Lately, I have been seeing more and more players attempting to play small pairs from early position. Most of them are coming in with big raises for some reason in attempts to represent a big hand. But sometimes big raises trigger a red flag and you get the opposite reaction from players you expected and make them suspicious. Particularly after being involved in several hands.

With small pairs action players like to get involved. I have no problem with this if you are in the blinds or have some position or there is a small raise. What I don’t like is that you put yourself in a position with these mini hands to get re-raised by someone with a real hand in early position. Now what? You have to fold. Raises with small pairs from early position are warranted but certainly not as a standard way to play the hand.

More solid players I think play the hand better because they tend to be in position more often with the hand.

Ultimately, there is no perfect way to play any particular hand. However, there are ways to approach hands that expose you to less risk than others and that is what makes how each player playing his hand so interesting. Every style of play can succeed in this game. You gotta love that!