Pair Over Pair
In the past few weeks I’ve gotten into big pots that ended up all in before the flop with pair over pair, each time with me holding the bigger pair only to see the flop come and totally jack the pot from me. This has been happening not only in live cash games, but in online cash games and in tournaments. I don’t know what I’ve been doing that is evil in my normal life, but something has it in for me at the poker table. I need to look into buying a talisman or a curse burning candle or pay some witch doctor to bless my face. Something wants to hurt me.
Overall, though, I really hate getting all my money in before the flop, no matter how far ahead I am. Playing all in before the flop, even with aces, even when you are favored 6 to 1, is essentially a minor crap shoot. The whole point of the game of hold em is that the hand is primarily defined by the flop. Going in blindly, even dominating, is about the same as a roulette wheel, only in this version you get to wait and pick your odds. I don’t like to gamble like that (or not often) and so playing all in poker gets me irritated. If I can’t play flops and action that way, then I’ve decided from here on out that I’m going to get up and wait for a more explorative table.
Getting it all in preflop with AK is even a worse proposition, but you see it all the time. If you aren’t dominating your opponent where they’re holding AQ or AJ, then at most you are about a 60% favorite against any hand, down to 7-2. This is even worse of a gamble and without pot odds or against short stacks, you are basically just testing your luck. Though I see people all the time who don’t know how to fold this purely speculative hand, even after the flop.
I think I’m going to be playing some lock down poker in the next week or so, if at all, to try to get my head right. These hands where I go in with AA vs JJ (lost) and KK vs AK (lost) and KK vs 5-5 (lost) are really beginning to crush me.
Tags: bad beats, coin-flip-situation, pair-over-pairRelated Stories
POSTED IN: bad beats
2 opinions for Pair Over Pair
Jereme
Dec 3, 2007 at 6:08 pm
I despise going all in preflop. It is a coin flip regardless of how stacked the odds are in your favor.
But it is the favorite move of inexperienced players and you can either race with them or fold and wait to see a flop on another hand.
I treat AK like I treat 2 3. It is nothing more than a connector hand and I have no problem throwing it away.
Most new to medium players don’t do that.
Maybe you should play Omaha or Pineapple and take a break from Holdem.
I can’t stand stud but you could play that one too.
And then there is always limit holdem (which i hate). Nothing but a numbers game but at least you won’t lose everything on one bad beat.
Mike
Dec 7, 2007 at 2:50 am
I just started playing NL Holdem online a few weeks ago, and so far have been playing mainly FreeRolls. Yikes if all-ins bug you, don’t ever play one of those ;)
I agree, that they bug me too, it is much more fun to be able to play a flop, ..”jockey” for position, and win a bluff with only a 2-5x “reasonable” size bet, instead of just relying on “brute force” ;)
Mike
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