WE LIKE A BIG PAIR Judging by the questions we get at dailystarpoker.com a lot of you have trouble playing with small pairs. It doesn’t seem to matter if you land them in tournaments or during ordinary cash games. Professionals will often play small pairs with confidence given certain conditions. They’ll hardly ever play them from early position for example. Obviously the only motive in playing them at all his to try and hit three of a kind when the flop comes down or if you’re a real gambler, at the turn or the river. Playing a small pair (say fives) from a late position is okay if you have maybe three callers and you are pretty sure there’s not too much of a chance of a raise sneaking up behind you. The trouble some of you are having is attempting to play low pairs AFTER the flop and the over-card situation prevents you from knowing if you’re ahead or already on a hiding to nothing. Golden rule: Only play small pairs against callers and from late position.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q: What does to “crack” mean in a poker context? A: Somebody will say, “The son of a bitch has “cracked” my kings!” It means an opposing player has drawn and beaten what appeared to be the winning hand up to that point. In this case, three kings!
Q: What or who is a “bubble boy”? I heard it called out during a televised poker tourney. A: A “bubble boy” would refer to a player in the last non-playing position in a tournament. As play tightens up, obviously no player wants to be in that position. It’s more commonly just referred to as the “bubble”.
Q: I was playing on dailystarpoker.com during this last week and there seemed to be some fairly large pots. Was that a freak week? A: It was certainly a GOOD week for Omaha, probably about average for Texas Hold’em. If you were one of the guys who won several hands in a row, please don’t come back.
Q: I noted a commentator refer to a player on TV poker as a “Terminator”. I didn’t catch enough of the play to know what it implies? A: It’s a player who calls every hand, whatever they happen to be holding. They terminate the fun, their own game and if you have one at your table for hours, you want to terminate them.
ALL THE ACES poker column: Thursday, February 16, 2006: Playing Big or Small Pairs
