You're Not a Player Who Raises With Every Big Pair, Are You?

It's too cold for tennis. Let's just sit here and sip hot chocolate while we try to improve on the play of our beloved game of poker.

You've heard the saying, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." A "little knowledge" becomes a dangerous problem for many low- and medium-limit poker players. Watch for this in some of your opponents, and take advantage. They see other players raising with big pairs before the flop in hold'em, or on third street in seven-card stud. So, they say, "I'll do that, too," and they do it every time, without even knowing why. I hope you're not among those players.

With your high preflop or third-street pair, you usually will want to raise – usually, but not always. Pay particular attention to that last phrase – "usually, but not always." It's one of the lessons that I stress to my poker students.

You'll often see just the opposite with many players who always limp in with their high pairs, hoping to keep other players in. However, the more players there are drawing against your high pair, the higher the chances of your being outdrawn. Your big pair is a favorite against a single straight or flush draw. Against several such draws, you are still a favorite against each of them individually, but collectively, you become an underdog.

Your objective, then, when raising with a big pair is protection of your hand. You want to narrow the field and, ideally, play against one opponent who has a smaller pair or a drawing hand. You wouldn't be bad off if you had one of each.

Let's look first at seven-card stud. Before you go charging into a pot, raising your hot, big pair with chips splattering the table, stop and look – especially if you have tens or jacks, the lower end of the third-street raising spectrum. Look to your left for players with an overcard showing (to the right, too, but more on that later).

Check first to see how many overcards there are to your left that are yet to act. If there are two or more, I suggest just limping in with a pair of tens, for example, especially if they are split. If one of the overcards then raises, you can call if your tens are facedown, no other tens are showing on the table, and your kicker is higher than the raiser's upcard. With only one overcard yet to act behind you, go ahead and raise. If you are reraised by an overcard, again, you can call only if your tens are hidden and live, and your kicker is bigger than the raiser's probable pair.

Unless you like giving away your money, you'll want to avoid playing your pair straight up against a bigger pair. However, I like to take off a card if all of my cards are live and my kicker is an overcard to the raiser's announced pair. Playing a smaller pair against a bigger pair makes me an underdog. So, why do it? Well, remember, I'll do so only if my pair is hidden. If my pair is split, no, I won't play.

What's the difference? If my pair is split, my opponent will see the improvement when I catch the third 10, and can easily read my hand. That results in less profit for me. However, if the pair is facedown, my power is hidden when I catch the third 10. Calling the raise costs the same in each instance, but the implication at the start is that I will make more money with the hidden hand.

If a player already has raised while showing a jack, or any card higher than your tens, you don't have a legitimate reason to reraise. Players at the low and medium limits almost always have what they are representing.

You're not finished looking yet. We've talked about looking to your left for overcards before raising on third street. Well, here's a caution for low-limit players, $1-$5 and lower. Check to the right, also. Be aware of any overcards that have not raised. In low- and medium-limit games, players are often not aware that they should be protecting their big pairs. The fact that an ace or a king just limped in does not mean that the player doesn't have a pair of that rank.

Players in higher-limit games will often limp in with a big pair as a means of setting a trap for smaller pairs. In lower-limit games, they often just limp in with no particular strategy in mind (such as setting a trap). However, the results can be the same, so don't trap yourself into discounting the possibility that a player to your right holds a big pair just because he didn't raise on third street.

We'll check this out for hold'em at another time. For now, we've finished the hot chocolate and I'm finished for the day. It's nap time. Kill the light on your way out.

Roy West, author of the bestseller 7 Card Stud, the Complete Course in Winning (available from Card Player), continues to give his successful poker lessons in Las Vegas to both tourists and locals. Ladies are welcome. Call 1-800-548-6177.