It's hard to answer these questions because there are a lot of factors that go into playing this type of hand. I will say this though, most people will play any pocket pair in a ring game because the implied odds of winning your opponents stack are good when you hit a set. A lot of people also believe this applies in SNG's as well, but I don't agree, for a few reasons.

1: In a ring game, when you miss your set, you can reload your stack, you can't do this in an SNG, so if you waste 200 chips calling a long shot, that is 200 more chips that you could've won on a big hand, so technically, you may have just wasted 400 chips.
2: Ring games are tighter because the blinds aren't increasing, so their raises usually mean a good hand, which means that you are more likely to win their stack by cracking that hand, in an SNG, people are betting a lot of mediocre hands, which are easier to lay down when they miss, so you have less chance of winning their stack when you do hit.
3: Since play is more aggressive in SNG's, you have more of a chance of someone raising behind you.

That doesn't mean that you shouldn't play these, it just means that you need to look a lot closer at the table situation when you do. A few things I look for are, is the raiser tight or loose (tight is better implied odds), are there aggressive players left to act after me, what are the pot odds already, how big is my stack, how big is their stack, how big are the blinds? Also, there becomes a point when pocket pairs become more valuable just because they are pairs, in which case you are better off raising with them.

Hi everyone,

I'm new here. Been drifiting for a little while but figured I'd sign up so I can participate in the SNG discussions on this forum.

I've only been playing for a few months, but my opinions on playing the pocket pairs are as follows:

I usually only limp in with 8's or better from early position (and will raise hard with jacks or better) - I figure the lower pairs to too weak to play, especially since pots are multiway a good amount of the time early on. If I do hit, I like to make a continuation type bet - if there's a "playable" card on the flop such as a Q,K, or A. If I get lucky, the opponent will raise me with top pair. If there are no overcards, I'll just check if it's real early, since a lot of low stakes players don't know what continuation bets are and they may think I'm weak. If I'm caught making continuation bets, I'll obviously continue this as this is the perfect situation.

Once in awhile, the other guy actually does have the set of queens, kings, or aces, but seldom is that the case, especially when they don't raise or re-raise preflop.

So is my stragety sound, or are there other reccomendations?

As a veteran of the SNG's, I play the small pairs thusly---(remember, everyone plays a bit different, and I am NOT from the scientific school!!)....

In the first several orbits at PStars, I do not even think about playing them in EP...With a couple limpers or min raisers, I will call looking to set...Overall, I do not put a lot of value in the small pairs in the early rounds of a SNG...With the smaller starting stacks at Party (where I play VERY little), I would be even more conservative, and rarely play them at all in the first half or so, as my strategy at Party is BIG cards only in the early going...

After you have lost 2 or 3 players, and start getting a read/feel of the table, I believe the implied value goes up quite a bit, and I am often a bit more aggressive, BUT this is very dependent on stack sizes, and other players betting patterns...At the smaller SNG's, often times the table gets quite passive when there are 4 or 5 players left, so I will at times "steal with outs"!!....MP raises with 66 etc....

Post flop play is a whole different discussion....Early on, it is "set it or forget it"...In the later going, it is reads and "feel" as well as the betting patterns and flop texture...

Hope this helps a bit...

I've got to echo what has been said. Early I don't like to play any pair lower than 88 and then only in late position. Later, as the blinds go up and the number of players goes down they become stronger. Of course if your "spidey sense" is tingling then see the flop.

When I do play them, my main goal with a mid to low pocket pair is to play "set it or forget it". One of my leaks is to try to bluff (semi-bluff?) with mid pairs. It rarely works, at least for me.

I don't agree with the semi-bluff withe mid pairs on a "higher than your pair" flop. Its strictly "no set no bet" for me.