Pair of Fours-How do I?

I really struggel with low pairs. Yesterday. First hand of a ~1300 mtt (10/20 blinds).
I'm first to act and I am dealt 4-4. What should I have done?

i would have just called and folded after i see the flop,in case i flop sets which is not a routine....just in case,wouldnt want to loose an oppurtunity

How much are you willing to pay to see the flop if someone raises?

Personally, I'd call either the blind or a min-raise with low pockets early in the tourney. Anything more than that and it's not worth it on the chance to catch a 2-outer.

Later in the tourney, when the blinds are much larger (or when you are short-stacked), I think it's better to be more aggressive with them -- you might be able to steal the blinds (most of the ace-any lotto players will have been eliminated by then) or at worst (hopefully) have someone call with 2 overs and then you just have a race situation.

I'd really like to see more folks respond to this - I've seen lots of people be very aggressive with any pair regardless of position or stack rank, and I'd like to understand the psychology of that kind of action.

First off I would rarely play the very first hand no matter what I have unless its like a group 1 hand. Too many things can go wrong. For low PP, I would call most of the time unless its late in position then I would raise (thats if no one has entered the pot). The objective with low PP is to see a cheap flop if you can and if you flop trips (one out of every 8 times) it usually pays off big. Now if there is a raise PF then its best to get out unless its a minraise. Remember position is important here. So I would keep it cheap and dont risk too much unless you flop trips. IF you do flop trips, you can win alot of the players chips. Hope this helps

Low pairs - 88 or less, limp, fold to anything more than a min raise. Shinedown has the right idea - how much do you want to pay to see if you get lucky? At this point you are only 53/47 versus any two overs. Its a coin flip.

If you miss on the flop, how much are you willing to put in on an 8% chance of winning against a higher pair? Yes, your opponent may have missed too, but now he's throwing 4x BB at you post-flop after your pre-flop limp, post-flop check out of position.

In late stages, I'm limp-folding these under the gun. I've gotten burned with higher pp sitting in the weeds on a rainbow board.

in early position, I'd fold a low pair. mid position = call / call a small raise >> hope to flop set. if nothing 10 or higher hits flop and its only u / opponent, then play agressive. in late position, see the cheapest possible flop (don't raise, same thing as mid pos)

Suppose we've played 10 minutes and established it's a very aggressive table.
There are big raises or all ins almost every hand. Are those pocket fours worthless. Should I just fold and wait for the table to settle down?

First position on the first hand of the game..muck the 44.
You have no information on the table what so ever.
Your odds against improving the hand is 7.5:1
You have no idea what your pot odds are going to be.
In the long run your going to lose more money limping with this hand then your going to win under this scenario.
It's not like pocket fours are all that rare and precious.

First let me say that I hate small pairs, from any position. I'd rather raise with 8 9 suited! That said, I will limp in if possible. If I hit the set, great!. If not I generally fold to any bet...unless i have my SheepoDONK hat on!!

It's not unheard of for someone behind you to limp with say..a pair of sixes.
And you both make a set. Then who gets stacked?
If we were talking about tens I might agree with you but 44, your just asking for trouble.

As much as I like playing small pkt pairs, that early and in that position I fold and close my eyes to the flop.

haha, fours on a ridiculously aggressive table you say? I don't see why you should decide to go with the fours. If you're talking about ridiculously aggressive people, just wait for a premium hand. That easy.

Interesting array of answers. The variety of ways to play the same hand is part of what makes poker fun.

early in a tourny i only play low PP in postion and i normally limp. out of postion i would just fold them early. just pray u hit a set. when u move on in the tourny and there are antes in the pot u can still just limp but raising in some spots might be ok if u have a tight image

Very good advice...About the same as I play low pockets in the orginal secnario.

Established aggressive table w/ big raises to all in's preflop every hand, just muck 'em and wait for a better place to get your money in. It won't take too long before the bulk of these guys are history and you can start playing a decent game.

may be reiterating a bit here but I'm with just about everyone else here
Call the BB and hope to see a flop. Something as beatable as 4's isn't nearly worth putting many of your chips in

Folded..


....And folded.

I will call blinds or maybe a min raise. If I hit on the flop I will usually try to trap. If I miss will maybe call a min raise if early in the tourney. Or if in late position bet or even bluff if I see weakness. This would depend on how table has been playing. Probably best to fold to any bet if you don't hit the flop.

It depends on how you play. I'm a very LAG player here,(as most know ). I will raise small PP. Flop comes, C-bet out,(pot size or 3/4 pot). Most times people will fold to you because they didn't hit the flop. You will occassionally get someone who has something. Then it's check on river and fold to any bet. Most times you will be building your chip stack. But there are those times that you take a hit. You have to decide if this is a risk you want to take and if this is how you like to play. And it's a beautiful thing when you hit your set.

you have to put a raise in this spot if only to put any other hands on hold but mostly to get rid of big blind and small blind limping past you on the flop. if you let it go with out a raise you wont beat anybody
just bump it and see what transpires

honestly fours are not really valuable early in a MTT especially from early position its a fold, you cant concern yourself with what might happen, especially early I think anyways.

I agree with those who say "limp, call 1bet or fold if more - then fold if no set".

Poker is about managing risk. A set of fours is fairly low risk. You got about a 1 in 8 chance at it.

Can they get cracked by those pocket sixes on a 64x flop? Sure... but if you think that way too much you are gonna miss out on some pots. Course I lean towards mild LAG play... ...sometimes.

cAPS

personally i call or raise minimun, is the first hand so u have to play a little tight till u find how to manage the table...
maybe is not the right question to ask me becouse 44 is one of my favorites hands!! GL

always limp with low pp....see the flop...if u hit a set u are usually golden..if u dont then u didnt sacrifice many chips...if u limp and get raised then it depends on how much of your stack u have to give up in order to see the flop that will determine if u call the raise.