trips agony

[oneman426]

Been playing for money now for a week on pokerstars, just .02 BB games til my skills get better, though I think I'm doing quite fine now having more than doubled my $25 deposit. Been reading as much sklansky and miller as I can and working on Harrington's tourney books to improve my play in that environment. Having said that, there is one gripping question I have at the moment as it happened to me 3 times in 1 day just 2 days ago, and through all my efforts I cannot find any information dealing with this on any forum or in the books and websites I have read. Hence me signing up on this site and asking you all about this now.

3 times I have been beaten by a flopped set with low pocket pairs. All 3 times I had 2 pair, twice was from the BB which were not hands strong enough to raise (Q4 and J5 respectively), the other was late position with AQ. All 3 times I flopped 2 pair and all 3 times 1 other player flopped their set with low pocket pair. With the AQ I believe I raised PF about 5BB. The BB hands to me were not even close to calling any sort of raise with 3,4 limpers. Does anyone have any sort of advice on how to read these devastating hands??? They absolutely demolished me each time! And none of them raised me either just calling my bigger and bigger bets. Any sort of defense against this? I almost went tilt that day! Thanks!

[poker_pup]

I typically bet 1/2 of the pot when I have two pairs. If I'm raised, I'm usually beat. If your opponent is passive and just sits back and calls, there's really nothing you can do.

[Parasurama]

This could just be a string of bad luck with two pair, but I don't think so.

The AQ hand is most likely standard/nothing you can do/have to get it in, because there was a raise preflop. It's really easy to overvalue two pair, especially bottom two or top and bottom, in limped pots. One thing you have to realize is that relative hand strengths increase the more raises there are preflop. In a limped pot with heavy action postflop, one pair, two pair, trips, non-nut straights and flushes can all easily be second-best. When there is a raise or multiple raises preflop, hand ranges are narrowed, the field is narrowed, and one pair can be enough to get it in profitably.

You have to always be thinking about what your opponents can have in their ranges, you can't go on the strength of your hand alone. When someone is calling big bets postflop in in a limped pot, sets are a substantial part of his range. Also, a frequent line taken by a flopped set is to call the flop and raise the turn.

Also, the responses you get would be much more helpful if you posted hand histories with relevant information.

I typically bet 1/2 of the pot when I have two pairs. If I'm raised, I'm usually beat. If your opponent is passive and just sits back and calls, there's really nothing you can do.

Betting 1/2 pot is bad, two pair is a very vulnerable hand and needs to be protected. Also, there are lots of reasons people raise, to think you are beat holding two pair after one raise and give up is terrible. Lastly, If your opponent is very passive, checking to him from OOP is a great way to get him to reveal the strength of his hand.

[oneman426]

thanks for the replies...I haven't put much thought into tracking my hands but I will now that I found this hand converter thingy here. Saw a feature on pokerstars for emailing my hand history for the last week but when it came in it did just my past 200 hands so I guess I can't post the hands in question, but I will for future posts! Any other thoughts on this situation are most welcome, ty

[kb coolman]

First, let's clarify between sets and trips. Sets are three of a kind while holding a pocket pair and trips are with two on the board. You should not be getting killed with trips. Sets are another story.

The only real thing that will help you here is to define a villian's calling range, assumming you bet aggresively. Does he call behind with TP? Two pair? Flush/Straight draws? This will give you an indication. If he tends to call down light, say with draws without proper odds or even MP, I'm looking to get as much money in the pot as possible with two pair, or even top pair. Big deal when you get cracked. It happens.

But...what if his fold to flop cbet % is like 80%, and he's calling behind your strong leads? Alarm bells should be ringing, and I'm gonna reign in a bit, and probably end up folding the hand if he plays back at me.

[xX zorrito Xx]

i think it might be a combination of bad luck and betting...

if you have mid 2 pair or bottom 2 pair...

you need to be betting the shiet outta this pot... at least 80%

[Mr Bigcity]

man that sucks but it happens sometimes