Poker Shark
How do you play pocket twos?
Pocket twos is the smallest pair in poker, a set-or-fold hand you open from late position and otherwise treat with real caution.
Pocket Twos
SpeculativeOpen the deuces from the button and small blind, mostly to pick up the blinds, and call a raise only when the stacks are deep and the price is right. Any flop that misses your set leaves you with the worst possible pair, beaten by every overcard and every bigger pair. The whole hand is built around the small chance of flopping a set and getting paid.
In a balanced 6-max game this hand opens for a raise from the button and the small blind.
Common mistake: Calling raises out of position or stacking off with an unimproved pair of twos. It is the bottom of the deck, and it plays like it.
Quick tip: The smallest pair there is. Flop a set or move on.
All-in equity before the flop
How Pocket Twos runs against a few benchmark hands if all the money goes in preflop. Figures from the Poker Shark equity engine.
Pocket Twos on real flops
Precomputed equity vs a random hand once the flop is out. Each link jumps straight to the 22 row.
- 22 on 6 5 4 rainbow : the low connected board these hands are built for
- 22 on 7 6 5 two-tone : low, connected, and two-tone
- 22 on 9 6 2 monotone : a monotone board where one suit decides everything
Know the hand? Now play it for real.
Practice these spots against opponents who punish the wrong move.