Defending your pocket pair

M

mrpolyglott

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Whuz up, guys?:)
I have a nice and controversial topic to discuss. It happens quite often to me, that on pre-flop I make a raise with medium poket pair (like 66, 77, 88, 99) independently from my position and several villians call. Then we go to flop, where there is smth like this: T5J rainbow. My question is following:
Should I make a C-bet in order to defend my pocket pair or check and pass over an initiative to villians?
Looking for quick response:deal:
 
S

sryImPro

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when you have a several callers in this specific situation you shouldn't bet at all.
You missed the flop, you are very likely way behind, so it is what it is
 
sryulaw

sryulaw

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if I have more than 3 players in the game, controlling the pot I think is better, against one I bet on the turn and river probably
 
Alex Melnik

Alex Melnik

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In such cases, I bet to check what the opponent has and for the semi-bluff. And the turn on the turn can get us the right map, which will play into our hands.
 
cranberry

cranberry

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I think it's better to check. If the opponent raises, in most cases these pocket pairs are already beaten.
 
A

Aca0012

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Play very aggressively and strongly at the beginning and not allow the weaker hands to see the flop.
 
A

AviCKter

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Whuz up, guys?:)
I have a nice and controversial topic to discuss. It happens quite often to me, that on pre-flop I make a raise with medium poket pair (like 66, 77, 88, 99) independently from my position and several villians call. Then we go to flop, where there is smth like this: T5J rainbow. My question is following:
Should I make a C-bet in order to defend my pocket pair or check and pass over an initiative to villians?
Looking for quick response:deal:

Against multiple opponents, its going to be a check/fold. There are so many different combinations with two over-cards on the board that might have you beat and you're just drawing to 2 outers & some backdoor runner-runner.
 
Ivansito26

Ivansito26

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you should not C bet, because if there are more opponents already with the T and J are winning you the best is check check you most likely to withdraw
,

if you are a player who studies opponents you can know if they are bluffing or not the best is to take it easy.
 
thatguy6793

thatguy6793

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Whuz up, guys?:)
I have a nice and controversial topic to discuss. It happens quite often to me, that on pre-flop I make a raise with medium poket pair (like 66, 77, 88, 99) independently from my position and several villians call. Then we go to flop, where there is smth like this: T5J rainbow. My question is following:
Should I make a C-bet in order to defend my pocket pair or check and pass over an initiative to villians?
Looking for quick response:deal:

You shouldn't really be defending the pocket pair so to speak just because you bet preflop on it, if you think your beat you need to take the loss and move on.

The mid pairs should be played something like this though for future reference:

Play them in mid-late position when you can open the pot or when there is limpers, but fold to early raises. Make a 3BB from late position but I tend to limp in from mid and see what happens after me. The goal with these hands is to hit a set or a weird flush/straight draw. If you hit those then play like you normally would with any set/draw hands, but if you miss check-fold is the only real hand here, especially when OOP. The ideal situation to be in is with a high pair on the board to give you a flush and slow play the villain because he's raising with two pairs or trips.
 
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