Breaking Down Hero’s Play with Pocket Fives

In the world of low-stakes poker, pocket pairs often present both great opportunities and hidden challenges. The hand we’re looking at today features the Hero in the Big Blind holding 5♥︎5♣︎. On the surface, pocket fives look like a fine hand in the blinds, but in a multi-way pot, things can quickly get complicated.

Let’s dive deep into the key decisions of the hand, what could have been done differently, and what the villains’ actions tell us about their style of play.

Preflop: Pocket Fives in the Big Blind

The action starts with limps from the players in Middle Position (MP), the Cutoff (CO), and the Button (BTN) then our Hero, in the Big Blind, looks down at pocket fives. Faced with three limpers, the Hero checks their option rather than raising.

This is a pretty standard play for most players in the Big Blind. Pocket fives are a speculative hand that can flop huge, but they’re also vulnerable in multi-way pots. By checking, the Hero avoids bloating the pot before seeing a flop.

However, let’s consider the alternative: a raise preflop.

By putting in a squeeze raise, something in the range of 7-9x the Big Blind, the Hero may have been able to thin the field, ideally reducing the number of opponents seeing the flop. Fewer opponents mean less chance that someone connects with the board. This would give our Hero more options post-flop to win the pot.

But let’s stick with the check for now and see how the action unfolds.

Flop: 2♠︎5♠︎6♦︎ – Hero Flops a Set!

Now, this is where the hand gets interesting. The flop comes down 2♠︎5♠︎6♦︎, giving the Hero middle set. Talk about hidden strength! On a board that’s rife with draws, this is a dream situation for the Hero.

But, it’s important to recognize the dangers lurking here. Straight and flush draws are all over this board. Anyone holding a 3 or a 4 is one card away from completing a straight, and two spades bring the flush into play.

Sitting on a set, the Hero decides to lead out with a bet of $10 into a pot of $20. This is where some debate begins. Betting with a set here makes sense because the Hero wants to protect against drawing hands. But, is $10 enough? A slightly larger bet, say $15-$20, might have been more effective in building the pot while discouraging cheap calls from hands that could improve on later streets.

Nevertheless, MP, CO, and the Button all make the call creating a $60 pot. This is starting to shape up as a big pot.

Turn: 3♥︎ – A Potentially Dangerous Card

The turn brings the 3♥︎, which completes the straight for anyone holding a 4. Now, the Hero’s set isn’t feeling quite as bulletproof. Even so, there’s still a good chance that the Hero is ahead, so betting for value is a must. The Hero puts in $25, ramping up the pressure.

But here’s where things take a sharp turn. After the Hero’s bet, both MP and CO call again. Then, the Button raises to $65.

This is where the Hero faces their first real moment of truth. What’s the Button raising with? Given the board, the Button could be sitting on a made straight, a marginal pair like 7-7 or 8-8, or even a semi-bluff with a flush draw or an overpair like Aces or Kings with one spade.

Here’s the key decision: the Hero just calls. Some might argue this is too passive. After all, sitting on a set, the Hero still has a strong hand that can beat most of the Button’s range. A more aggressive move might have been to re-raise to force out any drawing hands and try to get the hand heads up. The middle position player and the cutoff are unlikely to have too strong of hand since they have only called the Hero’s two bets to this point instead of raising. If the Button is sitting on a flush draw or an overpair, a re-raise will take control of the pot back and deny them the chance to catch up on the river without paying a price to do so.

On the other hand, calling keeps worse hands in the pot. The Hero isn’t giving up too much control yet, but they’re opening themselves up to some tricky river decisions.

MP folds, but CO hangs around with another call. The pot is now $255 and things are getting intense.

River: 2♥︎ – Hero Fills Up

The river brings the 2♥︎, pairing the board and giving the Hero a full house—fives full of twos. This is the perfect card for the Hero. While the straight was a big threat on the turn, now the Hero’s hand has improved to the 3rd nuts.

The Hero seizes the moment and goes all-in for $375. This is a terrible bet in hindsight. There are so few hands that can call this bet and most of the hands that can call actually beat us (55 or 66). With the board showing a possible straight and all the flush draws bricking out we polarize ourselves to either the nuts or nothing. In this situation, we should either bet very small, ~10% of the pot to induce a raise or a bluff or we should be checking to the aggressor in hopes they will bet again and then we can raise to try and get more value.

The CO folds without much drama, but the Button enters the tank. After a lengthy pause, they finally fold as well. The Hero takes down a nice-sized pot, and we’re left wondering what the Button was sitting on.

Post-Hand Reflection: What the Hero Did Right (And What Could Have Been Better)

This example shows how a hand can be a roller coaster of emotions and why it is important to control those emotions to avoid costly errors. As with any hand, there are always spots where things could have gone differently.

1. Preflop Play:
By checking in the Big Blind, the Hero kept the pot small but allowed multiple players to see a cheap flop. While this isn’t necessarily a mistake, a pre-flop raise might have thinned the field, leading to easier decisions post-flop. Against three opponents, the chances of someone connecting with the board increase significantly.

2. Flop Bet Size:
The $10 bet on the flop was a reasonable attempt to protect the Hero’s set while building the pot. However, given how coordinated the board was, a slightly larger bet—perhaps $15-$20—might have done a better job at protecting against straight and flush draws.

3. Turn Action:
The Hero’s bet of $25 on the turn was an appropriate move to build the pot and charge drawing hands. However, when the Button raised to $65, the decision to call rather than re-raise is where things get interesting. A re-raise could have forced the Button to fold or make a costly call with a drawing hand. That said, by just calling, the Hero kept worse hands in the pot which might be able to call a bet on the river.

4. River Shove:
This was where the Hero’s decision-making crashed and burned. With a full house, the all-in shove just scares off any potential value. This bet not only pushes away all the possible bluffs the button may have had it also forces the cutoff to fold all but the strongest of hands.

This type of river shove is a common mistake among inexperienced players. They are so afraid of losing the pot that they forget exactly how strong their hand is. More importantly, they forget the object of this game is to win the most MONEY, not the most pots.

The Button’s tank fold suggests they had a strong hand, likely a straight or overpair, but the paired board coupled with the overbet shove let him off the hook costing us value. This is exactly what we want to avoid.

Villain Analysis: What the Button’s Actions Say About Their Play

The Button’s decision-making throughout this hand is interesting. Their call on the flop and raise on the turn suggest they had a strong hand or a drawing hand. When they raised the turn to $65, they were either signaling a made hand, like a straight, or were trying to push the Hero off their hand with a semi-bluff.

The tank fold on the river strongly indicates that they had something like a straight, an overpair, or maybe a pair and a flush draw that didn’t want to believe I had a made hand. In the end the paired board on the river put them in a tough spot, and they didn’t have the confidence to call off their stack against the Hero’s shove.

Final Thoughts

This hand is a great example of navigating the complex dynamics of multi-way pots. The Hero’s set of fives was strong throughout the hand, but with the potential for straights and flushes, the Hero had to make careful, calculated decisions. While a more aggressive turn play could have been warranted to maximize value, the Hero ultimately lost sight of the ultimate goal on the river and put out an uncallable bet to take down the pot as opposed to a bet that was designed to extract additional value.

Be sure to learn from this massive mistake when you find yourself in this same situation in the future.