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Small Stakes Hold'em: Winning Big with Expert Play

by Ed Miller, David Sklansky, and Mason Malmuth

Pairs Smaller than Top Pair

When you have a pair smaller than top pair, the probability that you have the best hand is obviously reduced. You usually play these hands under one of two circumstances:

1. No one has shown much strength, so you might have the best hand.
2. The pot is large, and you are drawing to a probable winner.

on a flop of

This is a very strong hand. You have middle pair, ace kicker, and the nut-flush draw. If no one has a queen, you will usually have the best hand. Even if you are behind to someone with a queen (but not ace-queen), you have fourteen outs (3 aces, 2 sevens, and 9 hearts) to overtake him. Even against a large field, you will often win. You should usually raise and reraise with this hand on the flop, especially against multiple opponents. With so many outs you will usually have a lot of pot equity, even if you do not currently have the best hand.

on a flop of

This is a strong hand. You have bottom pair with a small flush draw. Although obviously not as strong as the previous example, this is still a robust holding. Your bottom pair, no kicker is not likely to be the best hand unless you are heads-up, but you still have a fourteen out draw. Any time you flop a pair and a flush draw, you have a strong hand.

on a flop of

This is a strong hand (though it is on the low end of that category). You have a pocket pair much higher than middle pair. If you have the best hand, you are unlikely to be outdrawn. Only one additional overcard can come, and there are no straight or flush draws. If someone has a king, however, you are drawing to two outs.

on a flop of

This is a marginal hand. You have middle pair, ace kicker. You may have the best hand. If you do not, you have five outs to two pair or trips and a backdoor flush draw. Between this hand and the previous one, if no one has a king, the queens hand is stronger; fewer overcards can outdraw you. But if someone does have a king, this hand is stronger, since you have more outs.

on a flop of

This is a marginal hand. You have a pocket pair higher than middle pair. This hand combines the weakness to overcards of the ace-seven hand with the lack of outs of the queens hand. Despite being a higher-ranking poker hand than ace-seven (a pair of eights versus a pair of sevens), this hand is clearly inferior to both the queens and the ace-seven hands. (For a similar example, see p. 88 of The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky.)

on a flop of

This is a poor to marginal hand. You have a pocket pair higher than middle pair. You may have the best hand. If you do, the three big cards and two-flush are dangerous. They make it likely for someone to have flopped a pair or a straight or flush draw (though you do hold two "stopper" cards for many of the possible straights). If behind, you are drawing to two outs and a backdoor straight draw.

on a flop of

This is a poor hand. You have bottom pair and the bottom end of a one-card gutshot. You are unlikely to have the best hand. If you catch a nine, anyone with a bigger two pair or a queen beats you. If you catch a queen, anyone with an ace makes a bigger straight. This hand will make a second-best hand far more often than it makes the best hand, and in most circumstances you should fold it.

on a flop of

This is a poor hand. You have a pocket pair higher than bottom pair. You are unlikely to have the best hand. If you do, someone could catch a flush, straight, or one of seven overcards to beat you. If you are behind, you have two outs to improve. One of those outs, the 6d, puts three to a flush on board. In a multiway pot your hand is terrible (although you should take a card off getting 30-to-1 odds or so which sometimes happens).