Calling down with small PP's to overcards

[SA125]

Here's a situation that makes me wonder about the EV of it all. You're h/u with a small-mid (22-TT) PP, faced with paint on the flop in a raised pot and you were the caller.

I'm not sure if position matters here, like whether you called out of a blind or coldcalled and now have position. I think how aggressively you play it matters more than position.

The reason being if you're ahead and just call down, I don't think you'll ever make up the bets you lose when you're behind and do the same.

So I think the question is how EV are small-mid PP's when faced against a raiser and paint hits the flop. Any ideas as to whether just calling down or getting aggressive and folding to playback as the better course?

[J.R.]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure if position matters here, like whether you called out of a blind or coldcalled and now have position. I think how aggressively you play it matters more than position.

[/ QUOTE ]

come again?

how about who your opponent is, how they play, what he might expect you to have, what you estimate he may have, pot size, the board, etc.

don't coldcall small pairs headup, btw.

[SA125]

[ QUOTE ]
come again?

how about who your opponent is, how they play, what he might expect you to have, what you estimate he may have, pot size, the board, etc.

don't coldcall small pairs headup, btw.

[/ QUOTE ]

I appreciate the response. It's very hard to make a brief and concise post on a subject with, as you point out, such a wide range of variables. So I tried to narrow it down to the basic question.

My point about position was if you're in check/call or check if bet to mode, you'll always come out a loser because you're reacting to the other hand and paying when you're beat and checking when ahead. That's where the question of being aggressive comes in.

I don't play small-mid PP's anywhere near the way I seem they played. Routinely coldcalled and called down. I don't see how that can be profitable. I just see it done so much and how others, like TSTONEMBD, refer to them as such big winners.

I'm winning with them, but from playing them much more conservatively than the way I see them played a lot. Like being the first coldcaller and calling it down with an A,K on board.

[sweetjazz]

The nature of the betting structure in limit HE allows for profitably calling down with mid or low PPs in certain situations.

Let's say you limp UTG with 55, it's folded to someone in MP who raises, folded around to you (blinds both fold), and you call. For simplicity let's us assume that the small blind is collected as the rake. So there are 2.5 BBs in the pot at this point. It will cost you 2.5 BB at most to call down, so you'll be getting 2-to-1 on your money to call down.

Now's when the work begins. You see the flop, you should have some idea of MPs range of holdings, and some idea for how he plays postflop.

There are some obvious extremes. Suppose the raiser is tight preflop, raising less than 5% of his starting hands. The flop comes AK7 rainbow. This is an easy check-fold.

Suppose the raiser is loose, raising about 15% of his starting hands. He tends to go much to far with his hands post flop. The flop comes 963 with a two-flush on board. I'd check-raise this flop, and I'd be planning on showing my hand down.

In general, I'm willing to be aggressive with small pairs for one of two reasons.
(1) If the pot is big and my opponent will fold with just overcards, I'll often you look to check-raise the turn. If he knew all I had was a small PP, he might have the odds to try to catch. Suppose I have 55 against such an opponent and the board on the turn is 9963. I like check-raising the turn here because (1) I have greater fold equity against overcards b/c he may fear that I have trips -- he might even lay down a higher PP here, such as 88; (2) if he has overcards, he has three hidden outs (the other 6s) to beat me. OTOH, I'm less inclined to try this move if he's willing to 3-bet me with AK here.
(2) The board is favorable and I am playing against a player who is much too loose and aggressive postflop. If he likes to push overcards and draws any time he is heads up, I'm glad to cap the flop if the board is mostly low cards. As the action reaches later streets, I'm assessing how likely I can get him to fold. If the chances are low, I'm going to be check-calling at a certain point, as I assume he will slow down faster with the hand I beat than with the ones I don't. OTOH, if he respects my aggression, I may look to get one more raise in on the turn to try to induce a fold. This can be delicate, as I needed to be prepared for the possibility of a 3-bet, and I must assess the likelihood that he would 3-bet with a worse hand.