Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 17 June 2009 / Leave a comment

Although I would not usually advocate flat calling raises with big pairs very often, there are certain situations where you can be fairly confident you may well get re-raised if you do, and in these spots it is often wise to flat call with big pairs, simply with the intention of getting all of your stack in pre flop if you are raised.

It is important that you are able to spot the type of situation where this can occur, as over time they can add up to a lot of extra profit.

The downside of this type of play is that it can allow players in the blinds to flat call as well, which will often mean you will be put to very difficult flop choices if they hit

A great example of this is when a short stack goes all in from an early position in tournament poker and you wake up with a big pair. If there are medium stacked loose players behind you, it is often wise to flat call the short stacks shove, simply because if any of the players behind you wake up with a pair or a couple of big cards they will nearly always go all in and try and run their hand against the short stack, taking advantage of the dead money that you have left in the pot by calling the initial shove.

To be able to pull of this type of move in the right situations, you have to know that the players behind you are: a) Playing a stack size where they should be shoving any solid holding; and b) that they are astute and skilled enough to know that they should be shoving a relatively large range of hands in this spot.

If these two things are correct, it is often wise to try and flat call with big pairs, as if you re-raise the short stacks shove to isolate them, you will miss out on a lot of value from the players behind you when they have reasonable holdings. The downside of this type of play is that it can allow players in the blinds to flat call as well, which will often mean you will be put to very difficult flop choices if they hit.

Plays like this show the importance of solid observation of the players around you, and the ability to pick up on situations where a specific play is probably more profitable in the long run than its alternative.

By adjusting your play to the skill level and stack sizes of those around you, you can set the odd trap where you can win a monster pot with your big pair. Although flat calling with big pairs is often a mistake, in the right situation it can pay massive dividends if the correct spot is picked.

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