[WarDekar]

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In general, flatcalling with a wide range with 40bb is fine (sometimes even AK!). Part of this is because (as you indicated) against most opponents, whether you want to 3bet/call or 3bet/fold is a greater part of the determination of whether a 3bet is good than is the case with 100 bb (where you are more likely to be called and play a 3bet pot in position). That is, your hot and cold equity versus his preflop 4bet range (as well as his raise/fold frequency) plays a lot more into a proper 3bet range than it does a 3bet range deeper.

Since a big part of playing well in 40bb pots as the caller is knowing when you can win without showdown, as long as you play well flat calling 33 there is better than reraising, because versus an opponent whose raising range is so weak that you can reraise him with any 2 (assuming you would fold 33 to a shove), calling and floating is at least as profitable, especially when you factor in that you can stack his strongest hands when you flop a set.

As for small pairs as resteals, I think the tendency lately is for people to call resteals lighter, which hurts 22 more than it hurts say QJ. Because most of the lighter calls that call QJ don't have it dominated, and stuff like 55 is a coin flip. Being called by a few more coin flip hands is neutral to 22, just like being called by 55 is neutral to QJ, but being called by 55 is more of a disaster for 22 than A7 is for QJ. That there are still way many more high card hands than pairs mitigates this a bit, but as you widen the calling range, the advantange 22 has over QJ gets smaller. That said, 22 is still significantly better against most calling ranges than QJ, although if you make the calling ranges more pair-heavy (as compared with the pokerstove top x% ranges), which better approximates people's actual calling ranges (e.g. Q9s is in the stove top 16% but 55 isn't, although more people call 55 than Q9s), 22 gets weaker.

Versus tight raising ranges, restealing 22 is suicidal, but so is restealing QJ.

I think folding small pairs in EP (nine-handed, spots 1-3) is correct most of the time.

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Well said, a lot of things I've been thinking about lately summed up nicely.