Baby pair problems in the money!!

[KHALI]

I wanted some feedback or advice on playing baby pairs either on the bubble or in the money so I have included two examples which I lost because I believe I played them poorly.

Some background: the villian in both hands was LAG and had gone all in or raised with any Ace, or two face cards even hands like J9, Q8 etc.. not only shorthanded but with 6 players to go and sucked out a few times to make it in.

In the first hand is it an easy fold once raised all in? I realized that I probably had the best hand to start with but was a coin toss favourite at best and at worst huge underdog. In this case would you gamble for first and try to bust him out or fold? Would you have pushed preflop? What would your thought process be in relation to stack sizes and already being in the money? Is the gamble worth it?

In the second hand would you push preflop? I feel calling is a weak play here for sure but after the flop should I still follow the no set no bet rule when faced with a call and being bet into?

Any of your more experienced thoughts would be useful to me in my learning process as I am very new to the game. Thanks.

> -----------------------------------------------------
> Game #515962632 (Level VII, Game #6) - 150/300 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2004/06/05-23:04:30 (CST)
> Table "Pikelot" ($10 tournament) -- Seat 3 is the button
> Seat 1: bigblind (2,170.00 in chips)
> Seat 3: Khali (5,250.00 in chips)
> Seat 6: VILLIAN (2,580.00 in chips)
> The Roach: Post Small Blind (150)
> bigblind : Post Big Blind (300)
> Dealing...
> Dealt to Khali [ 3h ]
> Dealt to Khali [ 3s ]
> Khali: Raise (950)
> VILLIAN: Raise (2,430)
> bigblind : Fold
> Khali: Call (1,630)
> *** FLOP *** : [ 7d Kc Tc ]
> *** TURN *** : [ 7d Kc Tc ] [ Ah ]
> *** RIVER *** : [ 7d Kc Tc Ah ] [ Ac ]
> *** SUMMARY ***
> Pot: 5,460 | Board: [ 7d Kc Tc Ah Ac ]
> Khali lost 2,580 (showed hand) [ 3h 3s ] (two pair, aces and threes)
> VILLIAN bet 2,580, collected 5,460, net +2,880 (showed hand) [ Ad Ks ](a full house, aces full of kings)
> -----------------------------------------------------

> Game #515963675 (Level VII, Game #9) - 150/300 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2004/06/05-23:06:14 (CST)
> Table "Pikelot" ($10 tournament) -- Seat 3 is the button
> Seat 1: VILLIAN (2,170.00 in chips)
> Seat 3: Khali (2,670.00 in chips)
> Seat 6: button (5,160.00 in chips)
> The Roach: Post Small Blind (150)
> 19mill : Post Big Blind (300)
> Dealing...
> Dealt to Khali [ 4d ]
> Dealt to Khali [ 4s ]
> Khali: Raise (900)
> button: Fold
> VILLIAN : Call (600)
> *** FLOP *** : [ 7s 5d 8h ]
> VILLIAN : Bet (600)
> Khali: Raise (1,770)
> VILLIAN : Call All-in (670)
> *** TURN *** : [ 7s 5d 8h ] [ Jd ]
> *** RIVER *** : [ 7s 5d 8h Jd ] [ 2h ]
> *** SUMMARY ***
> Pot: 4,490 | Board: [ 7s 5d 8h Jd 2h ]
> VILLIAN bet 2,170, collected 4,490, net +2,320 (showed hand) [ 6c 9c ] (a straight, five to nine)
> Khali bet 2,670, collected 500, net -2,170 (showed hand) [ 4d 4s ] (a
pair of fours)

[Beavis68]

actually, most of the time, I just toss these away 3 hands, blinds are too high, and they just don't hold up well. Last thing I want to do is lose a bunch of chips on 2 2.

But, if you have the chips, a limp is not bad. If you hit a set, you can lay a nice trap for your opponent.

I really do not like your call pre-flop on the first hand. If you are going to call all-in, then I my mind, just push all-in. More likely to get your opponent to fold. But his re-raise shows strenght.

The second one sucks, but why did you re-raise like that? they guy has most of his chips in the pot, so he is committed, and you have a very weak hand. I would rather play two big cards, or A-x then a small pair at this point in the game.

[Michael Davis]

Generally, in situations like this, I think the baby pairs are worth pushing all-in, but not worth calling.

However, if your opponent really is pushing with damn near anything, you've got to make a stand with pairs or he'll eat up your blinds.

-Michael

[Cashcow]

There are very few times that I would play either hand.
Late position with no raises, or in the SB or BB with a small raise. You are pretty much beat with any over card on the board.

I'm a fairly new player myself, but if it cost me very much, I won't play small pairs unless I am head to head, or down to a 3 handed table.