“Mad Genius” ego damage and the nature of poker
Biographical, Image, Motivation, Psychology
About Mike Caro
Biographical, Mike Caro, Press package, SPECIAL INFO
About the Mike Caro Brain Trust
Biographical, Brain Trust, Mike Caro, Press package, SPECIAL INFO
Brain Trust: Hillary president chances 2016
Brain Trust, Thoughts
Caro quote: … old-poker gun
ALL (newest first), POKER, Quotes, Strategy
Decades later, poker history repeats itself
General, History, Hold 'em, In the news, SPOTLIGHT
Eye surgeries delay P1 opening 12 days (Caro blog)
BLOG, Life, Personal
Fast 2014-09-16: Murder of contemporary music
ADDED FAST, ALL (newest first), AUDIO AND VIDEO, Controversy, Life, Thoughts, Video
Fast 2014-11-04: Strange slogan at my polling place
ADDED FAST, ALL (newest first), Life, Thoughts
Hold ’em flop bluff using scare cards
This common hold ’em opportunity to bluff profitably on the flop is often overlooked.
ALL (newest first), Hold 'em, In the news, Links, POKER, Poker sites, Strategy
I used to be mentally retarded (Caro blog)
BLOG, Life, Personal, Psychology
I wake up with 311-point Scrabble word (Caro blog)
BLOG, Life, Personal
Mad Genius ego damage at poker (original version)
Bankroll, Motivation, Personal
Mike Caro Brain Trust methodology
Brain Trust, Press package, SPECIAL INFO
Mike Caro complete biography
ALL (newest first), Biographical, SPECIAL INFO
Mike Caro University: mascot, affiliation, Instagram
ALL (newest first), Announce, In the news, Links, News, Poker sites
More things I’ve never, sometimes, and always done
ALL (newest first), Ethics, General, Personal, POKER, Psychology, Strategy
My hippie photo that scared advertisers (Caro blog)
BLOG, Image, Personal, Photos, Press package, Psychology
My quotation isn’t cute
Gambling, Life, Quotes, Strategy
My streak ends + Poker1 status update (Caro blog)
BLOG, Personal
1 2 3 9

Everything is everywhere

Any Poker1 page takes you anyplace you want to go!

Poker1 

Megadex

Poker1 universe —
all in one place.

→ Collections
Special Poker1 groups

Poker1 Megadex tools

— main navigation departments —

Collections

Related groups of Poker1 content

↓ Major collections ↓

Gambling  •  Hold 'em  •  Info  •  Life beyond poker

Poker (all)  •  Poker dictionary  •  Poker psychology

Poker statistics  •  Poker strategy  •  Poker tells

Prediction*  •  Shopping  •  Zone 2*

↓ Tip collections ↓

All*  •  Gambling*  •  Life*  •  Poker*  •  Various*

↓ Contributor collections ↓

Brunson  •  Caro  •  McHaffie  •  Wiesenberg  •  Others*

↓ More collections ↓

Poker1 FAQ  •  Poker-tell videos  •  Review of poker lessons

Sunday sessions*  •  Targeted poker quizzes  •  Tuesday sessions

* Any collection followed by an asterisk ( * ) has no entries yet.

A-to-Z     Library     Collections     Top     Home

Poker1 everything

Browse alphabetically

 

B

M

N

P

S

T

W

A-to-Z     Library     Collections     Top     Home

Poker1 library

Content in categories

A-to-Z     Library     Collections     Top     Home




≡ Content above: Poker1 Phase2a specification ≡

MCU poker tip: Hold ’em small pair disaster

Poker1.com default content graphic

Small starting pairs have many problems in hold ’em. One reason they’re often unprofitable is that they sometimes become no pair whatsoever!

If you hold a medium pair like 8♥ 8♠ and the board is 2♦ K♠ 4♣ 4♦ K♣, you hold a potentially commanding two pair, kings over eights. But, with that identical board, if you hold 3♥ 3♠, you have the same two pair everyone else does — kings over fours — with a three kicker.

Remember, the rank of non-premium pairs matters. There are many other reasons for this, too, beyond the disaster discussed above. You should often automatically fold small pairs in early positions — in both limit and no-limit hold ’em games. Especially in raked games, deuces through fives tend to be unprofitable when played from early positions.— MC

