How to play pocket pair in early position...

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RickAversion

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Can someone summarize the right way to do this?
Again, just looking for general rules of thumb, nothing overly precise.
Is there a good link?

Raise, fold, limp?

Can we break into a few basic ranges?
  1. 22-66
  2. 77-10 10
  3. JJ - QQ
  4. KK - AA

And about how much to bet from each position?
  1. Early
  2. Middle
  3. Late

Make a grid?
 
BadB420

BadB420

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If your UTG its ok to Make a 3x raise with 66 as appose to something like TJ which you would not want to play! However it all comes down to your stack size and the types of players at your table, implied odds are big here too!

If your playing at a really tight table I then the 3x raise UTG would probably be good because most will fold and if anybody comes over the top of you, you've got a good understanding that your hand isn't in good shape!

I would suggest watching the Gripsed videos on youtube, he does a lot of cash game reviews and it will basically answer any question you might have! Also very good are his MTT reviews which personally changed my game around!!! Gl onward!
 
suby_rafael

suby_rafael

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1. 22-66
2. 77-10 10
If it were a cash game then i would limp these from early and middle positions and only if there are no limpers when in late position i would go for a raise or else limp there too.
3. JJ-QQ
4. KK-AA
I prefer raising or 3betting these from all the positions - early,middle and late.
Also i prefer a standard raise pre flop 3x which would be made here too.

In a tournament it is much more difficult to decide how to play with small and medium pairs because so many other factors come into making a good decision. So it is much harder to say what to do when and where. One thing is for sure if i have under 10 big blinds then i putting my chips in with any pair.:)
 
Staneff

Staneff

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Whatever my position is when I play with 22-99 I try to set traps and play them low. Min bet or only call small. If I make a decent hand with them and didnt fold them I make value bet on the river which usually gives me the flop or got called by a fish or something.

hands like TT-AA are rly good preflop but dont overplay them. With aces and flop like 247 rainbow you can make play and go deep. AA and 247 rainbow flop doesnt mean you win. Playing any pocket pair is tricky. You make set+ or keep the top pair or you lose. Sometimes suited connectors like 9T give better options to play.

Sometimes in late position with any low pair pre-flop you can make some good pot steaming bets which I call semi-bluffs. Your hand is not so strong but is a pair at least. It makes you feel more confident when you have pairs pre-flop.
 
Diogo Jorge

Diogo Jorge

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Usually, in early position i dont play pocket pairs like 22-88 but late position I can do limp or even raise 2,5BB in the button.

10 10++ i always do a raise or call a raise 3BB.
 
BearPlay

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It's situational, of course.

Set mining with small pp is profitable, with low blinds, if the implied odds are there.

As a starting place, I would recommend this, to open raise:

EP 88+
MP 55+
LP 22+
 
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aina27

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o - 22-66 77-10 10 in the first positions and to the beginning of a tilt JJ-AA owes foldear KK-AA opens the game himself x3 if someone re-rises you go all. The minor couples only are played in early positions in the phase of bubble. Not if it is the correct thing, but it is what I deal on some books
 
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bbq1633

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It's better to Mini raise or just flat calling with lower pairs in early position, so you won't get any higher pairs or AX suited to put u all-in ! Just wait for pairs at flop, you can bluff behind the callers or hit a trips to slow play all the opponents. ( without Straight or Flush Draws)
 
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guutox

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For me dont depends position, only depends who is playing on table :)
 
Salvete777

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1)22-66 = I don't think, that with these hands you should raise, no meter witch pos you have.
2)77-1010 = same here. I choose do raise with them only with big stack.
JJ-AA raise/3bet...
 
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RickAversion

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As a starting place, I would recommend this, to open raise:

EP 88+
MP 55+
LP 22+

Thanks for this 30 second reply that really added EV+ to my game.
I tried this the other day, and it worked really well.

As always, great responses here.
Seems like consensus is not to overvalue low PPs.

This forum ROCKS. Most productive poker forum on the internet!!
 
tothbopo

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Yes I agree this is a very nice forum.

And thank you all for input this thread is really helping me in my play.

But sometimes I must admit that I fold small pocket pairs even in late position.

Sometimes a bad feeling just overrule the logic
 
Fknife

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It's situational, of course.

Set mining with small pp is profitable, with low blinds, if the implied odds are there.

As a starting place, I would recommend this, to open raise:

EP 88+
MP 55+
LP 22+

@Bear's advice is actually really good and probably the best (as always) but I believe in a 6max game it is possible to open any PP even in EP (especially at a passive preflop & fit/fold postflop kind of table). You dont have to always hit a set to win a pot, against two unpaired cards a PP is ahead and there is really no big of a difference between 22 and 99 equity wise.

So with small PP either fold or raise, just dont open-limp/limp-call.
 
theRaven68

theRaven68

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if we are considering early position
2 2 - 10 10 call
J J - Q Q raise
K K - A A raise, but not to scare opponents
 
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