6Max Set Mining

I've been attempting to work on my 6max game this month, and wanted to get some feedback on a light bulb moment during a session tonight.

During the session, it felt like I was dealt a lot of small-medium pairs (22-99). It also felt like I was dealt them UTG or UTG+1 primarily. When I decided to play them, I opened to 3x, and almost automatically was calling 3bets from late position raisers.

After the 4th or 5th time this happened, I began wondering how much money I was losing by calling to set-mine these hands. PT4 only had 93 hands where I was dealt 22-99 and called a 3bet, but I lost a significant amount during those hands.

An example from tonight's session...

Winning Poker Network - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: $19.25
Hero (UTG): $11.52
MP: $25.00
CO: $10.77
BTN: $33.39 (26/19/7)
SB: $23.93

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has 8:spade: 8:heart:

Hero raises to $0.75, fold, fold, BTN raises to $2.25, fold, fold, Hero ??

Most of the players I encounter have similar 3bet ranges. Generally speaking, what would be the best line in this situation?

IMO (i'm sure people better than me can chime in with actual thought process) but these are folds, esp vs your UTG open. They know you're opening a tighter range utg, therefore they "should" be 3b'ing a tighter range that you're flipping against at best. Better to let em go and wait for better spots. Now if you were in LP and the blinds did this, i'd flat here. Just my .02 cents

Buy in for full, I don't think you have the correct odds to be set mining here. As it is I think I probably fold. Nut I don't even play these small stakes so I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will give more/better advice.

u need to buy in full stack if you want to get payed off with a set, otherwise it is not worth it.
in that situation, i would fold.
i would limp utg and call a raise though but only if me and the opposition are both deep.
gl:icon_joke

This is a clear fold, no question about it - you have nowhere near the implied odds to make this a call solely for setmining purposes. Unless we ship if we know BTN is a tard who'll get it in super light, but even then only because we're short.

Which brings me to another thing. Why on earth are you sitting there with about 50bbs?

Ditto what everyone else said.

Judging by the HH you posted, it seems your idea of set mining is a bit off. Set mining doesn't mean going to the flop for any price in hopes of hitting a set. You have to get the right price to do so, and the "price" is determined by a number of factors:

- Size of your stack in relation to the bet size
- Size of opponent's stack in relation to the bet size
- The probability that your opponent will stack off to you if you do hit a set - determined by his playing style and hand range
- Number of opponents in the hand

It is recommended that both you and your opponent have at least 20x the preflop bet/raise to make set mining profitable. You'll flop a set more often than 1 in 20, but your opponent will not stack off to you 100% of the time and you won't even win 100% of the time.

There are situations where you can set mine with less than 20-1 implied odds (you still need at least 10-1 or more depending on the situation):

- Multiple opponents in a pot, each having a relatively nice stack
- Opponent is super LAG and stacks off with mediocre/weak hands
- Opponent is super TAG, but you know he's got a hand like AA/KK and will be willing to put his money in on most flops

The price you got in the HH above is never right for set mining, though. In fact, like everyone else said, you probably don't have enough money to set mine in any situation.

Hope this helps.

would fold 22-66 vs 3bs, 77/88 are debatable, 99 is a cert

letderbefish said:

u need to buy in full stack if you want to get payed off with a set, otherwise it is not worth it.
in that situation, i would fold.
i would limp utg and call a raise though but only if me and the opposition are both deep.
gl:icon_joke

Click to expand...

This, I tend to attempt a limp in with small pocket pairs if I am only playing them in hopes of getting a set. If you want to play it all the way through you got to play strong and have a somewhat strong CB.

The only way I'm set mining vs a 3bet when I'm oop is if a fish overcalls or cold calls so it will be 3 handed.

Versus super nitty terrible regs I probably also setmine oop because usually they won't fold overpairs.