Playing Big Pocket Pairs

• 09.06.2025 5:40 pm
• headhunter
• 1 Comment

Big pairs are easy to play before the flop in Texas Hold 'Em, but can get a little scary after that. When you are dealt a high pocket pair (AA, KK or QQ), you should almost always raise. You need to raise preflop because you want to go up against the least amount of people.

If you don't raise or don't raise enough and get six callers, your big pocket pair have little shot of holding up until the end of the hand. Many times with big pocket pair, if you raise preflop, get a caller or two and the flop comes down safely, you can usually pick up the pot with a follow through bet. If you do end up playing your big pair in a multiway pot, you will have to proceed with great caution. Read the board to determine if your big pocket pair is safe. If you have aces and the flop comes down K-Q-7, this is a much scarier board than J-5-2. Your opponents are more likely to be holding K-Q in their hand than J-5.

It's not always easy to let go of big starting hands, but you have to be able to do it if you feel you are beat. There is no reason to keep throwing money into the pot when the board gets scary just because the cards are pretty. This will just result in less money for you, which is opposite to the point of poker. You can pick a better spot.

If you noticed, jacks weren't part of the always raise category. Jacks are a high pocket pairs, but it can also fall into the medium pocket pair category. Jacks are a tough hand to play because there are enough cards that can beat it. If you are the first person into a pot, you should always raise with Jacks to thin the field. However, you might consider letting this hand go if there is a raise and, especially, a reraise in front of you. Normally, jacks are not good in this situation.

What happens though when you got into the pot with a suited ace or two face cards and hit top pair? If you hit an ace, you have to be mindful of the kicker. Sometimes you will call with A-2 of hearts and hit the ace, but that deuce is not pretty. In early position in a multiway pot, you can consider checking because this is still a weak hand. Any other ace beats it. If it's checked to you in late position, bet out and you will quickly find out where you stand.

If you have a hand such as K-Q or K-J and hit a king on the flop, you should always bet out. You have a strong pair, but you might not improve. If you don't improve, one pair usually isn't good enough at showdown. Try to end this hand as quickly as possible.

Having top pair or an over pair to the board makes playing the hands easier. This is why starting hand selection is so important.