Handling Middle Pair

Type of Game: Limit Texas Hold’em, $10-$20 cash game.
Your Cards: Ad-Td.
Your Position: Button

Scenario: One player in early position, and one player in middle position, limps in before it’s your turn to act. You raise. The big blind and the other two players call. There is $90 in the pot and four players still in the hand. The flop shows Qh-Tc-9s. You now have a pair of tens and one over card. The big blind, and the player in early position checks, but the middle player bets. What do you do in this situation? Fold, call, or raise?

Our answer: You should raise in this situation. You have correct pot odds to just call, but raising is still the best strategy. There are several reasons for this: you can force the other two players out of the hand, your hand might actually be the best, you will gain information regarding the strength of your hand, and a raise might give you the chance of seeing the river for free (if your opponent(s) checks).

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