Medium Pocket Pairs in 50NL 6max

[FourNickel]

Alright heres the situation: your in the cut off or button with 66,77, or 88. 2 or 3 limpers, do you raise and try to get top pair or call for set value? Which do you think is more profitable and what variables do you consider?

[webmonarch]

Depends. Sometimes I will mini-raise to get more value for a potential set, and to "take control" of the hand (so hopefully people check to me, allowing me a potential free card) and will be prepared to bet on a flop that doesn't look dangerous.

[amoeba]

with several limpers, I like caling or set.

eliminating players preflop only kills my implied odds as the possibility of somebody else hitting a second best hand to the set becomes much less likely.

its basically whether you want to win a big pot occasionally or win multiple small pots more often.

but if this is a table at which opponents don't lay down top pair mediocre kickers easily then i think you have a problem with raising preflop.