Tags:
Advanced, Beginners, Hold' em, Intermediate, No Limit, Ring games
Pre-flop
Playing your big pocket pairs should generally revolve around getting as much value as possible from your holding. All big pocket pairs should be opened up in any position. Limping with the intention of re-raising is not generally viable in the modern game. Generally a raise in the region of the size of the pot will be ideal, serving to narrow the field if there are already limpers.
You should be looking to get all-in pre-flop with pocket Queens, Kings and Aces against the majority of opponents. Pocket Jacks and tens will also often have to be played very aggressively pre-flop at the mid-stakes.
If there has already been a raise before you then your optimal play will be governed by a combination of your position, the image of you and your opponent and your cards.
Example 1
You are under the gun and have a solid-tight image. You open with Aces and the player UTG+2 makes a huge bet. Action returns to you. The villain it turns out is a total nit. It should be very apparent that he has a huge hand and you shouldn’t get tricky here. Instead going all-in is probably the best move. Don’t just flat-call as you run the risk of various flops that will scare your opponent out of getting his stack in pre-flop.
Example 2
You are in middle position on an aggressive table. A tight UTG player opens. Your read is that he is a good tight aggressive player who views you as pretty tight. You have Q-Q. Here you have a couple of options but the best is probably to call. If you three-bet you are letting him fold hands that you have crushed. Because your image player your opponents will play more close to perfect if they have polarised your range correctly. This means that you will have a very strong, disguised holding post-flop
Example 3
You are on the button and get dealt K-K. Your image is that of a good LAG. You isolate a fish and get three-bet by a good LAG from the big blind. Calling is almost always infinitely more profitable than four-betting as four-betting lets the villain get away cheaply pre-flop. By calling you disguise your range and give the villain initiative out of position.