High pocket pair under the gun

usually when you have a high pocket pair under the gun, you have an important choice to be made, that is to either call or raise. I know that calling may seem a bit risky here, but if its an agressive table then you should probably take a shoot. If the table seems tight but maybe a bit loose on the calls then a raise would probably be good enough to scare the river rats away... im just wondering on the different ways one would play a pocket pair such as aces, kings or queens in this situation, and why that move would be the right one in the situation you describe it in. Thanks!

I almost always make a standard raise here but if I had about 12bb and I was sure it would be raised if I limp I might call to build the pot before pushing all in. I would still have enough behind to push out drawing hands but not enough to chase off hands I have crushed. A bigger or smaller stack I'm raising.

well it depends on the situation at all times.. but generally speaking.. mixing the strategy up is good so people don't know what you have.. you dont want to raise everytime.. people will immediately put you on it... sometimes just limp and hope someone else on the button raises or something..

it depends on the other players involved. If it's someone really loose, Im not just calling and letting flop two pair with his 48o. Reraise all day.

I usually raise and almost every time someone call me and raise again in the flop. I often gain the pot in the flop doing it.

i would say always raise 2 1/2 to 3 times the blind. and if u have pocket qq or higher if someone pushes on u i think u would have 2 call. now cards like jj 1010 i think u should fold if pushed 2 the limit preflop

If a high pocket pair is not a raise or an ALL IN, then nothing is...

My standard play is raising 3BB and be prepared to go ALL IN if someone re-raises me - If I die holding a pair of queens, kings or Aces (or even Jacks or Tens) then its a glorious death

Well, you can't do any one thing all the time because you become too predictable. In General, I think it's better to mix up your play in a fashion where you are raising a few other hands in early position and USUALLY raise the big pockets. However, you can't ALWAYS raise the big pockets in early position. Sometimes you just have to limp simply to let people know that it's possible. Because if you are limping some hands in early position, but always raising big pockets, they may not know when you have a big pocket pair, but they will know when you don't.

That being said, never limp in early position.

Depends on your stack size.
If it is AA or KK and you are low - Sometimes just push all.
If you have a big stack and you think OTHERS will call your all in - Push all in or raise enough for THEM to push all in.
Other high hands either limp to camouflage your hand or raise 2-3 BB.

Under the gun with QQ or better, I usually raise more than 3x the big blind. You don't want to get cute with seven other players after you.

QQ is very dangerous to limp with UTG. AA or KK it can be a profitable play, however at lower stakes I would say just raise it up. People see there cards and will call a raise cause they want to see the flop, but would raise themselves. If you are at a table with a few people who attack limpers a lot, then a call raise can be mixed in.

Mixing up your play is very important if people are paying attention, at lower stakes not many people are paying attention to your limp/raise EP ranges and playing for optimal value every hand is probably the best bet.

imo it's better to almost always (90% of the time) raise with ALL pocket pairs in EP and only occasionally limp when 1st in.

I just recently was 2nd to act preflop with AK. The person under the gun raised it double, I reraised 2 1/2 times their bet, and they rereaised me 3 times. I called, the flop came King, six, two. The person under the gun went all in, and I called. They turned over pocket kings. it was sick! I thought they made some bad plays reraising only twice the big blind under the gun with pocket kings, but it sure fooled me!

If the table isn't that aggressive, then I'll just call with the pocket pair, otherwise I'm all in

t1riel said:

Under the gun with QQ or better, I usually raise more than 3x the big blind. You don't want to get cute with seven other players after you.

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Well said lol

WVHillbilly said:

imo it's better to almost always (90% of the time) raise with ALL pocket pairs in EP and only occasionally limp when 1st in.

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I disagree... you usually want to raise with big pairs but only limp in with small pockets... This is because you are almost allllwayyys trying to get paid off with a set, so you only want to limp in and hopefully a lot of ppl will limp in with you, that way you have more money in the table if your set comes and you can pull off a nice move. Thats my opinion at least...

The OP asked about calling or raising in this situation and the only answer that seems right is raising. Chris Ferguson said this one best "if you are opening a pot is should be with a raise"

No way to play UTG unless you are raising.

Harrington also states that opening with AA KK and QQ should be a mix of raises 2xBB 15% 4XBB 15% and 2xBB, 3xBB 35% of the time.

For me it depends on my stack size or my position. But I preferrably to slow play. Especially when you hit on the flop. That is so sweet when you slow play with a set and the other players raise with a pair or two.

The OP is pretty vague, so i'll assume your talking about 10's J's Q's or K's? I need more fingers and toes to count the number of times I've pushed UTG with KK only to get called with either AA or AK and an ace hit. If an all in UTG gets reraised or called, and you don't have AA, it's either late in a tourney with a short table, or a coin flip with 2 overs.

when it comes to pocket pairs play the table. if you have someone raise then two people call that then you must make a large raise to get some out or just push. time will tell. sometime if it you and one other player in the pot. let them be agressive instead of scare them away.