Playing low pocket pairs?

Pipunch

I've been wondering lately how best to play low pocket pairs. (22----->TT/JJ maybe)

I used to limp, see a flop and fold if the texture wasn't favourable.

In a multiway pot how do you play? I've tended to raise now to try and build some money just incase i do hit and everyone else folds to the Cbet.

SO.....how do you play yours?

BigHawk89

100 bb deep i will always open any pair. I dont like limp calling with small pairs because it makes it abit obvious what you have if the flop comes raggy and your suddenly playing back really strong. Suppose it is alrite to limp if there are a few limpers behind and you want to see a cheap flop, but say i have a pair of 5s on the button i will usually raise to isolate and build a pot in poisition.

Hope this helps

percival09

Obv dependant on so many things

A lot of the time I'll raise, and if faced with 1 opponent I'll more times than not cbet, sometimes I will against 2 and sometimes I'll just c/f vs 1 or 2, depends on villain and flop

Sometimes I fold 22-66 in SB to early position raise from a well respected reg who I have 100K + hands against, vs all readless I call and c/f most of the time, occasionaly I fold v.small pp utg depending on the table

77-JJ are all player dependant and table dependant, sometimes I flat 1010-jj because there's a few fish behind me, sometimes I 3b because I know villain will call with worse. I always come in with a raise though, regardless of whether it's 22 or JJ, but it's hard to give too much advice without specific dynamics because it's always different

Pipunch

At the level i play at it depends on action too.

If a reg who i know will 3/4 pot Cbet has already 4x raised then i'll usually bin really small pairs out of position. I suppose against the players who don't really take any notice at my level i want to keep as many in the pot as possible in case i do hit.

KAM99

Wow, surprised to see people saying they laydown PP's to regs who have open the pot with a raise. Kidding right? Why would you do that? If only one raise to 3 or 4 bb and 100bbs deep or more you are getting great implied odds to set mine regardless of postion. Doesn't matter if you have to c/f if you miss overly.

As for how I play them. If I play them I open raise always if first to act. Unless you limp other hands you might as well turn your cards face up to anyone paying attention to what you are doing and they will sooo get off their hand if you start playing back at them post flop. Really don't want to give betting tells at a poker table, as they are blindingly obvious to anyone paying attention. However, as someone else has said its different if you have had limpers already if you want to limp in then, as set mining in a multiway pot can be profitable and you're not turning your hand face up as often.

percival09

if I'm oop vs an early position raise from a tightish reg who folds to c/r a high % or something I'll just lay pocket 2s down

percival09

I probz wouldnt lay down any pp at skys micro limits lol

BorinLoner

In Response to Re: Playing low pocket pairs?:

Wow, surprised to see people saying they laydown PP's to regs who have open the pot with a raise. Kidding right? Why would you do that? If only one raise to 3 or 4 bb and 100bbs deep or more you are getting great implied odds to set mine regardless of postion. Doesn't matter if you have to c/f if you miss overly. As for how I play them. If I play them I open raise always if first to act. Unless you limp other hands you might as well turn your cards face up to anyone paying attention to what you are doing and they will sooo get off their hand if you start playing back at them post flop. Really don't want to give betting tells at a poker table, as they are blindingly obvious to anyone paying attention. However, as someone else has said its different if you have had limpers already if you want to limp in then, as set mining in a multiway pot can be profitable and you're not turning your hand face up as often.
Posted by KAM99

This is the biggest reason by far why you shouldn't open-limp into a pot with low pocket pairs. You wouldn't do it with AA to 99, you wouldn't do it with AJ or KQ. Basically you're defining your hand as only low pocket pairs and you never have the top end of the deck. Open for your normal amount, usually planning to fold to a 3-bet unless you have great pot-odds.

Limping behind is a bit less straightforward. If I'm on the button, for example, and have one or two limpers in front of me, I'll almost always raise with these hands. If I have between 10-20BB with limpers in front, I'll just shove. If I have 30BB+ I'll raise a normal amount. If I have between 20-30BB, it's a tough decision and pretty much dependent on my perception of the players in the blinds and the players who have limped. You can definitely fold.

Calling raises in position with low pocket-pairs is fine if we're deep. 100BB deep, on the button with 55 and facing a 3x raise, you can definitely set-mine. You don't want to do this if a player in the blinds has been 3-betting alot. In the blinds, facing a single raise, you can usually set-mine when you're deep. Your odds will automatically be better since you're in the blinds, and you will be closing the action (from the BB). Your odds for doing so are improved if other players have called the open raise, of course.

I could go on and say when I would 3-bet, when I would shove, when I would fold... Basically it's all dependent on reads, stack sizes, position, etc... It's far too broad a topic for me to get into at half past midnight. The bottom line would be:

Never open limp with small pocket pairs.

jugglegeek

Very rarely would I open limp with a low PP. Only time I would is with 100BBs effective stacks from early possition if there was a player in late possition who 3-bets very often (we are talking like 20% of the time). The reason is it's rarely proffitable to call a 3-bet out of possition just to set-mine and limp-call might get me to the flop cheap. With a limper or two infront I will happily limp along though.

Generally I would make a raise with a pocket pair just because there is a chance of winning the pot there and then. If I get 3-bet then it depends on the size of the stacks, the price to call the 3-bet, and my opponent's tendancies in 3-bet pots.

Against an unknown I would be looking for implied odds of around 20:1 to set mine. So I raise 3x and get 3-bet to 10x it costs me 7 BBs to call, the effective stack would need to be 140BBs. 100BBs and it's a fold. However if I had a read on an opponent that they only 3-bet premium hands (QQ+ and AK) and they generally overplay them post flop I will take worse odds. With this read I would call the same 3-bet if we were 100BBs deep. It should go without saying by I'm folding most small pairs if there is a raise and a 3-bet infront of me. There's too great a chance of the orrigional raiser 4-betting.

Incidently. This is one of the reasons for the traditional bet sizing of three big blinds and a 3-bet to 9/10BBs. A 10xBB 3-bet is just big enough to give 15:1 implied odds for a set-mine. Any bigger and you risk too much with 3-bet bluffs, any smaller and the implied odds are too good to produce any fold equity. If you open to 5x then it's very difficult to profitably call a 15xBB 3-bet for 15% of your stack, you usually have to 4-bet or fold.

rancid

never open limp, it's a bad habit to get into

if you playing any hand for implied value then just ensure you have the correct price to call