Poker Shark
How do you play pocket fives?
Pocket fives is a small pair you open from every seat in a balanced game, and it is almost entirely a set-mining hand once there is action.
Pocket Fives
SpeculativeOpen it from any seat as a first-in raise, but understand what it is once the pot gets contested: a hand that wants to flop a set and otherwise give up. Calling a raise is fine when the stacks are deep enough to win a big pot the one time in eight you hit. The pair of fives rarely wins at showdown unfaced, so do not build a big pot with it on its own.
This hand opens for a raise from every position, including under the gun.
Common mistake: Paying too much to set-mine. If the stacks are shallow, calling a raise with fives loses money, because the set does not pay enough to cover all the times you miss.
Quick tip: Hit your set roughly one in eight. No set, no hand, most of the time.
All-in equity before the flop
How Pocket Fives runs against a few benchmark hands if all the money goes in preflop. Figures from the Poker Shark equity engine.
Pocket Fives on real flops
Precomputed equity vs a random hand once the flop is out. Each link jumps straight to the 55 row.
- 55 on 6 5 4 rainbow : the low connected board these hands are built for
- 55 on 7 6 5 two-tone : low, connected, and two-tone
- 55 on 9 6 2 monotone : a monotone board where one suit decides everything
Related hands
Know the hand? Now play it for real.
Practice these spots against opponents who punish the wrong move.