Quiz of the week - Pocket pairs and sets

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Pocket Pairs and Sets

from MiiWiin

Today we want to deal with small pocket pairs. There is no standard way to play them preflop because more often than not you can only continue playing them postflop if you hit your set. Implied odds play an important role here. There are variety of different ways to play a set postflop as well. Which style of play is profitable against certain opponents will be explained throughout this quiz.

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Solutions

Assignment 1.1.

a) Fold (0 Points)
b) Limp (0 Points)
c) Raise (3 Points)

A relatively easy question in the beginning. We obviously want to raise any pocket pair first in, even 22 from under the gun. A limp would theoretically be possible but our hand would become very obvious. Before you start limping small pocket pairs, you should fold them instead. Since the playability of pocket pairs is relatively good, you should always raise!

Assignment 1.2.

a) Fold (2 Points)
b) Call (1 Points)
c) 3-bet (0 Points)

Hero raised first in, the small blind calls, the big blind squeezes. It is a tough decision for us. There is nothing wrong with folding in this situation because the small blind hast to act behind us. We don't know whether he will call, creating a 3-handed pot on the flop or whether he will raise again.

On the other hand, both players are relatively loose-passive. This means that the big blind most likely has a strong hand and that the small blind will call the additional 11$ more often than not.

Our implied odds, if we play heads up against the big blind, would be 13 to 1. Therefore the "call15" rule is not fulfilled, however, we can stack villain quite often. If the small blind calls as well, our odds would become a lot better. Additionally we would have position on both opponents.

Although it is possible to call here profitably, there is nothing wrong with a fold. It is important that you find a good balance here. A 3-bet would be totally overplayed.

Assignment 1.3.

a) Call (2 Points)
b) 3-bet auf $45.00 ( 2 Points)
c) Push All-In (0 Points)

We have a 3-handed pot on the flop and hit a very nice hand. The big blind makes a small continuation bet after the small blind checked.

The question is whether to slow play or not.

We put the big blind on a relatively strong hand. If he is holding AA/KK he will go broke against us and has only two outs. If he is holding AK, he would probably fold to a raise. The small blind could be holding a lot of different hands. The worst case would be Tx (ok, TT would be the absolute worst case), with which he has 3 outs against us. In total, there are only a few outs against us and a slow play can therefore be considered.

As we usually raise a lot on the flop anyways, it wouldn't be wrong to raise here either. A 45$-raise is high enough. Pushing straight away doesn't make any sense here.

Assignment 2.1.

a) Fold (0 Points)
b) Call (2 Points)
c) 3-bet (0 Points)

Villain is a very tight player. He raises form UTG which he will be doing with a very small range. We can put him on high pocket pairs or high broadways like AK/AQ. Furthermore he could be raising a lot of pocket pairs.

If we 3-bet, we will be rarely called. We either win the pot straight away or we have to fold to a 4-bet. Since we are behind against his range, a 3-bet would be overplayed. Since we are in position, we can simply call here is this is much more profitable. A fold would be too weak because we can expect to be paid off well if we hit the flop.

Assignment 2.2.

a) Call (0 Points)
b) Raise auf $18.00 (0 Points)
c) Raise auf $26.00 (2 Points)

We hit our set on a drawy board. Villain could have raised pocket pairs like 66 or hands like A K
with which he would be holding a very strong draw with a few outs against us. There is no point in slow playing on such a board. Furthermore, it is more likely that villain pays us off if we raise now, as he could be holding AA-JJ, than only calling the turn because a scarecard like a 2, a 6 or a spade could come up and slow down the action. There is no way around a raise and it should be big enough. A raise to $26 would be acceptable here.

Assignment 2.3.

a) Fold (0 Points)
b) Call (3 Points)
c) Raise auf $50.00 (0 Points)
d) Push All-In (0 Points)

The one thing that should have been avoided happened here. The turn is a scarecard and Villain 2nd-barrels. Which hands does Villain bet with?

1.) He is holding AA/AK/Ax/66 and wants to protect against the flush. We are behind.

2.) He is holding a smaller set and wants to protect his hand. We are head.

3.) He is holding KK- and plays bet/fold on the turn. We are ahead.

4.) He 2nd-barrels with air. We are ahead.

As you can see our situation is not hopeless. We can absolutely be ahead in this position. We also have 10 outs against a straight. A fold is out of the question here. The odds are alright and we can assume to get a little more value on the river giving us some implied odds.

A straight would probably not fold to a bet on the river. If he is holding a smaller set we will definitely get paid off if we hit the river. If Villain is holding hands from the third or fourth category, we can mostly see a free showdown.

The question of whether a raise makes sense is still open. The only hand to protect against would be the flush. But because any AX has already made a straight, we can only put villain on K Q at max. Yet many other hands would push so that a raise doesn't make any sense here.

Assignment 3.1.

a) Fold (0 Punkt)
b) Call (2 Points)
c) 3-bet (2 Points)

The very aggressive villain is raising with a wide range of hands here. Folding in this situation from the button is completely out of the question. We have the possibility of either calling or 3-betting as well. It would be important to have reads on the blinds in this position; yet we don't have any. If there are potential squeezers behind you, a 3-bet is better here. A call would be a good line against loose blinds who cold call a lot because we have position in a multiway pot and will get paid off most of the time. Without clear reads on the blinds, both variations are valid options.

Assignment 3.2.

a) Call (2 Points)
b) 3-bet auf $18.00 (1 Punkt)
c) 3-bet auf $30.00 (0 Points)

Hero called preflop and hit. We have position, a drawless board and an aggressive player who likes to bluff and surely 2nd-barrels the turn as well. You should slow play here. If villain has an ace, he will definitely continue to bet. If he is not holding an ace, he will probably fold if we create action.

If we want to raise, which isn't all that wrong as long as we would do this with other hands in this situation as well, a raise to $18 is enough. A $30 raise would be overplayed and not necessary because this would chase away all hands which were willing to call.

Assignment 3.3.

a) Fold (3 Points)
b) Call und am Turn weiterschauen (1 Punkt)
c) 3-bet auf $42.00, um auf Shove zu folden (1 Punkt)
d) 3-bet auf $42.00 und Shove callen (0 Points)
e) Push All-In für maximale Foldequity (0 Points)

Hero has the initiative, but villain donks on the flop. Even though we don't like it, a fold would be the choice least affected by variance. A call is possible if we assume that villain gives up his hand enough of the times on the turn. We would therefore get a freecard on the turn, but could also bluff villain out of the hand.

If villain bets again on the turn, we would have to fold. Raise/fold is also a possibility. The only question is whether we can convince villain often enough that we are actually holding a strong hand. Would we raise AK/AQ in this position as well? If we raise and villain pushes, we would have to fold our hand because we will be behind most of the time. A push is out of the question as well, villain would only call with better hands.

Without any history, a "correct" decision cannot be made here. A fold is the safest choice.

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Evaluation

If you want to play safe, just play AA/KK, you can even win unimproved with these hands.

You should do some revision. There are a few articles and informative sample hands about the topic of "value from sets" which you should read again.

You still struggle a little with pocket pairs, but you have understood the basics. Play your pocket pairs a little more carefully preflop.

You can deal with pocket pairs well and understand how to make decisions depending on your opponents. You know how to act preflop as well as postflop.