Playing your small pocket pairs is a relatively straightforward proposition in a cash game. Set mining is something successful players have been doing at the cash tables for ages, and since small pocket pairs basically scream implied odds, your choice here is an easy one. In a tournament though, the increasing blinds complicate your situation. Here, there are several optimal ways to play your small pocket pairs, depending on the blinds’ level and, of course, on the size of your stack. In SNGs, the value of your small pocket pairs can go from excellent to downright worthless depending on the above factors.
In the early stages of SNGs, when the blinds are still small, your small pocket pairs carry excellent value. Because you still have around 70-75 BBs in your stack, you have all your strategy weapons at your disposal: you can afford to play your small pocket pairs optimally.
Limp along on them and try to see cheap flops. The keyword here is “cheap”. Since you’re not really looking to exploit the implied odds that come with your pocket pairs here, it is absolutely imperative that you do not waste too many of your chips on seeing those flops. Your goal is to hit a set, just like in cash game set mining, but you need to be aware that you won’t be able to afford to chase too many pocket pairs past the flop. Once you do hit that set though, you turn your small pocket pairs into a formidable early stage SNG weapon, one that may not only double you up, but rid you of one of your rivals in the same time too, literally thrusting you closer to the money bubble.
What you’re hoping for on such a flopped set is an opponent with two pairs or at least a top pair.
As play progresses, and as the blinds slowly but surely escalate, your small pocket pairs lose value. Whenever you aim for a set on the flop, you need to limp to keep the costs minimal. You simply won’t be able to do that profitably during the middle stages of a SNG. Limping along will cost you so much that a few such moves can entirely deplete your stack. At this stage of the tournament, raising or folding is the way to go. Limping in early position is suicidal, and raising from early position is not a good idea. While you could still theoretically limp from late position, it’s still better if you just stick to the old raise/fold approach.
As the blinds increase even further, you should forget about limping altogether. Stealing blinds is the way to go at this point and for that, small pocket pairs are wonderfully suited. The good thing about your pocket pairs is that they do offer you a way out if you happen to be called on your blinds stealing attempts. You can also use your small PPs to re-steal, just remember that your goal is to make the blinds stealer fold, not to take your hand to a showdown.
In the late stages of the event, when most players have like 10 BBs in their stacks, play turns into a shove-or-fold crapshoot. With less than 10BBs, going all-in on your small pocket pairs makes perfect sense. It is absolutely imperative though that you keep the fold equity in sight: do not call a shove with your small pocket pairs. If you decide to move all-in on them, make sure you’re the one who does the shoving.
Sign up for a rakeback deal too. Rakeback deals give you a rebate on your SNG tournament fees too, thus making it easier for you to shoot above the red line in the long-run.
Author Resource:-
Steve Larson, an online poker player from Canada, visit his rakeback site for mor useful tips and strategies. Rakemeback.com, the number one rakeback provider.
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