When you get dealt a poker pair in Texas Holdem on Full Tilt, it’s hard not to think you have a great hand, but most pocket pairs aren’t as good as they’re made out to be. We’re going to look at some strategy you can use when you have pocket pairs.

AA/JJ

When you’re dealt a premium pocket pair you have struck a nice hand, but it doesn’t mean you are going to win the hand. I also suggest raising the pot 3-4X the big blind when you have a big pocket pair like this so you can get all of the marginal hands to fold. You might find that someone will reraise you even and then you’ll need to decide whether or not to go all-in. Getting your money in early with high pocket pairs is ideal because you don’t want to allow suited connectors the chance to hit a straight or flush. Sometimes raising the pot preflop will payoff and other times everyone might fold, but it’s better then not raising and losing to a low straight or two pair.

1010/77

When you have a medium sized pocket pair you could raise the pot or you could just limp in to see what the flop brings. If the flop is all under cards or you hit trips then you can begin betting at the pot, and if not then you can just fold. These pairs are beaten a lot on Full Tilt Poker, but if you get in the pot cheap it’s worth checking out a flop to see if you can win the pot. If you did limp preflop and the flop is three under cards you can’t feel overly safe about the hand still because often when the pot isn’t raised preflop players will limp with any two cards. You’ll need to watch out for two pairs and low straights at this point.

66/22

Low pocket pairs usually equates to trouble a lot more then it will win you a hand so don’t become overconfident with a small pocket pair. Typically it’s worth limping into the pot with a low pocket pair in case you hit your set, but if the pot is raised preflop then I would think twice about calling because after the flop if you don’t hit your set you’re usually lost in the hand. Any over cards can easily beat your low pair so don’t bet these too strongly when you have them and wait for better hands with better options.

As you can see your strategy is going to change based on how premium your pocket pair is and if it is a low pocket pair you should think about folding in some cases. Not all pocket pairs should be an automatic starting hand and it should depend on if the pot is raised or not as well as what opponents are in the hand. If there are a couple loose players in the pot then you could flat call to try and trap them, but even with a low pocket pair you can easily lose after the flop and you don’t just want to throw money away.