With these hands, if someone bets, fold and save some money. You have 5 outs that will improve your hand, the 3 Aces, and 2 of your pair, or the 3 remaining of your kicker, and the 2 remaining Aces. In order to call a bet in this situation, you need to be getting pot odds of at least 8.5:1. Since you could improve your hand and still lose, you probably want odds of at least 10:1. If there are players to act after you, you need higher odds, to make up for the times that a player to your left raises.
With a pair of Tens or lower, you will usually only has a strong hand after the flop if you hit the third card for your set. Occasionally, the flop will all be lower than your pair, and be un-coordinated. Also, occasionally, you will hit a straight draw with your pair. Most often however, you will hit a card higher than your pair, face some betting, and should fold.
If you do hit your set, you have a very strong hand. You should bet out, or raise if someone else bets. In low limit games, players will often not believe you have a set if you bet, or raise, on the flop. They will expect you to slow play such a strong hand, and not raise until the turn. They will therefore often call all the way with as little as one small pair.
Second or Bottom Pair
These are more mice. In low limit games, someone who bets, normally has at least top pair. If you have 2 different cards in the hole and paired 1 of them, you have 5 outs to improve, 2 more cards of the rank you paired, and 3 of your second card. With a small pair in the hole, you only have 2 outs to improve. Even if you include implied odds, it is unlikely that you will have the odds you need. To make matters worse, you really need better odds to make up for the times you hit 1 of your outs and still lose. You also need higher odds from the pot if there are players still to act after you.
The only time you should call a bet with second or bottom pair is when the pot is big, your second card is higher than any of the cards on board, and you also have a backdoor draw, 3 to a straight or flush.
Page 3 of 3 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 3 | Next
|