Isolate LAG w/ 77

[Aaron W.]

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This is a good example for a conceptual question I've been meaning to ask:

In these situations (middle pair with showdown value versus an opponent who's usually either crushing us or has 6 outs), there's competing desires to
1) get to showdown cheaply, and
2) also avoid giving cheap cards to an opponent with many possible outs.

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When you're going to showdown against a LAG, you don't care about giving up cheap cards and you don't care about hand protection. You're worried only about the showdown value of your hand. If he has 6 outs, you're not going to make it incorrect for him to call, and if you raise, he might just slow down with his overcards (which is bad for you -- you want him throwing money in the pot with overcards). I want the LAG to keep betting and believing that he's somehow in control of the situation.

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Generally, if I can be more sure I'm ahead I usually raise/check-raise the flop here. If I'm more sure I'm beat, I give up the cheap cards and call down.

But at what point does our hand become strong enough to protect? How much equity do we need to raise here? Given that the pot size is pretty similar in all the situations, it seems like there's probably a pretty solid number we need before we should think about protecting our hand.

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How hard you push your hand depends on how hard villain is willing to push. If he's going to blindly bet down any hand, I'll raise any pair. If he's going to bet down any pair, I'll raise mid pair with a good kicker and better.