How do you play pocket 7's thru 9's

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Swickster007

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I have lost multiple hands with pocket 9's and I feel like I am doing the whole pre-flop wrong. I generally raise but am thinking that I should just call and hope for my golden triple. Any thoughts?
 
BluffMeAllIn

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I have lost multiple hands with pocket 9's and I feel like I am doing the whole pre-flop wrong. I generally raise but am thinking that I should just call and hope for my golden triple. Any thoughts?

IMO a big part with playing the mid pp's depends on position, from EP-MP your looking to setmine while from LP you have position and can often take down the pot without hitting your set. In general most often if there are overs and you didn't hit your set your likely behind depending on # of callers etc so your looking to steal the pot or give up when faced with any aggression unless your getting the right pot/implied odds to seek your set on further streets.
 
trolaAa

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I do not think there are many possibilities how to play a pair 9
More important is to know the game of the player in front of you that play
 
Jacki Burkhart

Jacki Burkhart

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The annoying but true answer to your question is that there is no one right way to play 77,88,99

early in the tournament I think it's best to try to minimize your investment with mid pocket pairs. I pretty much never, ever open limp any time during the tourney. So, if I'm first in I'll open for about 2.5x or 3x the BB. If there are limpers ahead of me, I'll probably just limp along and try to flop a set. If there is a raise ahead of me and it's early on, I'll usually just flat the raise with up to TT and sometimes even JJ depending on the player and my position (I'm fully capable of laying down JJ on the flop without batting an eyelash)

Now....later in the tourney you can sometimes play 99 like it's the nuts. it just depends so much on the table dynamics and effective stack sizes.

This weekend I got 6th in a large tourney for $2,000 and I had a very key hand late in the night with 99.

There are 18 players left. I have about 260k. New player sits down, he hasn't even unpacked all his chips yet, he looks to have about 85k. Average stack is 135k.

Blinds are 2000/4000 with a 500 ante so starting pot contains 10,500

My M = about 25 average M = about 12 This guy's M= about 8

I am in the SB for 2000. I am 2nd in chips at the table and maybe 5th in chips for the tourney.

UTG min raises to 8,000 off a stack off about 100k. This new player flats the raise without too much thought....he didn't seem to consider any other options. pretty much screams to me "medium to strong hand, but not a monster".

I look down at 99. I already know I'm gonna reraise...folding is too tight and I don't want to play a 3 way pot with 99 out of position with blinds being what they are. I've acquired all these chips, time to put them to work for me!

well, the UTG opener is the only one I really have to worry about. He has been min raising quite a few hands, but so far has folded whenever somebody 3bets him. Since I have him way covered and he'll be "squeezed" I feel pretty confident he will fold...but even if he doesn't the most I can lose this hand is 100k which would suck...but I'd still be above average.

So the question becomes, how much to raise? I want to bet enough so that I can't be raised out preflop...send him a message that he has no fold equity. I also want to raise enough that, should either player flat me and the flop comes safe, I can lead out for a bet that pot commits them without looking too weird.

I decide to reraise to 30,000.

UTG folds and this guy flats...he doesn't look to happy about it.

I'm putting him on AQ. possibly AJ or 88 but I think he might fold those hands, and I think he would have 3bet the UTG raiser if he had AK or TT+ and I think he would have 4bet me all in if he was slowplaying AA or KK.

anyways, flop comes 9TA rainbow.

woot! set of 9s. My plan of jamming the flop is gone....and since I put him on AQ and I don't think he'll ever be able to fold AQ on this board with his stack size but I decide to go for the check/raise just in case he didn't like the flop he can bluff at it, or I can give him a chance to improve.

it works and he bets 12,000 into the almost 80k pot...OK....weird bet size. I can't figure that bet out, maybe it's just a probe but I jam anyways. he snap calls and tables TT for a set of tens!

OMG! No! oh well, at least he is the shortest stack at the table....

but wait...the case 9 on the turn gives me quads and I take him out.

Now, I realize I was behind the whole way and got my money in bad on each street and got totally lucky. I get that. My point is that I took advantage of the situation, didn't play scared and played pocket 9s WAAAAAAY different than I would play them in the early or middle stages of the tourney.

did that seem like a long story? well, that's because there are a lot of different factors that have to go into how you play a certain hand. it is about so much more than your 2 particular cards.
 
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eidikos

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in early stages you can limp and wait for a set,later you want to steal the blinds so you have to raise 2-3X .shove when you have less than 20bb
 
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efh0888

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What jacki said, namely, it's totally situational. Of utmost importance is understanding how a hand like 99 increases exponentially in value as the tourney progresses and average stacks get smaller relative to the blinds. What you don't want to do is play passively with a medium to small stack and hero check-calling down 3 streets w/ 2+ overs on board, donking off 1/3 - 1/2 of your stack.

