I thought it might be interesting to check the value of having good side cards when playing small and medium pairs.

The main danger of playing these starting hands is running into set over set, and the importance of side cards is just this - it gives you back up when you run into this unfortunate situation, as the following simulations show.

Flop: AcJs3d

AA** vs JJ**

90.62% vs. 9.38%

AA** vs. JJQT

77.85% vs. 22.15%

AA** vs. JcJdTcQd

74.27% vs. 25.73%

(Even if we make the situation less favourable, giving only backdoor straight draws, it is still a significant bonus over a random JJ)
AA** 86.93%
JcJh9cTs 13.07%


It also gives us improved equity when we add straight wraps to the opponent's range:
Hand Pot equity Wins Ties
AA**,KQT*,AJKT,AJKQ 54.91%
JcJsQcTs 45.09%

AA**,KQT*,AJKT,AJKQ 62.60%
JJ** 37.40%

For the record, here are some preflop equity simulations:

Hand Pot equity Wins Ties
**** 41.66%
JJ** 58.34%

**** 38.72%
JJQT 61.28%

**** 35.89%
JcJdQcTd 64.11%

Although the preflop equity difference of 6% for JJrandom vs. JJQTds is significant, the main reason you want side cards is because of the massive difference in postflop equities on action flops. This effect becomes even more significant when you consider lower pairs because the chances of set over set are increased greatly.

Also note that JJ** includes all the straight and flush draw combos as well, so if we plugged in JJ23 in any of the above simulations, the differences would be even more noticeable.

I started multi-tabling $10 max PLO and the % of folks being in hands with 22-66 has really added an annoying wrinkle to my showdown win %; I'm used to playing 50 and 100 max and if you have top two on QJ5 flops or KQ2 flops, you hardly ever have to think about being behind to bottom set when considering how to proceed with a hand.

Some players at these levels are super loose preflop but rocks postflop that will never get aggressive even with monster draws or made hands less than top 2. If that's the case then you can adjust your postflop play accordingly. On the other hand, if they're loose post flop and get aggressive with a worse 2 pair, then that makes your top 2 a bigger favorite against their range even when that range includes bottom set more often.

In any case, the point of my original post about side cards applies here too. Maybe you're ending up in these situations because you're playing KQ27 too often?