Is your shorthanded game up to snuff? Here is the first in a series of concepts to keep in mind when playing a shorthanded game.

Small Pocket Pairs (sevens or lower)

Preflop:

Small pocket pairs work best in a large, multi-way pot (you're hoping to hit another card of your pair and make trips) or heads-up. Therefore, your preflop strategy should reflect this. If you're on the button, one guy has raised, and another has folded, your best strategy would be to shut out the blinds and make it heads up. So in this case, reraise. However, if you're the big blind and three other people have already called the big blind, it's best to just check and hope to hit a set on the flop.

Note: Don't use the reraise to make it heads-up against a very tight player. There's a good chance he has a higher pocket pair. In these situations, your opponent will dominate you. For example, you do not want to reraise when you hold 8h 8d and the other player holds 10s 10d. The reraise move only works if you think your opponent has two unpaired cards or a lower pocket pair than you.

On the flop:

If you're in a multi-way pot, the answer is simple: fold if you don't hit a set, jam the pot if you do. The only exception is if you hit a weird flop, like 552 or 666 when you hold like 77. In this case, you probably hold the best hand and should jam the pot.

If you're heads-up, it gets a little tricker. If the flop is mainly low cards, bet at it. Your opponent probably has nothing. However, if the flop is AQJ, you're probably toast. You can try to bet at it (in case he has a low pocket pair also), but if you encounter any resistance, you must fold.

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