I don't play 22 from early position, not for any particular reason, i substitute that one hand from early pos for 56 suited. Otherwise I am raising 33-88 3XBB UTG and UTG+1 and +2. Mid pos and Late pos raising all pairs. This is when I'm first in the pot.
If there are limpers ahead of me I'll limp 22-77. If there are limpers in ahead of me I am raising 88+ 3XBB + 1 BB for each limper.
If I get re-raised while holding 22-88, I am only calling if the raise is 10% or less of either mine or the raisers stack. Here I am hoping to hit a set and will check/fold the flop if I miss. If I hit I am leading out. No check raise here... it is way too strong, leading out with a set of 3s on a 39K board is hopefully taking AK or AA whole stack. I am happily (?!!) losing my stack if it is set v set.
set mining may be criticised but I believe it is the most profitable way to play, so long as you lead out. The key is that when you play any hand, if you're the aggressor or flop a big draw... you have to cbet/lead out almost 100% of the time. Otherwise if you only lead out when u hit a set, good players will pick up on this and you won't get paid off, covering all the limped pairs that you had to fold. You need to have an aggressive approach in order to get a big over pair to pay u his stack. If he thinks you're capable of leading out with a draw, he will raise you when you have a set.