Samll pair on the BB, after a raise.

[Roadstar]

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Hello,

Say I'm on the BB with a small pair. There is one raise and 4 or more callers before it gets to me.

According to WLLH (ed II) I should call as I'm getting good enough odds to draw for trips. (11:1 Vs 8:1)

However, my own thinking has me concerned that anyone else with a higher pair is also getting the same odds and is just a likely to hit trips as I am and just because I hit trips doesn't mean that someone else didn't hit higher trips. The two events are not mutually exclusive.

I understand that if I hit trips it means that there is one less card for anyone else to make trips with but that still leaves two cards.

Surely this possibility has to be factored into consideration. My question is how do people do this?

It is a case of wanting much better pot odds before you call a raise on the BB with a small PP?

Do you call anyway then watch how play unfolds? (This seems a way to trap yourself to me.)

Any insights appreciated.

-Jim

P.S. This is only my second post and my flame suit is at the dry cleaners (don't ask) so please take it easy if I'm asking a dumb question.

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Good question. Quick answer is easy call your odds justify it. Your concern can be generally considered weak tight - you can't fear monsters under the bed too much (particularly in a limit hold'em game).

To quantify this, lets say you are flipping a coin. Heads will come up 50% of the time.
If I'm flipping a coin at the same time, the chances both of us flip heads is
50%*50% = 25% (it could be HH, HT, TT, TH)

Using this logic, you can apply it to flopping an underset. The chances of flopping a set is about 7:1 or lets round to 15%. If someone also has a pocket pair (which you aren't sure of, but lets assume), he also has a 15% chance of flopping it.

BOTH of you flop sets together then is 15%*15%, which is 2.25%. This means its rare and you can't really worry about what happens 2.25% of the time. Focus on the other 97.75% of the time. (read ignore that fear for the most part).

Plus, post flop action would give you an idea what villain may have. While folding a set will generally be difficult absent rock solid reads, hyperaggression would at least slow you down and minimize your losses.

Hope this helps!