[Ixnert]

This is the single situation I hate the most -- 11-14 BBs, small pair (though this is the top end of what I'd consider a small pair), UTG or UTG+1, blinds getting high. I hate open-limping for almost 10% of my stack (and playing almost 10% of my stack for set value seems very suspect), I don't like raising ~3 BB with a pair that's going to be a coinflip or worse against almost anything that calls, I won't have room for gathering much more information after the flop. But I REALLY hate folding, especially with a pair as high as sevens.

My default play here is to raise (usually a straight 3BB), with the occasional fold and hardly ever limping, if I don't have any solid reads on the table (if I've been mostly paying attention to other tables). Though I think if I had doubts about my ability to play it post-flop (because of lack of reads, feeling like I'm not playing my best, or whatever), this is one of those marginal situations where I wouldn't lose much by just avoiding the issue and folding, especially since I'm fairly comfortable going to 75/150 with an 8-9 BB stack.