5NL: Should I be raising any PP from any position if there have been..

[jon166]

no raisers in front of me?

What I usually do is just call/limp with my pps less than jj just to mine for sets.

Should I be raising?

[Keys Myaths]

Yes.

[Klompy]

This depends on the table, but for the most part yes you should be open raising all of them. If someone's been three betting you constantly you might consider just folding some of your lower ones.

[jon166]

The reason I ask is because at these low stakes it would be easier to just call or limp and fold if I get a set because it is very difficult to play a lower pocket pair against these kind of opponents.

Another thing is because I'm 12 tabling just mindlessly robbotting nut peddling so I can't pay attention to opponents that easily.

It seems to me that I would be losing money if I kept raising and overcards flopping with so many opponents calling, but it does seem the 5NL tables are getting a little tighter.

Thank you for the advice I'm going to try it out and see what happens.

[lengthy]

yes. but I will try to give an explantion.
aggressive poker is winning poker. limp calling with a hand like 33 is a weak play because unless you hit your set your forefitting your hand to the person that had shown the real strengthy. when a majority of the times 33 is the best hand but can't call a bet because you have an underpair.

ill try to take two scenarios to demonstrate.

lets say you are in second to act and are dealt 33. you limp and the button raises with KQs. everyone else fold and you call. obviously you don't know his hand. anyways.
flop:
A 7 2
you check, he bets, you fold.
you lose with the better hand.

second scenario.
you raise 33 second to act, get called on the button by KQs. flop comes
A 7 2
First off, its not a good flop for your hand but its an even worse flop for his hand. you make a standard c-bet and he folds. you win.
if he calls you get can easily check fold the rest of the hand unless you hit your two outer.
there are some great articles about c-betting and great posts here that will help improve your game.

[Klompy]

TBH I misread the title, and didn't read it was for 5nl. I've never played in this game so it's possible there's times where it's best to limp.

[Frosteater]

Lengthy, I totally agree with you on this one, but you have to consider that, depending on the table of course, you don't always find yourself in HU situations on the flop, at least not at 5NL. While I usually raise these in early position as well, I wouldn't necessarily do it in the CO or on the button, for three reasons:
1. If everyone limped, there's a good chance we won't get HU. In itself, this would be a bad reason not to raise, but hang on with me. And I'd like to add that the flop in your example is actually a great one for a c-bet, as far as I see it. It just gets considerably worse with more than one opponent in the hand. I know this is why we raise preflop, so let's just say that there are tables where you still don't see many HU situations, and this is where I'm aiming at.
2. Depending on the table it's unlikely to see a real raise from the blinds.
3. We have position, so why not use it? If we hit a set and be able to get away from our hand if the board looks ugly, we can win a huge pot here, because ... well, it's 5NL and there seems to be a lot of overplaying second best hands. To put it that way.

Which would be my reasoning for (occasionally and depending on the table) limping from late position with weaker pocket pairs. Now I'm not saying this is necessarily good reasoning and wouldn't be surprised if I was way off on this one. It's just that - for these stakes - I have a hard time to see the fault in it.

[Vyse]

[ QUOTE ]

Another thing is because I'm 12 tabling just mindlessly robbotting nut peddling so I can't pay attention to opponents that easily.

[/ QUOTE ]

STOP 12 TABLING!

[losingdonkey]

I 9 table and I've never limped a pocket pair so no excuses!

[Machavelli]

YES! Raise, a set is no good if you don't have a pot to work with. If you take down the blinds, thats great too.