Small Pocket Pairs in No Limit Hold ‘em

Small pocket pairs – say, 22-66 – are hands that have a much higher value in no limit hold ‘em than limit hold ‘em. In a low buy-in poker game, if you have a reasonably deep stack compared to the blinds, you can feel comfortable calling before the flop with any pocket pair from any position if no one has raised. The idea is that if you flop 3 of a kind a mediocre player will pay you off quite well if they have a decent one-pair hand. If the pot is raised before it gets to you, you can consider the rule of five and ten.

You should usually call the raise if it's less than five percent of your stack, and almost always fold if it's more than ten percent. If it's somewhere in between, consider how likely the pot is to be reraised behind you, how likely the raiser is to donate his stack if you flop three of a kind.