. Tip #2: Semi-bluff with backdoor draws on the flop and prepare to bet big on the turn. When to Raise. Of course you also have to look out for the possibility. . In hold'em it can be profitable to play pocket pairs because the 1/8 times you hit your set, you can really stack a dude. How to Play Pocket Pairs | A Winner’s Guide "Plays" Strategies by Team RedSharkPoker 3 years ago 0 1048 Who doesn’t love pocket pairs in poker! Seeing two cards of the same value brings a big smile to your. Pocket Jacks tend to play best in either multi-player pots, when four or more players see the flop, or heads up against one other player. Baby pairs can be powerful hands for cracking big hands. How to Play Pocket Jacks Preflop. Pocket Jacks are tricky because they won’t flop an overpair as often as other premium pocket pairs. In this article, we will discuss the strategies for playing Ace King and pocket pairs preflop and then analyze the best. In this situation, you’ve run into what’s called “kicker problems. Say you’re under the gun with the ace of hearts and ace of diamonds. . A premium pocket pair such as pocket aces is going to win you a small pot a lot of the time, but it can lead to trouble when you fall in love with the hand. We’ll look. Of course, the different pocket pairs you can earn can be split into different categories: Premium Pocket Pairs; Premium hands, also known as big pocket pairs, are probably the best preflop hands you can be dealt when you play poker as they are quite strong. Q: How many combos of unpaired hands are there in poker? A: There are 16 combinations of each unpaired hand (4 suited, 12 unsuited). Against five players with hands from the example, you’ll win 48% of the time. The rest of the pairs, 2s through 9s, cannot really be counted as premium hands, apart from in heads-up scenarios. How to Play Strong Pocket Pairs Strong pocket pairs are premium hands in no-limit Texas hold’em, meaning they are the. I normally play Pocket Pairs strong and 3X or even 4X with them but I also have to decide after the flop whether to call, fold or raise depending on position of my opponent. You should also be playing your pocket aces very aggressively after the flop as well. You square up your hole cards. A middle pocket pair isn’t the type of hand to get involved in a large pot. Betting while having the equity lead (which you will almost always have as the preflop raiser) will ensure that you are building the pot while being the favored one. You should play these pair cautiously from late positions. Most of the value in small pocket pairs comes from when they flop a set, which will only happen 11. Fast play your sets most of the time by betting/raising. When facing a raise you have to think about your opponent. 2. This makes a total of 78 combos out of 1,326. To search for a specific topic, use our search page here. Strong pocket pairs are premium hands in no-limit Texas hold’em, meaning they are the best possible starting hands you can get preflop. For an improved article-browsing experience, go to our primary blog page here and use the check boxes at. Against a Middle Position raise, 3-bet if you are on the Button. That’s the goal of this lesson. 3. How you should play small pairs is mostly dependent on your stack size and the effective stack size in the hand; that is, the smaller stack that can be put at risk. The probability of hitting a set once a Flop is dealt is 18% compared to 12% in regular Hold’em. Small pocket pairs, particularly at the lower limits in real money games, are often overlooked by newer poker players, even though they can be some of your biggest long-term winners. 3. I have been able to bluff low pocket pairs with even with a high board. In fact, you should fold them straight out from UTG, UTG+1, and UTG+2. However, they put $100 each, so that’s 48% of $500, i. 60% chances are that you will see atleast one over pair on the. Key Points: Fold in early position to a raise; call big blind and late position. --- Latest Poker News at ---Middle position you can open, but I wouldn't limp or call any bet. Stack sizes also dictate the value of your small pair. Medium to small pocket pairs can win you money in 3 ways: You can make a set and win a lot from someone who made a good but worse hand. You cannot call large three-bets pre-flop if you want to have a positive expectation. The larger your pair, the bigger favorite you become. In this video we are going to talk about how to play with low pocket pairs on the pre-flop. To help. Pocket pairs are commonly described to particularly by their rank, for as “pocket aces” for a starting hand of two Aces (aka pocket rockets). Small pocket pairs might look nice as a starting hand, but you should be dumping most of them in early position. If your opponent has two pair or something along those lines, it’s going to be hard for him to fold. Our guide to will help you here, but first, here’s a rundown of the different poker positions and what they mean. ). Have an overpair to the board (your pocket pair is better than all the cards on the flop). Tips for playing pocket aces. Regardless of whether your top pair is on a King-high flop or an Ace-high flop, your hand is very strong, and extracting value should be your immediate priority. Being dealt a pair of aces gives you the chance to win a huge pot. However, as always, poker is a complex game with exceptions to general rules. And so in this article I am going to show you step by step how to play your pocket queens more profitably. 45% of the time. Pocket queens strategy evaluation. With that in mind, the focus of this. Set mining is only one of many possible approaches to take when playing small-to-medium pairs. Small pocket pairs will flop a set roughly one in eight flops, or approximately 12% of the time. With a small pocket pair you’re generally not going to have an overpair to the board. These hands are. Flop c-betting range: Sets, two pairs, most top pairs, 2 nd pairs, 3 rd pairs, low pocket pairs, open-enders, all gut-shots, runner-runner flush draws. Pocket Pairs are some of the trickiest hole cards to play. Pocket pairs from 22 right up to AA can be played profitably with the right strategy, even if hands like AA and KK are a lot more exciting to play. Pocket Pairs (99-22) Pocket pairs make huge hands when they flop sets. 45% of chances of receiving pocket pairs in Texas Hold’em while. Imagine a board such as after you’ve called a 3-bet with from the Button against the Small Blind. Alternatively: 1000 points. You only have like a one in ten chance of hitting a set, which means on average you should try and make 10x your return of your preflop bet to make the strategy of set mining profitable. The 9-high top pair is very vulnerable, which makes betting on the flop preferable because of how much the hand benefits from protection. Let’s split this section into two groups: 1. Get Bonus £400. That "set flopping potential" is what makes them play good in pots with four or more. It reduced to 30-35% if all players stay till the end of. First of all, if he or she has a small pockt pair, they are tended to limp in the pot and try to catch, and likely to fold to moderate. The best starting hand in Texas Hold’em poker is a pair of aces, colloquially known as pocket rockets. They’re made hands and you’ve got a big pair already, even if you don’t improve. Key Points: Fold in early position to a raise; call big blind and late position. Each pair has a total of six combinations. So, you’ll want to: Be the first to raise. Both have their advantages, by raising you’re increasing your equity in the pot, increasing the size and also giving yourself opportunities to cbet the flop. Suppose you are playing $1/$3 no-limit hold'em and before the flop, you raise to $12 in early position with a pair of jacks. Limping should be avoided at all costs, no matter how tempting it might be to “set the trap” or “set mine. If we hit our set we play for value. The Big Blind check-calls a 66% pot c-bet on K♣ 9♣ 2 ♥. Example: You raise 3♠ 3♣ on the Button and the Big Blind calls. Texas hold ’em pocket card nicknames. This free Preflop Guide includes 8 easy-to-read charts and crucial tips that will help you play like a pro before the flop. I would avoid calling raises over 7BBs to see a flop.