Pocket pairs are a real mystery to a lot of players. They’re often hard to value because, when you’re dealt them, you know there’s a good chance you have the best hand on the board right then – but they’re unlikely to improve against the competition as the hand progresses.

Pocket pairs are stronger in no-limit games than in limit games because they tend to start strong and finish weak so they can often be outdrawn depending on your position and what’s gone on before it’s your turn.

Low pockets (2-2, to 6-6)
Sometimes worth a shot in normal play but they have little chance of winning a showdown unless they improve. Keeping in mind that the odds of flopping a set (three of a kind) with a pocket pair is about 8-1 calling your low pockets isn’t a high percentage play unless there are already four or more callers on the hand.

Low pairs will also get you into trouble if you have a hard time putting them down when they haven’t hit after the flop. If there are over-cards on the board and you haven’t flopped your set the only rationale for calling a bet after the flop would be that you’re sure your opponent is bluffing (and even then you can safely assume he’s got a card higher than a six that he could still hit on the turn or river).

Medium pockets (7-7 to 10-10)
More possibilities here. As the value of your pockets go up the chances of an over-card showing up on the flop go down. Medium pockets also give you a good opportunity to take advantage of the gap, if you’re feeling aggressive. Raising pre-flop with 9-9 for example will likely eliminate all callers except those holding ace-big or higher pockets, so you’ll be fairly confident that a raggy flop like 3d -5h- 8c won’t have hit anyone. See over-cards, however, and you have to have the discipline to put these cards down in the face of betting.

Bluffing
If you want to bluff pre-flop you can do worse than with low and medium pairs – at least you know you’ve got a made hand. If you get a caller with high cards but no pair, chances are he won’t hit on the flop, so a lot of players fire twice to make this bluff work. Of course this also makes it twice as expensive if your bluff gets called.

Premium pockets (J-J to A-A)

Before the flop.
In all normal game situations you’ll want to make a pre-flop raise with these cards. The purpose of this raise is to eliminate limpers who might hit their hands on the flop. Ideally, you want just one caller. While a bunch of callers may seem preferable – after all, you get all those bets with your monster hand – more than one caller, even on A-A, means that you have less than a 50- per- cent chance of winning the pot if it goes down to the river.

After the flop.
One major frustration when playing against loose players is that they’ll often call any bet with a draw, regardless of the odds they’re getting. It’s annoying when they hit their draws but if you consistently make the call uneconomical then, over time, you’ll be in profit playing your pockets against the draw in this way.

Know when to fold'em
It’s always a great feeling when a premium pair snuggles up to you – but try not to fall in love. Pocket K’s are huge before the flop, but very weak with an A on the board and strong betting coming at you. Unless you’re quite sure it’s a bluff this is always a folding situation.

Even A-A can go sour, though putting down the bullets will always be difficult. A flop like 9c-10c-Jc, when neither of your aces is a club, can make your heart skip a beat. If you’re betting first be sure to continue to make it uneconomical to draw – but beware that you may already be beaten. Far better to spend some chips on the flop to find out if your opponent has a made hand than to waste them calling him later, after he’s made it on the turn. A pot- sized bet will make any hand that’s only one card away from the flush or straight uneconomical to call (and the implication is that you’ll be betting even bigger after the turn).