tiny pocket pair in blind - trouble changing gears

[DeuceKicker]

I'm trying to transition from limit to NL tournies, and am having a problem with passivity.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t300 (5 handed)

Button has a small chip lead but has been bullying.

SB (t1170)
Hero (t1860)
UTG (t1905)
MP (t485)
Button (t2580)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 3/images/graemlins/club.gif, 3/images/graemlins/diamond.gif.
UTG folds, MP folds, <font color="CC3333">Button raises to t600</font>, SB folds, Hero???

But the min raise is fairly new coming from him. Up to the hand before this he'd been going all-in. The only time he min-raised and showed down was with a small pocket pair.

So I'm thinking he's got something like 1) Jack-high and doesn't want to throw a lot of chips into a blind steal; 2) A small/mid pocket pair; 3) a monster. In two of these three cases I'm probably dominated, in the third I'm a very small favorite.

The problem is that unless I flop a set I keep saying, "Is this the hand I want to go out with?" The result is I keep getting blinded down so low that when I finally get dealt QQ (and congratulate myself for not panicking, and waiting for a premium hand) my stack is so low that everybody thinks it's a desperation raise and I get three callers (and the inevitable suck-out or overcard pairs up).

So in this case I'm thinking my options are to push in and risk finishing 5th, or fold and wait for two others to go out.

[chill888]

Personally,

FOLD IT IN YOUR SLEEP.

Small pairs are NOT calling hands. BEST case you are a coin toss. Worst case you are 4-1 dog (versus higher pair).

Players that PUT opponents on 2 big cards and figure 22 or 33 is thus a great hand are crazy and losing players.

If you call --- the winners are the players not involved in the hand

gl

[ilya]

I don't think this is a good place to make a stand. Yes, you are short relative to the blinds...but not relative to any of the other players except maybe the button. Also, since you've just paid your big blind, you have some time to look for a better spot. Also, as chill888 said, a tiny pair is generally a bad hand to call raises with. If the blinds were 100/200, and the button was an agressive flop player, I'd say call and try to catch a set, knowing that he'll bet it for you. But not here. I'm not even sure that open-pushing with a tiny pair with these stacks/blinds is a good idea, never mind re-raising.

[ChrisV]

It hurts a little, but you have to just fold this one. You're better off running a steal next hand with random cards than taking a stand here.