Everyone loves getting a pocket pair, they are great hands. They are particularly easy to disguise, especially when you hit three of a kind. However, they are also very difficult to play, what do you do with pocket Jacks when a King appears on the board?
Pocket Aces are the absolute best hand, well statistically anyway. But what you have to remember is that even Pocket Aces can easily be beat.

So what about �slow-playing� your Aces? Well, I read a very good quote once which goes: �slow playing Aces is like running blind-folded with knives, it normally goes smoothly but every once in a while somebody gets their face cut up!�.

Aces are the strongest starting hand, but against three or more other hands you aren�t that bigger favourite, and with such a big hand you are likely to call down a lot of other hands that will have you beat (not many people have the ability and composure to fold this hand). Making pocket-aces potentially a hand you would lose more money from than gain. Therefore your main goal is to raise pre-flop, to narrow down your competition and get heads-up.


Many people over-value low pocket pairs. In early position I would normally fold anything less than pocket 6�s, simply because you are so vulnerable to overcards. Sure you might hit trips, but with only two of your cards left in the deck, the chance of that happening on the flop is around 5%. Okay, so if you are in the big blind or small blind and the pot isn�t raise then by all means call/check, but generally these are pretty useless cards.

Betting these cards on a table with 6 or more other players also means you may well be up against a stronger pocket pair, which makes you are very big underdog. However, these hands increase in value at the late stages of tournaments, when there are 3 or less players left. Since the chance of anyone having a pocket pair is quite slim, you are actually a favourite against all other non-pocket pair hands (including Ace-King suited).

So generally the idea with pocket pairs is raise early on, try not to give your opponents any cards to outdraw you. If you are currently ahead in a hand then try to finish it right there and then, or make your opponent take the risk and gamble.

So what about that situation discussed earlier, pocket Jacks with a King on the board. From early position this is tricky, you check and your opponent bets, what now? I would always avoid calling your opponent down to the showdown, not only would you lose more money this way you are also giving your opponent more chances to outdraw you should they be on a steal. You want to place a bet that let�s you know you�re strength. It will depend a lot on the type of opponent you are up against. Are they likely to steal any pot from you? I would typically check-raise on the flop, show a bit of strength. Should your opponent continue to play you can pretty much be sure they have hit the board.

Therefore, as with all hands but especially with pocket-pairs, being in late position increases the value of the hand greatly. Being in late position gives you the obvious advantage of acting after your opponents and so makes it a lot easier to tell your strength in a hand.