Some players ignore small pocket pairs when they’re in Sit and Go’s because they don’t like to play them. But shunning hands that range from pocket 2’s to 7’s will severely narrow the range of hands you can play. And since you don’t want to entirely dismiss a whole range of cards from your arsenal, it’s a good idea to learn how to play small pocket pairs in Sit and Go’s.
The Beginning
The best way to talk about small pocket pairs is by looking at each level of a Sit and Go. The start will provide you with an excellent chance to double up early through small pocket pairs since the blind are so low. When trying to double up, see as many cheap flops as possible while avoiding situations where you have to call large raises. Once you flop that set, extract as much value out of it as possible.
Middle Stage
Once a few players are gone and the blinds raise, you’re going to need to play pocket pairs much differently. In fact, the blinds will be high enough at this point to where you won’t want to play them at all. Limping in will be too costly, and anybody who raises you at this point will be forcing you to make a big call just to see the flop.
Later Stages
At this juncture in the game, you’ve either got a large stack and are comfortable or you are struggling to hang on. In either case, small pocket pairs can be valuable when attempting to steal blinds and small pots. If you’re the big stack then you are simply looking to increase your stack by stealing hands; pocket pairs provide you with some backup in case you do get called. The same is true with a short stack since pocket pairs ensure that you’re not going all-in with nothing when trying to double up.
