Playing a Full House with a pocket pair

If you make a full house when you have a pocket pair then this can make it slightly easier to play than when you make a full house when there are 2 pairs on the board.

Your pocket cards

Flop
Turn
River

In this example, providing no one has a pair of pocket Kings you cannot be beaten. There is a chance someone does have maybe 1 King and could well think that could win with two pairs, Kings and 7's. On the turn when the King comes although you are still at an advantage as you have 3 of a kind in this situation it is worth getting getting your money in the pot. There is still a chance another King could be dealt on the River to potentially make 3 of a kind Kings that would beat your 3 of a kind 10's.

In the above example you hope that your opponent bets if they are before you, if they check you need to put a bet in, and hope they re-raise or bet an amount that you think they will call with. Although it would be easy to get all your chips in the middle, anyone with just 2 pair is unlikely to call this as with two 7's on the board you could quite easily have 3 of a kind that would beat 2 pair without even looking at you having a full house.

Another scenario is if you have pocket pairs and the board shows 3 of a Kind, this is another situation to play carefully. If they are small such as 3's to 6's then I would be less worried than if they were 9's to Aces. This is because people play their better hands and are much more likely to have stayed in the game with a 9 to Ace in their hand rather than just low cards where they are likely to have folded them (provided they were not one of the blinds).

Your pocket cards

Flop
Turn
River

If I had a top pair in this situation I would probably suggest slow playing them and see if there is any other action. If however I had a low pair then I would get my money it the pot and try and win in there and then if I had already made my hand.
In the above example, any Jack to Ace on the board could potentially complete someone else's Full House that would beat mine and leave me with nothing so depending on the size of the pot I may try and win in now with a decent bet as there are too many other ways that I could get beaten. If I had pocket Kings I would still probably bet but not as much as there is less chance of another card coming out that could beat my hand (just an Ace potentially). If another 3 comes out then the board will have made 4 of a kind and it will be down to who has the highest kicker. Again, this is something you should not be playing thinking though as is it not very often that 4 of a kind is made.

Related articles: Full House with 2 pairs on the board | Poker Hands | Poker Strategy