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SNG Basics: Small Pocket Pairs

• 31.06.2025 2:39 pm
• Helen
• 0 Comments

The small pocket pairs-which can also be referred to  as 22-77,can be very complicated to play at the best of times.

In a sit-and-go with fast increasing blinds, they can be annoying.

At times it may seem like they should be all-powerful, but hey can range from being a robust holding to really worthless.

In short, you should know how to play them the correct way or risk struggling as an SNG fish forever.

When the blinds are very low, see the cheap flops

Pocket pairs are very important in the early stages of a sit-and –go. Your stacks are normally big and the blinds are low.

A lot of sit –and-go's begin with about $1,500 in chips and blinds begin with $10/$20 or $10/25.

In a stage such as this, you can limp using your small pocket pair and expect to hit the set.

Sets are normally a very strong hand. If you are fortunate to hit one against the top pair of your opponent, there is a chance of you doubling up.

Doubling up early can make the rest of your game simpler.

Therefore, it is good to try some cheap flops when the blinds are too small.

The key word is cheap, so it is right to call 3x-4x raise if only a few players are in the pot, but calling bigger raises or even limping the small PPs early when you are out of position  is the perfect way of waste buy-ins.

The few times you do the flop are not going to offset the amount of cash you lose the moment you limp just before the flop to check-fold on the flop.

You should not limp when the play continues

The center part of a sit-and-go comes about with bigger blinds and changing the table flow.

The sit-and-gos normally start out loose and later get tight after the $25/$50 stage.

When this happens, you should switch your game and your pocket pairs. In this case, you cannot limp from just anywhere expecting to get fortunate and flop a set.

This way, you are endangering your stack.

If you happen to be at $25/$50 you can limp from late position when a few limpers are done, but it is advisable to play a reraise-or-fold strategy.

Actually the $25/$50 stage is a difficult blind size. If you happen to raise to $150 and you get called, the pot will be $300 after the flop.

If you continuation betthat and you get called, you put around 20% of your stack.

Your hand is not probably good if your opponent keeps on calling. The only solution is to fold and surrender the cash invested.

This is why raising at the center and at the beginning of the game is not good. In a situation like this, at $25/$50, the low pocket pairs are very useless.

Limp calling a raise beneficially is impossible because of the reason above.

The only thing you should do is muck these hands.

Getting away with blinds

As the blind continue to more maybe from $50/$100 and above, you should start to open up your game.

At a stage like this, you should not limp at all. You should only be looking to slowly make your stacks more by stealing blinds.

You are only playing a raise or fold strategy, and the pocket pairs are a very good steal hand. You can raise 3 times the big blind and most likely you will win the hand with no showdown.

On the other hand, the good thing about pocket pairs is that you can win the hand at showdown.

If you happen to be under the gun, then you do not have to alter your plan too much.

The only thing you should be doing is mucking 22-55, though, if you find out the table is playing tight, you can bring on the 66+for a raise.

Remember your aim is to win the pot with no competition.

Playing a pot that is not in position with an underpair can be very hard, so be very careful.

You and re-stealing

Re-stealing in the best situations is the best skill a sit-and-go player can have.

The best sit-and-go players are mostly stealing.

They steal using the weak hands. This means that if you play back at them, they will fold and you can earn yourself the raise and the blinds.

The pocket pairs make very huge re-steal hands. If the blinds are getting re-raised by a very crucial stealer, you can play back at then using the small pocket pairs.

You can only do this if you have fold equity.

A call is not what you want. Your aim is to take the pot down with no struggle.

Let us look at two of the examples. One of them is a nice re-steal using a small pocket pair, and the other is a bad re-steal.

The first example

The blinds are $50/$your stack happens to be $the stack of the small stack is $2400.

The play is folded to the small blind. The small blind makes it $300 this case, your opponent would open very wide in such a pot.

You are in the big blind that has .you choose to move in for $2400 and your opponent folds.

The second example

Your stack happens to be $900; the stack of the small blind is $theplay is folded to the small blind, who makes it $400.

You are in the big blind that has and you choose to move in for $900.

Your opponent calls and he gets 2-1 and his :6c :7h wins the race.

You can see the difference in the two examples. In the first example, so that you can call your opponent, you would have to put $2100 more into a $2700 pot.

In order to get over1-1 your opponent would have a monster to call.

In the second example your opponent is getting 3-1.

Your opponent can never fold getting nearly 3-1 with a descent chip stack.

Now the only thing you can rely on is the strength of your hand other than relying on the equity of your fold with the strength of the hand as a back up.

When the blinds are high.

The moment you are in late stages, there is not much to play.

A lot of players sit on a 10BB stack. If you happen to have something less than that, then your plan is very simple. Toss or fold.

Any particular pocket pair is good for a toss with less than 10BBs.

If you happen to have called you are probably 50% to win. Remember you do not want calls, but folds.

Warning

Because you should toss any particular pocket pair does not mean that that you should be calling all-ins since you have a pair.

The Aggression is the key gives you two options of winning.

If you are using small pocket pairs to call with, this shows a leak in your game. You are essentially calling and expecting to win the coin flip.

Even if you happen to have the10BBs you cannot flip the life of your game. It is good to fold and wait for a pot where you are first-in.

Pocket pairs normally have that good look but they are a good advantage if your opponent holds an underpair which is likely.

Even though they are good to use while pushing in, they are not good to use to call with.

Your Good and Bad Enemy

Because of their sliding scale of value, the small pocket pairs can be your good friend and your bad friend as well.

Playing them at times can be very annoying.

But if you play them in position, they can turn out to be very useful hands for you.

Begin to search for the states early, the moment you can limp and get to hit a huge hand and also begin to look for the best opportunities when the blinds become too big.

You can also mix the limps that are in late position plus the raise that are in the middle.

Doing this lowers the time of searching for the pocket pairs and it also maximizes the time for placing all your challengers in very tough decisions.

So as to become a great player in sit-and-go, look out for some online poker sites that are recognized to have a huge selection of beginner sit-and-go such as Titan Poker and PokerStars