Playing Small Pairs after a raise

[Turtle148]

Hypothetical situation (so no HH)

I have a disagreement with a friend so i will keep from commenting for now.


Blinds 10/20
utg raises to 60
3 callers.
I'm in BB with a small pocket pair 22-66.

Call or Fold?

[RexWoo]

stacks ?

Asumming something in the 1000 + range, this is a call to flop a set.

[Turtle148]

Assume it is the first hand of the tournament and everyone has equal 1500 stacks.

[mildeng]

call/fold w/o hitting

[darinvg]

E Z call.

[The Venetian]

A lot depends on where the pfr is coming from and if there are other callers. Keep in mind you will rarely get paid off enough w/ low sets against one preflop opponent.

[ymu]

The 5/10 rule is useful here. If the raise is less than 5% of the shortest stack involved, always call for set value. If it's more than 10%, fold. (You'll hit a set on the flop about 1 in 8 times, and you won't always win when you hit, so this is a useful rule to check your implied odds). Anywhere in between 5-10% it's a judgement call - depending on your opponent, your position, number of others in the pot, likelihood of a reraise behind you, post-flop skills, how easy it is likely to be to stack him if you hit, and how healthy your stack will be if you have to fold post-flop, etc.

You won't always need to hit a set to win - he doesn't necessarily have a higher pair - but it's tough to play small pairs post-flop - especially OOP and/or if your opponent is good post-flop.

[wiggs73]

callcallcallcallcallcallcallcallcallcallcallcallca llcallcallcallcall

[wiggs73]

i always am happy to see thoughtful responses in threads but seriously, there's not a lot to say here except it's a measly 40 more chips, you close the action, and your implied odds are fantastically huge with 4 others in the pot. this is one of the easiest calls ever.

[ymu]

Yep. It gets a lot more interesting when it comes to calling a reraise when you're very likely to be up against an overpair. If you hit your set you have a very good chance of stacking AA and also JJ+ if no overcards flop, so you can call if you have the implied odds to hit (as long as you trust yourself not to get stubborn post-flop, obv).