Parameters for calling a raise preflop with a low/medium pocket pair

[younggunz]

What do you look for when deciding whether to call a PFR with a pocket pair?
1) Raiser must have a stack at least 10x the size of his raise. (Preferably 20x)
2) Must have position on Raiser (unless there are other callers) Seems like its always -ev to call a PFR with a pocket pair OOP
3) Raiser must be somewhat aggressive and willing to stack off with overpairs. Its pretty hard to find these kind of players nowadays [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
4) Raiser must enter pot from early/mid position. Late position raises are usually just trying to take down the blinds and rarely pay off if you hit a set.

Who calls raises vs guys who are solid TAG regulars? Do you call with the intention of floating/pushing them off the pot on the flop/turn?

I'm sure there are more. I'm really starting to wonder if its a big leak calling a raise with 77 vs a 13/6 guy

[phydaux]

Rule of 5 & 10 for calling raises OOP with small PPs & SCs.

(It isn't explicitly mentioned, but the Rule of 5 & 10 implies that stacks are also deep, >100BB.)

[Jurrr]

If it's for < 5% effstacks OOP is fine IMHO against EP/MP opener.

PPs in the blinds against LP openers are very tricky unless you are good at floating OOP (which I'm not).

[Etric]

[ QUOTE ]

3) Raiser must be somewhat aggressive and willing to stack off with overpairs. Its pretty hard to find these kind of players nowadays [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Not true; come find me at the 100NL Stars games; I stacked off my overpair/top 2p 3x today!

[img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[dirtysanchez]

your rules assume that you are playing these PPs 100% for set value only right?

[Jurrr]

dirtysanchez, can you provide some guidelines for floating (if you call it that) with UI PPs IP and OOP?

[dirtysanchez]

[ QUOTE ]
dirtysanchez, can you provide some guidelines for floating (if you call it that) with UI PPs IP and OOP?

[/ QUOTE ]

sure ill write something up in a minute when im done posting hands.

[dirtysanchez]

Ok there are ways to play medium/low pps for value other than set value. (they can sometimes be played for showdown value as an overpair cheaply but those spots are pretty obvious generally and apply much more to mid pairs than low pairs)

1) floating- often we may call an early or mid-position raise from a TAG player with a hand like 66-88 preflop and see a flop heads up. if the flop comes all unders, or with 1 over that doesnt hit much of a TAGs raising range, we can expect most players to c-bet 100% of their preflop raising range a good % of the time. i will often call a c-bet with a small overpair because a common leak in these games (IMO) is that people do not fire a 2nd-barrel without a made hand. if the turn blanks and he fires again, we can confidently fold what is almost surely the 2nd best hand. if he checks, he almost always has missed completely, and will fold to a turn bet very often. obviously all of these parameters are not met very often, so we will not be floating very often. even used sparingly, this will add nicely to your winrate with small pairs and help make up for the times you miss your set/dont get paid when you hit your set. this should usually be done against ABC TAGs who will not often get tricky on us postflop, and should almost always be done from in position

2) check/raising scary flops- this applies more to playing small-medium pairs from the blinds. if a TAG or even LAG raises from LP, we cannot call with a small pair for set value because they will not stack off often enough to give us proper implied odds. by nature, this means they will often have low suited cards or small-medium pairs themselves. so when we call from the blinds with 44 and the flop comes A73 rainbow, we can expect villain to c-bet 100% of their raising range in a HU pot a large % of the time. because they opened in LP, their range is fairly wide and often whiffs this board completely. if we check/raise this flop occasionally, ABC players will usually fold all pps that dont have a set, often including JJ-KK, SCs, and KQ,KJ,QJ type hands. note that because we are OOP, we should be extra sure villain will not get tricky on us before attempting this, and we should do this even less often than floating.

Please remember that these plays should be used very sparingly (even more so at micro-stakes, where players are more liable to slowplay made hands postflop, and are also more exploitable in many other ways). IMO though, having these plays in your arsenal is a great way to add a ptbb/100 or so to your winrate , while at the same time giving you the added advantage of those nitty raisers who dont want to stack off thinking you are FOS on occasion when you do hit your set.

[Jurrr]

Good post, dirtysanchez, much appreciated.

When you checkraise as in 2), is it a pot sized checkraise (raise to "pot + 3*his_raise") or less?

Opponents with what stats would you second-barrel if you are the PFR? I always find that I don't like 2nd barelling the tight opponents as they may have a good hand and also don't like 2nd barelling the loose opponents as they will call me down with middle pair. This is definitely a leak of mine.

[dirtysanchez]

[ QUOTE ]
Good post, dirtysanchez, much appreciated.

When you checkraise as in 2), is it a pot sized checkraise (raise to "pot + 3*his_raise") or less?

Opponents with what stats would you second-barrel if you are the PFR? I always find that I don't like 2nd barelling the tight opponents as they may have a good hand and also don't like 2nd barelling the loose opponents as they will call me down with middle pair. This is definitely a leak of mine.

[/ QUOTE ]

as far as c/r size, i dont think you need to pot it to get your point agross, just over 3X his raise will accomplish the same thing, and will need to work slightly less often to be +EV.

as far as 2nd barreling, i would just look to do it occasionally vs someone who calls c-bets a lot, specifically on a rag flop when an A or K hits the turn. it will fold out a lot of pairs that called the flop b/c they put you on missed high cards.