What is it?

When playing a pocket pair that is most often 9′s or less,  betting to pull  the set (three of a kind) on the flop.

Should you play?

In most cases the blinds will be low pre-flop and, if you hit, your hand is well hidden.  Calling with the bet no more than three time the big blind may well be worth it if you can take down a pot worth 10 or more time the big blind.  Be careful to watch the betting and if you did not hit your set and the play is aggressive, FOLD.

What if you hit the set?

If you hit the set on the flop,  your hand is not easily recognizable by the other players and you are in great position to take down the pot.  Betting at this point should be aggressive.  Do not check or call hoping to get more out of the pot.  If you can take it down now, do it!

The odds

The odds of hitting your set on the flop are about 13%.  Not great, so you will be using the make it or fold philosophy.

The concept

If you hit your set, you are looking for the player who has a big pocket pair.  He or she is the one who will raise and you can get great pot odds for your set.  The player with a hand of two high cards and does not improve on the flop will probably call or fold.  So, in this case you are looking for the player with the big pre-flop hand.

Risk

You will not win every time!  When looking at a flop of all high cards, there is always  the possibility of a higher set.  This does happen, but not often

What are you looking for?

Pot Odds!

You are obviously looking to win the hand.  But with a medium or small pocket pair the pot odds must be good.  An example:

The pot contains $150, and a player must call $15 to stay in,  then the player  has 10:1 (ten to one) pot odds.

These odds are acceptable for the risk.  2:1, 3:1….6:1 is not.

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