small-med pp in all positions

I would like some input on playing 22-88 preflop. Especially utg i really struggle with these, any input?

6-max or 9-max?

6-max, if the majority of other people at the table have 100BB or more, I'll make a standard raise and fold to a 3-bet unless it's a min 3-bet really. I'll also happily call a standard size raise in position. But then again, I do enjoy set mining

On the blinds, depending on the initial raiser I'll either 3-bet to protect (esp. if BTN or CO stealing regularly) and c-bet if they flat on most Ahigh boards to disguise when I do hit sets, or fold if there is a lot of action before me.

I will admit to calling a raise OOP a little too often against tight aggressive opponents who can never lay down overcards, simply because of implied odds

Standard raise...hope to see the flop cheap and hit your set...if you totally miss and there's lots of paint or connectors on the board...get out...be careful when playing sets of 22 thru 55 for oversets

raise/3bet

Even in position facing a raise I'm still not calling very often with 22-66. 3bet/cbet is too profitable compared to set mining. 77/88 are fine to call with most of the time because you're not just set mining with them.

edit: The above is assuming 6max. FR is similar but in early position you can fold some of them.

Sorry, but if you're 3-betting UTG raises with 22-66 in position, you're probably burning money.

Yeah, good point.

Lame, thought you'd want to discuss this more.

I do agree that set-mining is over rated, and small pairs are great hands to 3-bet with as a bluff. But if the raise didn't come from the cutoff, we've probably got a good bit of implied odds going.

I don't play 22 from early position, not for any particular reason, i substitute that one hand from early pos for 56 suited. Otherwise I am raising 33-88 3XBB UTG and UTG+1 and +2. Mid pos and Late pos raising all pairs. This is when I'm first in the pot.

If there are limpers ahead of me I'll limp 22-77. If there are limpers in ahead of me I am raising 88+ 3XBB + 1 BB for each limper.

If I get re-raised while holding 22-88, I am only calling if the raise is 10% or less of either mine or the raisers stack. Here I am hoping to hit a set and will check/fold the flop if I miss. If I hit I am leading out. No check raise here... it is way too strong, leading out with a set of 3s on a 39K board is hopefully taking AK or AA whole stack. I am happily (?!!) losing my stack if it is set v set.

set mining may be criticised but I believe it is the most profitable way to play, so long as you lead out. The key is that when you play any hand, if you're the aggressor or flop a big draw... you have to cbet/lead out almost 100% of the time. Otherwise if you only lead out when u hit a set, good players will pick up on this and you won't get paid off, covering all the limped pairs that you had to fold. You need to have an aggressive approach in order to get a big over pair to pay u his stack. If he thinks you're capable of leading out with a draw, he will raise you when you have a set.

Just a note about cbetting/leading out... I cbet vs 1 maybe 2 callers, providing the texture of the board is not too unfavourable. If I am in position I will cbet as many as 3 callers again depending on the board texture.

If I limp/call a raise I bet into the pot with a big draw. The number of players seeing the pot makes little difference here.

All of this is of course subject to any intelligence I have on players seeing the flop.

I agree.

Dont 3bet UTG raises with small PP.

I would 3bet them IP against say a HJ or CO raise.

The reason is that they are the kind of hand that is too strong to fold and too weak to call.


We call against an UTG raise when we think we can setmine.. requires a certain type of player.

However when the CO opens we expect his range to be so wide that we can never call and setmine because when we hit he wont pay us off.

So instead we could 3bet a small PP expecting him to fold (so he has to have a tendency to fold to our 3bets) however if he were to call... we could hit a set and wonderful things could happen.

When we 3bet small PP we want a fold and we do it because we think villains range is very wide.

Its a bad thing to do! It wont be as apparent at the 5nl as to why this is but its because at higher stakes a raise + a caller = a squeeze opportunity.

Basically at higher stakes you will just get 3bet by the CO/BTN or even blinds way too much.

Also sometimes you can call because you think that your UTG raiser will be easy to exploit postflop.. i.e. float once and he gives up.. but OOP you cant guarantee that you wont get an overcaller which puts you in the middle postflop, again making it difficult to play. Whilst the call OOP with as mall PP is incorrect, overcalls are actually correct. Once theer is a raiser with a well defined range and an caller all kinds of hands become playable because of the immediate pot odds. You need a stronger hand to call than you do to either raise or overcall.

So at 5nl you will see the overcalls far more often than the squeezes so its not always apparrent why its so bad.