Playing a high Pocket pair

The_Don90

Hi guys,

The one thing im having so much trouble with recently, is playing pocket pairs e.g. Kings, Queens and Aces. I find if i raise 2 or 3x BB i lose all interest. I flat call i either get paid big by a raise inbehind or i get outdrawn (not that im complaining because its poker at the end of the day).

So im woundering how other people would suggest playing these hands. I would say i win with them 95% of the time but a good 50% of that is losing my customers preflop.

robc

 hiya don 

 same happens to me but i just keep raising the 2-3x BB as i hate slow playing cause i get to many people in the pot and so easily outdrawn. 

 main thing i would say is keeping my bet same as other raises you make so they dont get suspicous of the monster. say if you would raise 3x BB with AJ but only min raise utg with KK going to send out warning signals.

 But yeah i would much rather take the bilnds than see a flop with QQ but say 4-5 limpers in there with me.  just my opinion on how i would play it probably stating the obvious lol

The_Don90

thanks Rob, i think thats where my problem comes in. Because of my aggression expessially later stages of a tourny i never raise the same. So my AA KK or QQ shows out like a sore thumb

Seagull158

In Response to Re: Playing a high Pocket pair:

thanks Rob, i think thats where my problem comes in. Because of my aggression expessially later stages of a tourny i never raise the same. So my AA KK or QQ shows out like a sore thumb
Posted by The_Don90

Balance your range. I believe "Jesus" recommends raising 4*BB with all your decent hands.

BlackFish3

In Response to Re: Playing a high Pocket pair:

In Response to Re: Playing a high Pocket pair : Balance your range. I believe "Jesus" recommends raising 4*BB with all your decent hands.
Posted by Seagull158

that's not balancing your range... if you raise 4x with only decent hands then everyone will know you have a decent hand when you raise 4x... just keep it 3x every time imo.

yb

I just raise it up to 4BB whenever I'm first into a pot, if you start varying your raise amount depending on the strength of your hand it becomes very readable. If you want to get more action with your big hands then maybe start opening up your raising range pre-flop?

pod1

massive overbet, sometimes works

Seagull158

In Response to Re: Playing a high Pocket pair:

In Response to Re: Playing a high Pocket pair : that's not balancing your range... if you raise 4x with only decent hands then everyone will know you have a decent hand when you raise 4x... just keep it 3x every time imo.
Posted by BlackFish3

OK, I meant very good, good and not so good hands. So they dont know how "decent your hand is. That is balancing your range.