Overplaying Small Pairs in No Limit Texas Holdem Tournaments
By
Wesley R Young
I
entered a small no limit Texas holdem tournament
the other night and on the very first hand the following
situation came up. I was in middle position with
a suited A2 and limped into the pot. The next two
players also limped as well as the blinds, so five
of us saw the flop. It came 3 5 5, with two of my
suit. It was checked to me and I bet. The next player
called and the second player raised. The two blinds
folded and I moved all in and the raiser called.
He / she flipped over pocket sixes and I hit a four
on the river giving me a straight and an early double
up. Now you could definitely say that I played my
hand poorly, but I want to talk about the player
with pocket sixes.
The
way the hand played out, the best he / she could have
hoped for was a toss up, like what happened, but it
was very likely that he / she was dominated. The range
of my possible hands included any pocket pair, which
the only ones that sixes could beat were twos and fours,
any four to a flush, two over cards, a hand with a five
or a combination hand like I had. Now they did make
a good read that I wasn't very strong, as I probably
would have tried milking the pot instead of pushing,
but gambling all of your chips on the first hand of
a tournament on a 50 / 50 shot is not the best way to
win.
Of course I encourage aggressive
poker play, but calling an all in is not aggressive,
where moving all in is. There are a few different
options on how to play the sixes in the above situation.
If he / she was willing to go
all in with them on that flop, they should have
pushed to put the pressure on me. The other good
option would be to call the bet on the flop to see
what the turn brought. If the turn completed a possible
flush or was a high card, it may have been easier
to get away from the hand. The last option is a
very difficult one for many players to do, but in
a no
limit tournament, when you enter the pot with
a small pair and don't hit a set on the flop, the
best play is to get away from the hand, so they
could have folded the sixes to my bet on the flop.
I would have called the bet to see the turn, but
that doesn't mean that it would have been the best
play, and I still may have lost all of my chips,
but I believe I could have gotten away from the
hand.
Until next week, be careful with those small pairs
in Texas Hold'em tournaments and good luck at the
tables!
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