Helpful remark from phil galfond (paraphrased): it's a much bigger mistake to shove too tight late in a mtt than to shove too loose early on. Note he's not condoning shoving loose early, but rather pointing out that most people lose a lot of equity with hands late in mtts by not shoving pre flop when they have tons of fold equity and even pretty good equity against most people's calling range.
 
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Mid Pocket Pairs are just ugly. From EP, I tend to abandon these tempting pairs except on tight tables and if the situation demands it I will play them e.g. I have pocket eights UTG+2 with nine big blinds and it is folded to me. This is an example of a time when you can play these pairs. You would pick up 2.5BB (including antes) if everyone folds which is a 30% increase and hands like A10 (maybe AJ) will fold. If you do get called, you still do have decent equity.

In MP and LP, usually I will raise. Throw out a c-bet, rep the ace/king if it comes and unless you have an overpair, bet smaller and try to keep the pot smaller than if I had AA because your hand is vulnerable.

If you are out of position, these things are struggles. Because if you have 88 and you raise in MP and the board is 943 rainbow, you c-bet and are called, then you have no idea where you stand. But in position, it is much easier to play.

One other thing. The shallower the stacks, the more valuable mid pocket pairs are.
 
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BlakeBrown

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There is no perfect way to play any two hole cards... If there was then the game would be too predictable! You should maybe call a raise or raise to limpers, but there is no perfect way to play any hand, that's why NLHE is the Cadillac of poker :biggrin:
 
vnonline

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I had 77 88 99 in many hands but lost most of them. I realised that I was so confident then I kept raising raising... and I received my bad result LOL. But I have my own experience now so I don't waste my money on these hands anymore.
 
T0mmmi

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Hi !

It really depend if you are playing MTT, SnG or CASH game.

Then there is a big difference if you are in early, middle or late stage of MTT.

In early stages I would recommend playing mid pairs 77-99 for a cheap as possible to hit the set.
If playing them from Ep or Mp ...As first one to act I like to raise 2x BB or if anyone limped I do the same. When playing from late position I would recommend raising 2.5x BB. Usually that is the way to take the pot without really playing...If you get callers....then on the Flop play it straight ... You hit set nice :) ...Always raise...do not slow play them and if you miss and someone raised ..just fold.

In middle stage I get more tricky and mostly on the bubble when i see that other players are too tight I raise 3x BB preFlop from any position and I c-Bet after every flop (hit set or not). After that if really depends on the players that are playing the hand with me.

In Late stage of tournament I like to slow play when i hit set on flop as the difference between winning Big and loosing small is great for +EV.

Yes i know it does of course depend if you are short stack, average or Big stack ... but i still love slow-playing sets in late stages.

Good Luck @TAbles !
 
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HollyMichelle13

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There is NO correct way to play any 2 cards. It ALL depends on the situation and you have to be talking situationally before any one can comment on these types of questions:

Eg. How do I play 77-99 in the BU with 10BB facing a raise from the CO

A: Shove, shove, shove

There are multiple things to consider as Tommii just said as well.
 
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hffjd2000

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77-99, the so called middle pairs.
These hands are the easiest to play.
You know when youre leading way ahead or losing way ahead.
 
left52side

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I dont lol... just kidding.. middle pairs can often be tricky to play,it comes down to an age old rule of position and table image,chip size,level of tournament etc.
example,you can often min raise or even three bet if the time is right and hope for a dry board and position to continue bet , more often than not oop you will have to fold post flop with these cards,unless you have one heck of a read on villian. I will NEVER get my money all in the middle preflop with anything like middle pairs unless I am just so shortstacked that it is the final move I can make.
As I said these can be tricky to play but if played right can scoop some chips,but more often than not fold after post flop oop is the correct move I would have to say.
 
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TrueBloodz07

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i find those also very hard to play lol.
keep *** losing with them :/
guess it depends on your image at the table.
personally i like to just flat with them and hope on trips
 
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thatgreekdude

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open for around 2.5x from ep, in MP should be raising or folding if someone has already shown strength, from LP you can call or raise a 3x and if no overs hit the flop you're usually gunna be ahead, if the flops comes down 9 A 2 you're usually gunna be golden especially in position if he has an ace he is probably going to bet for value so you can just flat call and trap him and put in a big raise when you see fit.
 
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samueldavis

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I Believe the better play to do is shove whit à low stack and limp whit à bigger one
 
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