Middle PP

tazer

tazer

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Something came up at a table I was playing at tonight about the mid pp's.

One player was pushing a majority if not all of his stack on these types of hands.
His reasoning was if called by overcards he would rather be the 52% over the 48%...

What is your opinion of this and how do you play them?
 
left52side

left52side

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I would almost never get all my chips in the middle with MPP.
It is them kind of hands that will send you to the rail real fast if not played cautiously.
I will open pot with them ,and put in decent bet in late position with them if not opened already,but will fold to a good three bet etc.
I do not like race situations at all when it comes to over cards,flush draws etc.
To many possibilities to waste your tournament on Apiar of nines or whatever.
Just my opinion/
 
shinedown.45

shinedown.45

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I may risk pushing MPP near the bubble and in late stages of tourney and definitely push when SS.
MPPs are great to have when it comes around to steal blinds.
As for open shoving just to flip, not a chance.
 
Propane Goat

Propane Goat

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There are times where you have to gamble and try to win a flip, such as when you're shortstacked, but putting a deep stack in the middle pre-flop with a medium pair is a huge gamble and not worth the risk. Part of the "skill" is avoiding flips unless absolutely necessary.

If I'm going to play a mid PP I'll flat a raise in late position depending on stack sizes and who is raising, but calling a 3-bet with the original raiser still yet to act is going a little too far for me.

I always raise with mid PP in unopened pots and blind vs blind situations, in a multi-way limped pot I often just check/call pre from the blinds and see if I hit a set. There's no point in throwing in a big raise with a medium pair out of position against a bunch of limpers then having to give up when the flop contains Broadway cards. In my experience, the amount you would have to raise pre-flop to get rid of most of the limpers is way too much to be putting in the middle for a mid PP.
 
tazer

tazer

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So really it's all based off of position how you bet. He was open shoving at any position at the table and over playing these mid pocket pairs. So basically even though he is ahead you can't play them in the way he was successfully for very long in a tournament.
 
S

SwiftHax

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So really it's all based off of position how you bet. He was open shoving at any position at the table and over playing these mid pocket pairs. So basically even though he is ahead you can't play them in the way he was successfully for very long in a tournament.
I wouldn't call 52% equity ahead. It's essentially a coinflip and if he was open-shoving at any spot, he will sooner or later get called by a higher PP having his hand dominated.

In EP they're a set mining hand, in LP you can loosen up and play them more aggressively.
 
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