06- 3-06, LearnTexasHoldem:

Small Pocket Pairs Versus Short Stack All-Ins

Question: I just laid down pocket sixes against a preflop all in that got called before I acted.

Of course a third six hit, and I would have won. That´s poker, I know. I´m confident that my lay down was correct (I would have costed half my stack, and I was already kind of short.), but it got me thinking. If someone who´s extremely shortstacked moves all in, and you hold a low pair, I say call. But if the shortstack gets called before me, the odds goes from (probably) 50/50 to... What?

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You may have two people with two overcards against you, which would mean 4x6=24 outs preflop, but more they share an ace, or at least I would think so. The caller was also sort of shortstacked (almost went all-in himself in this hand), so I figured they both were looking for an A to play.

So, normally, would you say the all-in player and the caller share ace and battle over the kicker? If so, would that mean the odds are even better compared to the potential winning? I make it 2 outs for the third ace, plus 6 outs for the two over cards.

How would you play low pair (like pair of sixes) against two shortstacked all-ins? Are the pot odds better than against just one, or was it a no-brainer laydown? It might be added that neither player was very tight, but no calling stations or overly loose either.

This was in a ring game, would it differentiate compared to cash games?

Kristoffer, Sweden

Answer:

I think you have the right idea. I probably wouldn't put the money in against two all-in players with a hand like 55 or 77. Against one player I would. With two players, as you already mentioned, your odds go way down. I'd also prefer not to triple a short stack up and have him back in the game.

A situation that comes up sometimes is if the first player goes all-in, then someone calls and you have a small pair. This can be a dangerous situation. Sometimes the player who just called the all-in has a monster and is waiting to trap. Ideally you would like to drive the other player out and be heads up with the first one, with the addition money in the pot.

I'm kind of drawing a blank here for more info to write... I think pretty much you have it right. The small pairs aren't huge hands against all-ins because the opponent will take 5 cards to draw against you, so the more all-ins obviously the worse it is.

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