22/33/44

[pzhon]

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I think I understand now. So it would be better not to play the small pairs if certain opponents are in the pot (like setminers) or use some form of pot control? Or not play them at all?

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Set miners count against low pairs, and that can make the difference. That there are other callers preflop can also bloat the pot, making it easier to stack someone with one pair or get paid more by a weak hand, so it is not a complete negative. There should still be a signficant difference between 22 and 66.

Pot control would mean not getting your money in when you flop a set. That's not a good idea unless the stacks are deeper. Once you flop a set, there are so many ways your opponent could have one good pair, two pair, or a draw that a lot of money has to go in before you aren't betting for value even with bottom set.

Rather than other set miners, the main situation to avoid is calling raises from players who won't pay you off. A tight player who only raises with AA (but thinks you don't know that) will pay off very nicely. A half-decent player who raised with KTs or 88 will usually have no trouble getting away from one pair when you raise, so your risk is about the same but your reward is much reduced.

I just watched some High Stakes Poker episodes. It was remarkable how often the players called raises out of position with low pairs. Since you can see the hole cards, you can see that this was often a terrible gamble even though the stacks were deep, since the raiser often had a hand that would not pay off most sets. E.g., Negreanu raised with 66, and Gus Hansen called with 55. Hansen got a lot of action on a 965 flop, but had to hit quads to win.