Making showdown with A-high or small pairs

My WTSD% is low, the low 30s. Always has been. At lower levels, even SH, that didn't bother me. When seeing the flop with 4-5 other people, folding the occasional A-high winner seemed rare enough that I'd rather fold than spew.

Now I'm at 5/10 and 10/20. HU and 3-way are more common and I think I need to get to showdown with these hands. The question is when. What kinds of boards am I looking for? Boards with heavy draws? Boards with no draws and little paint? I can find reasons to to argue with myself either way... Draw heavy, if I'm not beat, I'm likely to be beat. No draw, they can't be drawing, so I must be beat. I can talk myself into wimping out on any board [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Am I looking more at the type of player? Get to showdown with high aggro types? Should I be check-calling more with those types?

In position, I often fire the flop and turn and check behind on the river. The main problem is when I'm OOP. OOP I fire the flop, the turn....and can I really value bet AQ on the river? If the villian raised the flop or turn, is there really much chance I'm ahead and should see showdown?

It's tough because the pots are smaller and the bets to see showdown are large in relation to the pot size. Being wrong can dent your BB/100 in a hurry. On the flip side, I think I'm leaving bets on the table...

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Being wrong can dent your BB/100 in a hurry. On the flip side, I think I'm leaving bets on the table...

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If you run a "low low 30s" WTSD at 10/20 you're going to get massacered. I suggest that, rather than find reasons not to, you find every reason to take high card / any pair hands to showdown HU. If you have trouble getting the hang of it and it knicks your winrate for a while, so be it. If you continue as is you'll never learn and run as a breakeven to small winner player indefinately.

Ace high is a strong hand HU on most boards.