Defending Against the Pocket Set

It seems to happen every multi-table tournament. I'm playing solid poker and am with or above the average stack size deep into the tournament and then WAM it hits me. I'll have two-pair, maybe even top two-pair and am betting strong with an opposing flush or straight no where in sight.......we get to showdown where my opponent will have a pocket pair, making a 3 of a kind set that i didn't see coming. This will most certainly cripple me for the rest of the tournament. Even in ring games, the situation is bound happen and cut down my stack after a few hours of playing.

My question is: How do you defend against such an impending doom? What is there to look for in online games as far as tells for this? You most certainly can't fold every time someone re-raises you at showdown because you're scared of a set.

When deepstacked don't go broke with one pair, usually. When not deepstacked it is unavoidable.

Reads. Having good reads on a player will help you on later streets. If they have been reraising river a lot that you might have em beat and might be a good time to get it in. If you have not seen them make this play before then may have to give it up.

[x] pocket set

sorry, i had to.

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Originally Posted by bode

[x] pocket set

sorry, i had to.

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i need to practice my pocket sets

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Originally Posted by ProZachNation

Reads. Having good reads on a player will help you on later streets. If they have been reraising river a lot that you might have em beat and might be a good time to get it in. If you have not seen them make this play before then may have to give it up.

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I'm generally willing (NL10 6max 100BB stack) to stack off with TPTK or two pair hands. I'm generally unwilling to do so whenever I bet preflop and flop aggressively, and...

1. Passive villains wake up and bet turn or raise/rr flop.
2. Villains with weak-tight postflop play wake up and bet turn or raise/rr flop.
3. Agro villains who played passively preflop and flop suddenly wake up on turn (if they fire on the flop, I'm generally not respecting it, depending on other reads, but two streets of passive play from someone with AF ~ 6 starts to worry me on the turn).

That's about as specific as I can be. You just have to learn when you're beat and deny the old "curiosity call" click-impulse. Heck, about a third of the time they'll show the cards anyway, so why pay to see?

There's nothing much you can do about it and chalk it up as a cooler if you have two pairs.

We actually call 88 pocket set where I'm from, and there's no defense against it.

late in tourneys, if someone hits a set on your over-pair, you just go broke, that's the way it is.

If you could post some specific hands, we can help you A LOT more.

At FTR, I think accepted usage is "set" means a pp with the third 3-of-a-kind card on the board, while "trips" means unpaired cards in the hole one of which matches a pair on the board. The set is preferable most times since it's more deceptive (typically).