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On Strategy: Small Pairs And Smallish Connectors
By: Lou Krieger©

Lately I've seen a spate of questions posted to the Internet newsgroup, rec.gambling.poker and other online poker forums about how to play small pocket pairs properly and what to do when you're dealt smallish connectors. Questions like these may seem elementary if you've played poker for any length of time, but with so many newcomers taking up the game it's well worth reviewing some basic concepts every now and then.

Small pairs, and we're talking about a pair of sevens or lower, can be thought of as drawing hands of sorts. And if you think of them that way, you shouldn't go too far wrong. After all, a big pair, like aces, kings, or queens, frequently wins without improving. They're that good. But a small pair usually needs help. And other than sticking its nose in the midst of a 7-6-4 flop and getting lucky on the turn or river, a pair of fives can only improve by flopping a set.

The nice thing about flopping a set of fives, or any other set for that matter, is that by the time your opponent suspects you've flopped such a beast it will cost him some chips and there's not much he's going to be able to do about it except pay the piper. The other side of this coin is that the odds against flopping a set are 7.5-to-1, which means it's not going to happen all that often.

When you have a hand that's a long shot, and drawing to improve a small pair certainly falls into that category, you want to keep the cost as low as possible. From a strategic perspective you're a lot better off playing a small pair for one bet than cold-calling two bets in a raised pot. The message is there for all to see, and a raise is a statement from your opponent that he's holding a big hand. While he may be holding nothing more than two big cards, his hand might also contain a pair that's a lot bigger than your pair of fives, which makes it a prohibitive favorite.

But when you act in late position, you have an opportunity to see whether any of your opponents have raised before it's your turn to decide what to do with your cards. If someone raises, you can safely toss your small pair away. Otherwise, if there are a few callers, you can see the flop for one bet and if you get lucky and hit your set, you're in good shape.

If the flop misses you if the eyes of face cards are staring up at you from the flop you can safely toss your hand away if anyone bets. Against a relatively large field, chances are pretty good that flop has helped someone, and your unimproved pair of fives is now an also-ran.

But if no one has called the blinds when it's your turn to act, you can raise because your pair of fives figures to be the favorite against whatever random cards the two blinds might hold.

Do you see what's happening here? Against a scattering of opponents who hold good enough hands to voluntarily commit money to the pot, your pair of fives is really drawing to improve, while against one or two opponents who hold random cards in their hand and had to post a blind bet like-it-or-not, you probably have the best hand and ought to raise with it, in hopes of winning the confrontation right there.

And what about connectors? Well, they're drawing hands at best, and in a heads-up situation even A-K is a slight underdog to any pocket pair. But as a general rule everyone raises with big connectors like A-K and that turns out to be a pretty good idea. An ace or a king will flop to a hand holding Big Slick roughly one-third of the time. When it does, it guarantees that Big Slick has flopped top pair with the very best kicker, and that's a moneymaking hand in most hold'em games. Even if you miss the flop completely and your raise was only called by the big blind after all he's already in for one bet, so he's getting a "discount" to call you you might wind up with the best hand even if you don't improve.

But we're talking smallish connectors here, not Big Slick. If you hold 9-8 suited, you'll flop a nine or an eight about one third of the time. But unlike Big Slick, hitting the flop with 9-8 doesn't guarantee much of anything. For starters, you may not flop the highest pair, particularly if bigger cards appear. Even when you flop the top pair, your hand is vulnerable to the same pair with a bigger kicker. Actually, "vulnerable" isn't a strong enough word. Your hand is "dominated" by a like pair with a bigger kicker, so unless you can make a straight or flush on the turn or the river, you are drawing in hopes of pairing your kicker, and there are only three cards of that rank unaccounted for in the deck.

With smallish connectors, you're hoping for the flop to hit you twice three times would be better yet before you feel comfortable with your hand. That means you're hoping to flop a four-flush, four to a straight, trips, or two pair, and any of these possibilities are long shots.

What are the strategic implications of looking for a long shot in his situation? You will usually play smallish connectors much as you'd play a small pair. You want a relatively large number of opponents who will presumably pay you off if you get lucky, and because your hand is a long shot, you need to play it for one bet only. How do you guarantee the existence of these conditions? You have to play hands like these from late position. If you play them early, you run the risk of someone raising behind you. And even if there is no raise, you may not get the number of customers you need to justify your investment.

Unlike a small pocket pair, your smallish suited connectors probably won't be favored over two random blind hands, and if you are the first player to enter the pot with hands like these, you are bluffing; you're not betting for value as you would be with a small pocket pair against the blinds.

If you're new to Texas hold'em and have been wondering about how to play small pocket pairs and smallish connectors, make sure you play them for one bet and one bet only. Most of the time you're drawing to improve your hand, and if you don't get any help on the flop, you stand a good chance of having to release your hand. You figure to have the best hand only when you hold a small pocket pair and are heads up against the blinds, otherwise yours is a drawing hand. So as long as you're playing a hand that needs to improve, try making it as inexpensive for yourself as possible, and when you do play small pairs and smallish connectors, play 'em late, and on the cheap.

Lou Krieger

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