Re: Raising small pairs on the button for set value. (theory)
I'm probably the wrong person to ask, since I don't think I've ever raised a hand like 33 on the Button after a bunch of limpers.
Anyway, though, your odds against flopping a set are about 7.5:1. If you're just playing for set value (and against a large field, you pretty much are), building the pot preflop cuts into your implied odds, since your larger initial investment against the odds gives you more bets to make up postflop. The size of the pot will encourage people to stay in, though, which will assist you in making up bets (though you will sometimes also flop a set and then get outdrawn).
After you raise, sometimes you'll get checked to on the flop and get a free look at the turn.
And, occasionally, the pot will be so big that you'll want to draw to your set on the turn even if you don't get checked to. (Sometimes your preflop raise will tie you to the pot this way.)
Anyway, I think the raise you're talking about is a legitimate play that I pretty much never make.
|