terminology - trips or sets?

[LuckySlevin]

I'm reading poker for dummies. They make the following statement and it's confused me a bit.



I'd learnt from the forum that trips were if you held only one of the three of a kind in your hole cards, and a set was when you held two in your hole cards (making it less likely that someone else has the same hand) - but the above seems to imply there's no difference.

Could someone clarify thanks

[Deanglow]

officially if you have a pair in your hand hit a 3rd on the board that is a set. if you have one card in your hand and hit 2 on the board that is trips. but no one really pays attention to it

Technically it's the same thing but many differentiate the two as a set or a pair to avoid confusion about the hand. Trips are typically easy to spot (paired board) but sets are much harder.

[Jack Sawyer]

Your hand:

:As:

Board:




You got trips.

====================

Your hand:



Board:

:Kd:


You got a set.

[Monty3038]

I think there is another point of clarification...

Re-read your page...

If you HELD 888 you could call it trips or spades... sounds like 5-card draw, 7-card draw or another game. Not Texas Hold Em because you don't HOLD three or more cards.

[Pino_Diablo]

i didn't know that.

i wonder if a set wins more hands than trips? my guessing is that with trips there is a possibility of a full house. (very wide generalization)

[sarbox68]

officially if you have a pair in your hand hit a 3rd on the board that is a set. if you have one card in your hand and hit 2 on the board that is trips. but no one really pays attention to it

Just to add to this... the real diff is that trips are more vulnerable than a set and less disguised. They're vulnerable 'cause you've got a paired board giving you real exposure to a full house. It's usually been suggested to me that trips need to be played hard and fast -- not a good candidate for slowplaying. Other issue is that you might want to stay aware of your kicker... 93 on a 996KT board has exposure to not only KK and TT, but also villain holding 98 or A9. This isn't an issue with a set...

A set is more hidden and can even make sense to play against a strong flopped draw (i.e. 3 to a suit) because you have the outs to a full house. Still have to be careful about slow-playing them but you have the option depending on board texture.

[LuckySlevin]

Thanks for all the replies much appreciated. They actually refer to the set's as havin two hole cards paired and hitting a third on the board later in the book so I think that was just a bit of an editorial slip up - thanks for reassuring me that I had the right idea.