Overplaying Middle Pairs

Playing middle pairs in no limit Hold’em is a tricky proposition. There are numerous factors that go into how you play them including relative stack sizes, player tendencies, whether you are in a tournament or cash game, and position. As poker is a game of “ifs” there is really no one completely correct way to play any particular hand. However I would like to make an argument that there is a wrong way to play middle pairs.

In a tournament setting unless you are a shortstack shoving all your poker chips in pre-flop with a middle pair is a bad play. The goal of tournaments is two-fold, survival and taking down first place. Unless you are simply content to make the money you should be playing for not only the final table but first place. To achieve this goal requires a little luck but a lot of skill. If you simply put all your chips in preflop you remove the skill aspect. By removing any post-flop decisions you may make it easier on your mind but at the same time you are removing any ability to maneuver. Stated another way, you cannot get away from the hand. Being able to make an independent decision based on how a hand has played out is often the difference between who goes broke and who drags the pot. If someone were to ask you at the start of a tournament if you want to leave your advancement to chance you would probably say no. Your play should match the reasoning from the start, you want to win. An additional reason to not overplay a middle pair is that with the right board you can extract far more money from more players. Building up chips is crucial to making a run at the final table.

Ring game play is similar in this regard to tournaments. You simply do not want to be putting all of your money into the pot pre-flop with middle pairs. A surprising amount of players, especially at the 6 max tables, are more than willing to get all their money in. This is a losing strategy because cash game play tends to be more aggressive and you will be called down lighter from big or medium stacks with hands like suited connectors or big aces. You may double up here and there but in the long run people will figure out what you are doing and wait to pick you off. Collecting small pots here and there and waiting to play a big pot with a big hand are far more profitable plays.

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