Aggressive
loose game play certainly
has its place and rewards
in the poker gaming world
but needs to be understood.
Playing small pairs is one
of the hardest things to do
in poker. Getting yourself
to play them is one challenge
and then playing them right
is another challenge completely
on its own.
There are typically
two schools of thought when
it comes to playing smaller
paired cards in poker. Both
are effective and certainly
have their place to be mentioned
however they should be recognized
as two different methodologies.
One thing many players find
is that although they are
two different ways to play
the same cards neither is
right. Nor is either the right
in anyone situation. The choice
to be made on either should
be made based on the situation
because it relies as much
on your opponent as it does
on how comfortable you may
or may not be with the strategy.
One method is to play small
pairs early on and as strongly
as you could represent any
hand. The advantages to this
is statistically you are probably
holding the best hand, and
the more players you can scare
off the blinds can result
in paying your share early.
However this is obviously
dangerous representing a stronger
hand can be taken drastically
different and even be seen
as an attempt at blind stealing.
Against the more conservative
players this strategy may
in fact be advantageous but
remember this success will
be highly dictated on both
your table image and the table’s attitude towards you.
The other method is playing
them slow and waiting to see
what flops and taking it from
there. This has two repercussions
one is that you have gone
into a flop that you can’t come out of in good shape(most of the time).
The second
thing is that you could realize
based on bet patterns and
general mannerisms of your
opponent that you still hold
the best this means you will
probably pull in more money
than you would have trying
to over bid pre-flop. Which
can make it more than worth
it, but it’s a two edged sword that will certainly
not hesitate to cut back.
Both these strategies need
to be recognized and can have
their pay offs, both are exceptionally
dependent on the opponent.
Playing small pair cards is
dangerous and are most of
the card combinations that
need to be played directly
to your opponent. By that
it is meant you need to play
the hand to best counter the
psychology and movements of
the other poker players at
the table with you to best
achieve the largest stack. |
