How to play Small and Mid Pairs in MTT

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Largebalance

Largebalance

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I seem to lose alot of chips playing small and mid pairs and getting out drawn by callers with nothing but 2 overcards. Why they call I can only guess raising 3 to 5 times BB isnt enough. Should one just push with say 66??? . Should you call a raise of 3 to 5 BB with a Pocket pair of 3s or 4s? I really need some advice on the best way to play 99 and down pre flop. In both early and late position
 
early position if the blinds are low try limping in or getting to see a flop for super cheap to set mine your low pairs, hit your set great if not check/fold most boards.

late position with low pairs do a standard raise + c-bet, if you're called then possibly slow down unless you have a good read on them.

if you get re-raised pre-flop then re-evaluate based on your odds, both immediate + implied odds and your reads before deciding whether to call or not.

middle + late stage of a game i tend to fold certain small pairs in early position since most of the time there will be a better hand further down the table which you wont come up against and you really wont want to go all in with a low pocket pair from early position unless you are super short.

having said all that if i was a monster chip stack i'd play any pair from any position!

that's just my opinion on low pairs, im not a great player or anything but im sure other people will have their own ideas on how to play low-medium pockets more profitably.

hope this helps you in some way
 
From the posts you have put out it sounds like you are over valuing small pairs... early levels you can set mine with 22-88 as soon as the antes come in i believe 22-55 is a fold full ring in the first 2 seats after that i would raise the same amount you would raise AA 78s and AK make is 2-3 BB and put out a c bet 80% of the time if called and you have no set or over pair to the board check the turn and re evaluate on the river! It is just one pair!
 
Can you give more details.

low and middle pocket pairs are purely for set mining value, maybe you're betting to much with them. It's fine getting called when you have a small/middle pair because our objective is to stack people when we hit sets. Also, stack sizes are very important and position.

For example 55 which you might open UTG with 60bb+ might become a fold if you have 20-30bb behind.
 
Most of time i'm trying to see the flop cheaply (for hitting a set) in early game. In the late game, when the blinds are high, sometimes i fold preflop pocket small pairs, even when nobody raised before me, sometimes shove all-in. It all depends on your position, blinds and stack sizes, also types of opponents.

The important thing is not to overvalue pocket small pairs. They are great when you hit a set, and that's all. Always evaluate if it's worth to enter the hand and don't play like a robot. It is not "shame" to fold pocket small pairs pre-flop when you do not feel comfortable with them 🙂
 
Have to consider few factors when playing mid to small pairs.

Good news is they are the easiest hands to play. You can play them early or late positions. They are so flexible you can bet/call/fold or even raise with them.
 
tootsy toot said:
early position if the blinds are low try limping in or getting to see a flop for super cheap to set mine your low pairs, hit your set great if not check/fold most boards.

late position with low pairs do a standard raise + c-bet, if you're called then possibly slow down unless you have a good read on them.

if you get re-raised pre-flop then re-evaluate based on your odds, both immediate + implied odds and your reads before deciding whether to call or not.

middle + late stage of a game i tend to fold certain small pairs in early position since most of the time there will be a better hand further down the table which you wont come up against and you really wont want to go all in with a low pocket pair from early position unless you are super short.

having said all that if i was a monster chip stack i'd play any pair from any position!

that's just my opinion on low pairs, im not a great player or anything but im sure other people will have their own ideas on how to play low-medium pockets more profitably.

hope this helps you in some way
Click to expand...
Thank you very much you have given me a good foundation to work from. I have noticed that I take hits from people playing any 2 cards and hitting 2 pair, or a back door str8 or a 4 flush
 
Imo the only valid reason for playing small and medium pair is to catch trips. But you should be very disciplined with this so that if you don't hit trips of the flop, you should get out of the hand whn you face any kind of aggression.
 
Usually set mining in late position is most profitable and safest way...

You tend to not get paid in early position because most will sense strength when your raising to get your chips in and get out of the hand or they'll call and have you beat thinking your good.
 
A call is usually worth it. This if you're not going against super aggressive players. If you can get good reads then it's profitable other then that play it safe in any position.
 
Dont risk too many chips with mid and small pairs.Try to limp(also,play such hands only in late position) and wait for set full house and other.if the board is empty try to fold it quickly.
 
first of all don't group hands like 55-99 ; 22-44 , all of them have their own power, if your level of post flop is better as the middle of tournament, play with 3bet ws 1 or 2 opps, if u not, just call for set
 
I try not to risk too much in this
situation, I make a call before
the flop and on the flop a
monster waiting
 
in early stages in the mtt limp and wait to hit a set post flop
when the blinds are high fold in early position and raise when you are in the cutoff or later.you can also shove when you blind out
 
set mine in the early stages of the tournament definitely a good strategy. Sometimes even in position i will bump it up early on as well.
 
I call these kinds of hands "flop it or drop it hands". Why raise with 22-77 and get re-raised. I like limping here, so if someone raises you only have to pay 3-4BB instead of getting reraised. Good luck set-mining!!!!
 
It actually depends on your stack. I personally fold any pair under 77 on mid positions and early when I have around 20-30bb left. with 50bb or more I have no problem playing small pockets with the goal of hitting a set or better or fold if I don't hit. As you can see, it really depends on your stack, but if you see that you loose more than you win when you play the low pockets then don't play them at all, it is very easy to think that the opponent didn't hit and put money hoping you are on the lead.
 
imo it's a push/fold situation. early in position with less than 10 bb i would shove.

limp if you have 15+bb

fold if raised
 
I try to play all pp early in the game and every time I find it possible . Of course having 15 bb for example I can't play 22 ... Playing them depends a lot on the table and their calling ranges but here is a chart from Anette that I found a few years back and think it's really useful .
50x bb+
limp or raise
25x bb +:
raise all pps
20x-25x bb
22-55 fold
66+ raise
15x-20x bb
22-66 fold
77+ raise
12x-14x bb
22-88 fold
88+ raise and call shove
10x-11x bb
22-77 fold
88+ shove
9x bb
22-44 fold
55+ shove
8x bb or less
shove any pp
With antes later in tourneys:
14x-15x:
22-55 fold
66-88 raise and fold to shove
99+ raise and call shove
13x:
22-77 fold
88+ raise and call shove
11x-12x:
22-77 fold
88+ shove
10x:
22-33 (cant decide what to do with 44 lol) fold
55+ shove
9x or less:
shove any pp
 
I like the list lfc, I may have to keep this for future reference. Thanks a million! 😊
 
The bigger your stack, the more profitable it is to play small & medium pocket pairs. You should always play PP when you have 50BB+.
But things change a lot when your stack drops down to 20-30BB. Here if your opponent make a big raise/reraise, your small pairs likes 22-66 become less profitable because you have to give up your hands a lot of time when you miss a set. With 77-99 it is tough to play post flop if over cards drop down. It is likely that you have to call more streets to see what will happen on the turn and river. Use your judgement against a particular opponent to decide whether you have a winning hand or not.
When your stack falls to less than 10BB, pocket pairs become very profitable to all-in preflop. However personally I would rather fold 22-44 UTG/ UTG + 1.
 
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