In Texas Hold’em you are dealt two face down cards. If those two face down cards are a pair, then you have a pocket pair. If those two face down cards are a pair between 6 and 9 then you have a middle pocket pair. These middle pocket pairs can be very tricky to play and often wind up losing people a lot more money then they gain. These hands have to be played with full intent of folding if you miss and chances are you will miss, especially with the pairs on the lower end of the spectrum. Unless you hit your set with these cards, they generally belong in the muck. Occasionally you will hit a straight draw with these or three unders will come but other than those two exceptions, if you miss your set you fold.
As with all hands, there are many different schools of thought on how to play these hands pref lop. Some say you should call the big blind and fold to other raise and see what the flop has to offer. Others say that you should play this hand supper aggressive and try to take it down pre flop before anyone has a chance to beat you out. I disagree with both of these methods. Pre flop, the proper way to play this hand is to make a 4x raise and hope to get some callers. You want to string a few people along to the flop with you because the real payday on these hands come when there are a bunch of people in the hand and you hit your set. Then you should get ready to get paid off because you will be. Hopefully you not only flop your set, but some other people hit an ace on the flop giving them confidence leading them to bet into you. If when playing a hand like pocket 9’s and the flop comes 2 4 7, i generally say to bet big while you have the best of it. You do not want anybody calling because you are good right now but any high card can come out and completely obliterate your hand and any hopes of winning the pot. Sometimes with pocket 9’s the flop will come out 7 8 10 in which case you have an open ended straight draw and you have 8 different cards in the deck that will give it to you. In this instance someone would have needed a 10 to beat you so your 9’s are probably still good and you also have a draw at the nuts. So this hand should be played pretty hard as well. If anything other than these three examples happens you should be trying to get out of there as fast as possible and hope to hit it next time. The set will eventually come and when it does you’ll be ready. Don’t bother trying to throw a bluff into the pot. Although it will work on some occasions, since we were trying to get a lot of people to call us pre flop, if a lot of overs flop, chances are they have them and a bluff will not work so don’t waste your money.
So to review what was said:
1. Try to get as many people to call pre flop as possible, we want all the action we can get.
2. If you do hit the flop, try to get as much money out of it as possible, these situations only come 1 in 8 times so make sure to make the best of it.
3. If you miss the flop, get out while you still can before you invest any more money.
Happy playing and good skill!
