Pocket Pair
A pocket pair is a starting hand where both hole cards share the same rank, such as 7-7 or A-A. You are dealt one about 1 in 17 hands.
A pocket pair is a starting hand in which your two hole cards have the same rank, such as 7♥ 7♣ or A♠ A♦. You already hold a made hand before any community cards are dealt. There are 13 different pocket pairs, from deuces to aces, and each can be dealt in 6 suit combinations, for 78 combinations in total out of 1,326 possible starting hands. That works out to roughly one pocket pair every 17 hands.
Types of pocket pairs
- Premium pairs (A-A, K-K, Q-Q) are among the strongest starting hands. You usually want to raise and build a pot.
- Medium pairs (J-J down to roughly 7-7) are strong preflop but often face overcards on the flop.
- Small pairs (6-6 down to 2-2) rarely win big pots unpaired. Their main value is flopping a set.
The key odds
- Odds of being dealt any pocket pair: 1 in 17 (about 5.9%).
- Odds of being dealt one specific pair, such as aces: 1 in 221.
- Odds of flopping a set or better: about 11.8%, roughly 1 in 8.5.
- A pocket pair against two higher unpaired cards, such as 8♠ 8♦ against A♣ K♥, is close to a coin flip, with the pair a slight favourite.
Example hand: set mining
You hold 5♦ 5♣ in middle position and call a raise. The flop is K♠ 9♥ 2♣. You have only an underpair, and most turn cards will not help, so you check and fold to a meaningful bet. The plan, known as set mining, is to play small pairs cheaply and fold when you miss. Because you flop a set only about once in every 8.5 attempts, set mining only works when you expect to win a lot more than you paid when you do hit. That is the concept of implied odds, and it depends heavily on stack depth: calling 3 big blinds to set mine with 20 big blinds behind is much worse than with 100 behind.
Now replay the hand with a flop of K♠ 5♥ 2♣. You have flopped bottom set, a very strong and well-disguised hand, and your opponent with a king is likely to put a lot of chips in.
Common mistakes
- Falling in love with an overpair-looking hand. 9♥ 9♣ on a flop of A♦ K♣ Q♠ is now weak, even though it was decent preflop.
- Set mining with short stacks. Without enough chips behind, the payoff when you hit is too small.
- Slowplaying premium pairs preflop. Limping with A-A lets many players in cheaply and makes it much harder to win.
- Calling down with small pairs. A pair of fours with three overcards on the board is usually a bluff-catcher at best.
When a pocket pair is higher than every card on the board, it becomes an overpair, a different situation with its own strategy.
Frequently asked questions
How often are you dealt a pocket pair?
About 1 in 17 hands, or roughly 5.9% of the time.
What are the odds of flopping a set with a pocket pair?
About 11.8%, which is close to 1 in 8.5 flops.
How many combinations of a pocket pair are there?
Each pocket pair, such as kings, has 6 combinations. All 13 pairs together make 78 combinations.
Related poker terms
- Set — A set is three of a kind made with a pocket pair plus one matching card on the board. It is stronger and better disguised than trips.
- Overpair — An overpair is a pocket pair higher than every card on the board, such as Q-Q on J-7-3. It beats top pair but is still only one pair.
- Hole Cards — Hole cards are the two private cards dealt face down to each player in Texas Hold'em. Only you see them, and you combine them with the five shared cards.
- Implied Odds — Implied odds count the extra chips you expect to win on later streets when you hit, making some calls profitable despite poor direct pot odds.
- Combos (Hand Combinations) — Combos are the specific card combinations that make up a starting hand. Pocket pairs have 6 combos, suited hands 4, and offsuit hands 12.