When to bet bottom and middle pairs....

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God_Mode_On

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Hey folks!

Not entirely sure whether this is the place to ask for advice, but without further ado... I've been having issues playing bottom/small middle pairs on the flop.
A lot of the time I'm just unsure what to do... Espacially when oop.
Bet them to protect from equity or play it conservative and check....?

Just for instance:

I hold, say, 56 suited and the flop comes 5 7 T rainbow. I'm oop with 2 more players behind me in an unraised pot.
A lot of the times I find myself just checking coz eyy, in the end, chances are the other 2 players behind me got a better piece of the board then me...
Then both players behind me check as well and the turn comes a J and once again I think to myself, why didn't I just bet...? What turncard was I waiting for by checking? Obviously no card higher than say a 6... The J might have very well married one of the holdings of the gents to the left of me...
But then I see a lot of good players doing the same in such a spot... (So they just check a lot of the times)

What is your opinion on this folks? When betting or checking your bottom or middle pairs on the flop and why? (Either in position or oop)

I very much appreciate your advice/input. Thanks a whole lot in advance and take care!
 
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Dhendrixon

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Hey folks!

Not entirely sure whether this is the place to ask for advice, but without further ado... I've been having issues playing bottom/small middle pairs on the flop.
A lot of the time I'm just unsure what to do... Espacially when oop.
Bet them to protect from equity or play it conservative and check....?

Just for instance:

I hold, say, 56 suited and the flop comes 5 7 T rainbow. I'm oop with 2 more players behind me in an unraised pot.
A lot of the times I find myself just checking coz eyy, in the end, chances are the other 2 players behind me got a better piece of the board then me...
Then both players behind me check as well and the turn comes a J and once again I think to myself, why didn't I just bet...? What turncard was I waiting for by checking? Obviously no card higher than say a 6... The J might have very well married one of the holdings of the gents to the left of me...
But then I see a lot of good players doing the same in such a spot... (So they just check a lot of the times)

What is your opinion on this folks? When betting or checking your bottom or middle pairs on the flop and why? (Either in position or oop)

I very much appreciate your advice/input. Thanks a whole lot in advance and take care!


I think you are putting yourself in these situations because you are playing weak preflop. This in an ideal hand to play with multiple limpers ahead of you and you have enough in an effective stack to make the call and only continuing with strong draws or 2 pair or better. You can always raise with this hand if you are in button or CO. This allows you to be the lead aggressor and continue with only one or 2 players and play post flop accordingly. C-Bet with any card that could be at the top of your range (as a bluff) or actually hitting draws to the straight or flush. It helps keep your raising hands balanced.
 
G

God_Mode_On

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I think you are putting yourself in these situations because you are playing weak preflop. This in an ideal hand to play with multiple limpers ahead of you and you have enough in an effective stack to make the call and only continuing with strong draws or 2 pair or better. You can always raise with this hand if you are in button or CO. This allows you to be the lead aggressor and continue with only one or 2 players and play post flop accordingly. C-Bet with any card that could be at the top of your range (as a bluff) or actually hitting draws to the straight or flush. It helps keep your raising hands balanced.

Thanks a whole lot! That is solid advice for sure!

However, it doesn't really answer my query on what to do when you find yourself in the situation as described by me...

So what to do when hitting bottom or (small) middle pair oop when 2 players behind you...? And why...

Thanks a whole lot again!
 
arenaci

arenaci

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I think the first questoin you gotta ask yourself when deciding whether to bet or not can be "Do I want to build the pot with what I am holding?" only then you can ask other questions such as "Is the flop wet or dry and does the flop help my opponents' range?", "What are the tendencies of my opponents? Can I exploit them". If you get many postive answers then bet, if not then check.
 
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Dhendrixon

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Thanks a whole lot! That is solid advice for sure!

However, it doesn't really answer my query on what to do when you find yourself in the situation as described by me...

So what to do when hitting bottom or (small) middle pair oop when 2 players behind you...? And why...

Thanks a whole lot again!


Since you only limped and are showing a weak hand, I would check with two players behind and call possibly 1 bet (depending on amount of call vs pot) to make sure you are getting the correct pot odds vs hand equity. If the hand doesn't improve on the turn, I would normally fold to anymore aggression, specially with two other in the pot.

The value of one pair hands greatly diminish the more people that see the flop.
 
ajtrevor

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I am by no means an expert but I would only raise that if I were in a late position and had some info on the other players. Bottom pair doesn’t have great odds but if you’re in a gambling mood you could definitely try and push some people out of the hand but you have to be smart about the raise and also know when to get out of the hand.
 
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