If you haven’t already checked out the first part of this poker strategy series, read Set Mining in No Limit Hold’em Tournaments. In this article, we’re going to take a look at small pairs with deep starting stacks when the pot has been opened already.

A lot of the same guidelines apply in opened pots as they do in unopened pots. You should try to see the flop for a price that is reasonable compared to relative stacks so when you do make a big hand like a set, you get as much value as possible.

They key difference when you call in position, however, is that you don’t always have to hit a set to win the pot. However, you’re not trying to win a big pot in these instances, as being in position gives you an advantage over your opponent since he has to make the first move.

Sometimes after raising, an opponent will check the flop and you can take the pot down with a bet, but that is often not the case. Most of the time, we will face a continuation bet on a flop that has two or more overcards to our small pair. What are our options when facing these bets with just a small pair on the flop? I’ll give you some examples.

Blinds 25/50, Relative Stacks 3,300

A tight but aggressive player raises 3x to 150 and you call with one of our favorite hands, pocket fives, in position. The blinds fold and the pot is now heads-up (pot is 375). The flop is a dry T-6-2 and no flush draw and only two unlikely gutshot straight draws are present. The villain fires out a continuation bet of 200 (575 in the pot). Now, there are two overcards to 5-5 on the flop, but, in reality, the six is not much of an over, as a hand like 7-6 or a bad ace like A-6 is not going to be in his range very often.

This is an excellent spot to raise to 475. With 575 in the pot, you don’t even need to win the pot half of the time for this bet to show great profit given the fact that he will not connect with that flop often enough to make the call.

If we change the flop in this spot to one that has two Broadway cards like T-Q-6, then the situation becomes quite different, as this flop connects with our villain’s range much more often. Even if he does not have a pair that beats your 5-5, he will have overcards and a straight draw that he will continue with when you make a small raise on the flop.

With a much looser player raising in the same spot with a wider range, the situation can be quite different. The opposite situation is often the case, as they will likely be raising suited and offsuit connecters like 8-6 suited or T-9 offsuit, making a T-6-2 board much more dangerous to continue on.

A board with large cards that may seem very bad for you with a small pair is also often a very bad board for your opponent as well. This situation can allow you to represent big cards in an attempt to take the pot down on the flop by raising their continuation bet in the same manner as the last example. There is also another option to the immediate flop raise: floating.

First off, what is a float? Simply put, a float is calling a continuation bet on the flop with the idea of taking the pot down on the turn when your opponent checks and shows weakness. Against a looser player with a wider range who is less likely to have big cards, a float can be preferable to raising on the flop. Since there are already big cards out, you don’t have the risk of checking the flop and having the ace or king hit the board as you would against a tighter player. This allows you to control the pot size and thus your risk a little better.

When the villain bets the flop, you call, and he bets the turn, you can make an easy fold, as he has likely connected. When he checks the turn showing weakness, you can very often take the pot down with a bet. As I said already, this tool has to be used judiciously if you’re playing with players who are aggressive and capable enough to double-barrel you often by firing bets on the flop and the turn.

You will find yourself in many tricky situations in bigger pots not knowing what to do. However, in low- and mid-stakes tournaments, you will find many players who will fire one continuation and give up on pots when they face any resistance. As always, judgment is key; knowing your enemy in poker is the heart of the game.

With a little practice and experimentation, you will find the spots and types of players you are comfortable raising or floating on the flop when you are in position against a villain who has opened a pot for a raise.

I will be addressing shorter stack play with small pairs in the next edition of this series. Feel free to leave comments. I will try to get to as many as I can. Good luck at the tables!

Walter JLizardWright is a six-time PocketFives Triple Crown winner and a site instructor at PocketFives Training. If you are interested in lessons, please contact him via PocketFives PM or at JLizardTraining@gmail.com.