The Science Of Baby Pairs | Poker Quick Plays

SplitSuit explains how baby pairs (aka small pocket pairs) really hit the flop. The 88%/12% breakdown is true for all small pairs, although how you value the 88% is up for debate. Learn how to visualize these hands, improve your play with them preflop, and understand their inherent postflop value as well. If you've never really explored this hand type before, give this quick video a viewing!

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[AcesterTV]

I've watched videos like these multiple times over the years and it's funny how over time the more I progress, the more info I glean from the videos. I've probably watched this one 5 times over 2 years and I think I've picked up something new every time

[Tom_de_Oliveira]

Unfortunately, no matter how much I try to think about how I play my hand, my head saying pocket 2s never lose will always win out in how I play

[capitonymical]

Really enjoy the work thats put into this video. Helps my learning with nice visuals. Keep it up!

[phillipkrayterman]

love the style of your videos. Great coverage of tons of common scenarios

[cariocavip]

I love all split suits' videos. Thanks, split!

[bigskia]

Fold - early position
Raise - late position
Post flop - set or jet

[kibspoker]

Subscribed man.... Geez. at this point, im convinced that your channel is 100% gold. Thank you, so much info learned here for a newbie like me. 🙏

[mikkelchandler]

Great stuff James Grinding science at its best.

[liveslowlivesimple]

helpful video. the biggest "leak" in my beginner game right now is that i play pocket pairs too aggressively and thus lose big pots with them as i get pot committed early and am almost forced to call raises on later streets. will definitely be more wary in the future

[kreed]

play them cheap or don't play them at all, when you strike with them, capitalize

[senesful]

in my opinion the pairs are really easy to play
its either you get the nuts or nothing i mean you have 2 outs so its really easy to play

[pugsnhogz]

"I couldn't possibly explain all the strategy in 6 minutes, so instead I've told you basically nothing other than to point out that small pairs are tough to play postflop."

I mean, you can't take credit for "with a little information, you're in a better position to play postflop" without providing even the slightest indication of what "how to play postflop" looks like.

This is a nice effort but I'm afraid I agree with others who have pointed out that this is either "duh" info for intermediate-advanced players, or not enough info to really help beginners. Other than the advice to avoid open-limping which is just general basics and not really specific to "baby pairs."

[hnestbraham]

Over the weekend, I had a Q8 suited and opponent had pocket 2s. Don't remember pre-flop action but somebody raised and called. Flop came out 2 Q Q. We both slow played and checked. Next card a 7, doesn't affect so he raises, I called. River 2. So he lands a bomb while I have a boat. Pretty unlucky haha (I had gone all in after the 3-bet). Pocket deuces never works when I have it though.

[unwelcomemotivation]

I hate small pairs, I prefer to open raise, that way if I get a call I can assume they have high cards and the flop is a lot more telling. Problem is with limping in and not catching a set, it's really hard to bluff when any card on the board is a higher pair than yours.

[Choplinn]

i’m here after shoving pocket 4’s 7 bb left in stack. small blind wakes up with pocket q’s. i think most of the time i’m flipping maybe i’m wrong but i’m definitely on tilt currently

[guybrushthreepwood]

Before I call preflop with my baby pair I check to make sure nobody in there is too short for obvious reasons. Second I look to see what my position is like because in the event that I do hit a set it's going to be much easier to get more money out of the opponent if I'm in later position assuming the stacks are deep enough. The last thing that I sometimes forget to do pre that also really matters is whether or not the opponent that raised or maybe a different one in the hand is a player who actually will give you the implied odds that you assumed you would get if they have an actual good hand. Some players can get away from Aces, some don't very much. Some players get aggro with ace-king high, some don't. Also being out of position when you flop your set puts you in a situation where you either need to check raise or lead to get max value. the problem is that these kinds of lines can alarm better players especially if these better players noticed that you're not that balanced when you're donk betting flops or check raising on the flop. So if a player I perceive is pretty good in the game is raising from later positions, I don't get that excited to call in early position with baby pairs. Firstly because if that player is good they may be able to get away if you flop your set and secondly when they raise from later position they could have hands that they don't even care about at all meaning you'll get paid insufficiently. Makes much more sense to call the raise when you're in later position as a general strategy that a lot of players use is to raise better hands in earlier positions which are the kind of hands that you want to crack.

[michaelcampbell]

In short handed play (4 or less) do baby pairs increase in value due the odds of the other opponents having any two cards are better (opposed to a desirable hand)? If so in these situations do you 3Bet in easy position and call in the blinds if there are only limps or min raises?

[lperalta]

Good video, i really needed to know this

[thatdude]

Key to setmining? Believe in the heart of the cards

[achillecapobianco]

like negranu always says with JJ or less keep calm and don't overplay