“Mad Genius” ego damage and the nature of poker
Biographical, Image, Motivation, Psychology
About Mike Caro
Biographical, Mike Caro, Press package, SPECIAL INFO
About the Mike Caro Brain Trust
Biographical, Brain Trust, Mike Caro, Press package, SPECIAL INFO
Brain Trust: Hillary president chances 2016
Brain Trust, Thoughts
Caro quote: … old-poker gun
ALL (newest first), POKER, Quotes, Strategy
Decades later, poker history repeats itself
General, History, Hold 'em, In the news, SPOTLIGHT
Eye surgeries delay P1 opening 12 days (Caro blog)
BLOG, Life, Personal
Fast 2014-09-16: Murder of contemporary music
ADDED FAST, ALL (newest first), AUDIO AND VIDEO, Controversy, Life, Thoughts, Video
Fast 2014-11-04: Strange slogan at my polling place
ADDED FAST, ALL (newest first), Life, Thoughts
Hold ’em flop bluff using scare cards
This common hold ’em opportunity to bluff profitably on the flop is often overlooked.
ALL (newest first), Hold 'em, In the news, Links, POKER, Poker sites, Strategy
I used to be mentally retarded (Caro blog)
BLOG, Life, Personal, Psychology
I wake up with 311-point Scrabble word (Caro blog)
BLOG, Life, Personal
Mad Genius ego damage at poker (original version)
Bankroll, Motivation, Personal
Mike Caro Brain Trust methodology
Brain Trust, Press package, SPECIAL INFO
Mike Caro complete biography
ALL (newest first), Biographical, SPECIAL INFO
Mike Caro University: mascot, affiliation, Instagram
ALL (newest first), Announce, In the news, Links, News, Poker sites
More things I’ve never, sometimes, and always done
ALL (newest first), Ethics, General, Personal, POKER, Psychology, Strategy
My hippie photo that scared advertisers (Caro blog)
BLOG, Image, Personal, Photos, Press package, Psychology
My quotation isn’t cute
Gambling, Life, Quotes, Strategy
My streak ends + Poker1 status update (Caro blog)
BLOG, Personal
1 2 3 9

Everything is everywhere

Any Poker1 page takes you anyplace you want to go!

Poker1 

Megadex

Poker1 universe —
all in one place.

→ Collections
Special Poker1 groups

Poker1 Megadex tools

— main navigation departments —

Collections

Related groups of Poker1 content

↓ Major collections ↓

Gambling  •  Hold 'em  •  Info  •  Life beyond poker

Poker (all)  •  Poker dictionary  •  Poker psychology

Poker statistics  •  Poker strategy  •  Poker tells

Prediction*  •  Shopping  •  Zone 2*

↓ Tip collections ↓

All*  •  Gambling*  •  Life*  •  Poker*  •  Various*

↓ Contributor collections ↓

Brunson  •  Caro  •  McHaffie  •  Wiesenberg  •  Others*

↓ More collections ↓

Poker1 FAQ  •  Poker-tell videos  •  Review of poker lessons

Sunday sessions*  •  Targeted poker quizzes  •  Tuesday sessions

* Any collection followed by an asterisk ( * ) has no entries yet.

A-to-Z     Library     Collections     Top     Home

Poker1 everything

Browse alphabetically

 

B

M

N

P

S

T

W

A-to-Z     Library     Collections     Top     Home

Poker1 library

Content in categories

A-to-Z     Library     Collections     Top     Home




≡ Content above: Poker1 Phase2a specification ≡

Published by

Mike Caro

Visit Mike on   → Twitter   ♠ OR ♠    → FaceBook

Known as the “Mad Genius of Poker,” Mike Caro is generally regarded as today's foremost authority on poker strategy, psychology, and statistics. He is the founder of Mike Caro University of Poker, Gaming, and Life Strategy (MCU). See full bio → HERE.

5 thoughts on “MCU poker tip: Hold ’em small pair disaster”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Let's make sure it's really you and not a bot. Please type digits (without spaces) that best match what you see. (Example: 71353)

  1. thanks for putting this up. This tip in particular has saved me quite a bit and where can I get pp3. Haven’t been playing long but learning fast but need to learn faster “breaking even or small profit most days but still lose more than I win”

  2. I agree with the maestro, el professoro de poker, the most brilliant of brilliance on everything contained herein EXCEPT pocket pair 5’s – you can’t make a straight without a 5 (or a 10 for that matter) and that can make all the difference in this scenario. 5-5 is profitable, Phil Gordon calles it “Presto”
    Comments, Mr. Caro?

    1. Hi, Dave —

      Thanks for making your first comment and joining our Poker1 family.

      The poker term “Presto” was probably first used in the Usenet community newsgroup rec.gambling.poker in the 1990s. You are right that it refers to 5-5.

      The name didn’t mean that the hand had any special power though. Rather it was just fun for forum members to relate (or possibly exaggerate) instances of the hand winning.

      Michael Wiesenberg defines three separate instances of the word “presto” in the MCU Dictionary of Poker: http://www.poker1.com/archives/5546.

      Straight Flushes,
      Mike Caro

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Let's make sure it's really you and not a bot. Please type digits (without spaces) that best match what you see. (Example: 71353)