pocket pairs.

Do you guys raise or limp with pocket pairs?

Lets say you have a tight image, 25/50 blinds, 1500 chips do you raise, limp, or fold 22-77, early, middle, and late position?

If you limp is this not telling them you have a pocket pair? I mean you have a tight image so big hands, which is all you play, would be raised up, bad hands would be folded.

If you raise aren't you putting more chips in the pot than you should?
You're trying to see a cheap flop and hit a set, no? There's obviously no reason to raise to steal blinds either, so everyone folding won't do you good.

This applys to sng's, but I would like to read opinions for these same situations in tournaments as well.

10 or higher I usually raise what i feel is appropriate for how the other players have been playing, however most the time I just limp with a lower pocket pair and hope to catch, or bet if I think it's obvious that the other players have not hit a thing... then again I am no poker pro, how do you usually play yours?

I don't like going to the flop and preparing to fold if you didn't hit your set. In early position, you should dump low PP, from middle it's worth a raise from 99+ (77+ if you have a solid image). With your tight image, you could be representing AQ+ or 10+. If you hit the board hard, then great. If you have second pair, try a continuation bet to represent that top pair or an overpair.

I like to raise them and limp at about 50% clip to mix up my play depending on position.

The general wisdom is that any hand worth playing is worth playing for a raise, and that limping kills kittens. So if you're not going to raise 'em, dump 'em, and that will usually be correct in early position. If you're at a very loose passive table where preflop raises are rare and lots of people see every flop, it's probably OK to limp, but you don't want to limp with a small pocket pair or otherwise marginal hand and then get raised and have to fold, or incorrectly call.

-Phil Ivey27 said:

Do you guys raise or limp with pocket pairs?

Lets say you have a tight image, 25/50 blinds, 1500 chips do you raise, limp, or fold 22-77, early, middle, and late position?

If you limp is this not telling them you have a pocket pair? I mean you have a tight image so big hands, which is all you play, would be raised up, bad hands would be folded.

If you raise aren't you putting more chips in the pot than you should?
You're trying to see a cheap flop and hit a set, no? There's obviously no reason to raise to steal blinds either, so everyone folding won't do you good.

This applys to sng's, but I would like to read opinions for these same situations in tournaments as well.

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Anything less than 77 I would fold from early, call from Middle and raise from late. 8's and 9's I would call from early and raise from middle onwards. 10's and above I would raise from early.

This is my rule of thumb but you have tomake adjustments depending on the dynamics of the table and the other players style of play.

Firstly I'm assuming we're talking about only if it's been folded to us?

Early levels of a SNG (or MTT if only 1500 chip starting stack).. I'm dumping them in early position & raising from HJ, CO, BTN & SB.
Hitting a set is obvious ideal result but if we're raising & end up going heads up with BB, then we can also represent on many flops we feel miss the BB (ie. we can cbet an A or K flop & take it down a large majority of the time).

I will usually fold out of position with any small pair. If I can get a cheap flop in late position I will try and see at least the flop. Bin burned too many times trying to make something out of nothing.

AA, KK, QQ I do a big bet just to take the blinds, on JJ, 10 10, 99 I raise, under 9s I limp in and do set minning.

If is folded to me, I'll raise, if I'm UTG that depends on what pair i'm holding.

Exit141RTe1 said:

I will usually fold out of position with any small pair. If I can get a cheap flop in late position I will try and see at least the flop. Bin burned too many times trying to make something out of nothing.

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?? But you shipped 30bb's in early levels w 88 when I raised up UTG & UTG+1 flatted, lol (btw.. I mucked JJ there, & utg+1 makes the call & also holds 88 for a chop.... sigh... 88 wtf?)

-Phil Ivey27 said:

Do you guys raise or limp with pocket pairs?

Lets say you have a tight image, 25/50 blinds, 1500 chips do you raise, limp, or fold 22-77, early, middle, and late position?

If you limp is this not telling them you have a pocket pair? I mean you have a tight image so big hands, which is all you play, would be raised up, bad hands would be folded.

If you raise aren't you putting more chips in the pot than you should?
You're trying to see a cheap flop and hit a set, no? There's obviously no reason to raise to steal blinds either, so everyone folding won't do you good.

This applys to sng's, but I would like to read opinions for these same situations in tournaments as well.

Click to expand...

I always raise on small pairs 2 bb on medium pairs 3bb and on high pairs 5bb cuz if i only call its a chance that the man who is on BB will flop a straight or a set and i would be forsed to fold

In the late position with low pocket pairs i raise so i can bluff the flop if i miss my set(if nobody limped or raised before me)

depending on position, but most of the time i will raise. even with low pair in my hand.

if its 88+ I definitely raise, if lower then id depends on a position.

In general, I get to flop with pocket pair. In general, because it depends on thousand things.
First of all, not every pocket pair (PP) is a good one. If you're SB, and someone raised before you pre-flop, you might have folded them if they're below 88. Because it's probably someone with at least one card higher than yours.
If you get AA or KK, you have to raise, bet, sometimes even 3-bet, putting pressure on your opponents. But there's always a chance of getting busted.
Next thing is your stack. If opponent bet for 20% of your chips, there's no way to put 20% of stack to count on set with 44.

It always could be both good and bad decision. Take note to who you play against, how ppl behave before and how much chips you've left.
And never show your cards

My idea of a cheap flop is a standard raise and no I am not trying to hit a set if I do that is great but my plan is to win the pot with a raise or a continuation bet if I do hit a set then fine I will be winning the pot with my c-bet or re-raising and winning a huge pot.

22-66 fold from early pos...Everything else, raise...and never open limp. Never. If someone else limps you can limp behind. Just don't open limp...

ribaric said:

I always raise on small pairs 2 bb on medium pairs 3bb and on high pairs 5bb cuz if i only call its a chance that the man who is on BB will flop a straight or a set and i would be forsed to fold

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If you want to keep your hole cards secret, avoid doing this ^ Always raise the same amount. Later in the tourney, you can reduce from 3x to 2 or 2 1/2x due to stack sizes getting shorter but don't raise an amount based on hand strength...

pkt pairs

more times than not raise high pkt pairs. mid pkt pairs would depend on # of hands in play.

raise the same amount you would with a better hand so its harder to guess and you're image is still tight. for eg 55, raise 3-4bb (or the same you would with AK+ 99+ etc). If the flop hits a 5 you are in luck.

I just call/call raise/fold with 22-77...

hi
limp or call a raise in early and middle position
raise in late position or call if there is a raise before you.you can try a semi bluff c-bet post flop

ribaric said:

I always raise on small pairs 2 bb on medium pairs 3bb and on high pairs 5bb cuz if i only call its a chance that the man who is on BB will flop a straight or a set and i would be forsed to fold

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You pulled up a 5+ year old thread to give this ^ information?
It wouldv'e been terrible advice 5yrs. ago & is still terrible advice today!

I don't like playing small pocket pairs in early or middle position. In my experience I lose far more than I ever win. Even in late position I still struggle to play these hands well...