Small Pocket Pairs in the blinds (theory discussion)

[Larimani]

I've been looking through my PT data and have realised that I'm losing money with 66, 55, 44, 33, 22.

I've been trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong & I have a suspect. I think I play small PP correctly in position but I think I'm messing up OOP...

The question is what do you do with a small pocket pair in the blinds when facing a pre-flop raise (no limpers. no cold callers). I know there are many factors to consider here but it's those factors that I'd like to discuss...

[Mercman572]

against someone that raises far too much and a PFR>5 BB I fold it. If a player is overly weaktight but has a wide range preflop I also fold it. My theory being that he's often not raising solid hands he wants to showdown and I can't stack him nearly enough to make this preflop call profitable.

I have found that PP's under 6 are usually losers in EP when you are facing a PFR. You don't hit the set that often (1 to 7) and when you don't it is usually a check fold. I don't think the implied odds are that great either for your hand unless you hit a nice flop that hits his hand as well.

[Larimani]

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I have found that PP's under 6 are usually losers in EP when you are facing a PFR. You don't hit the set that often (1 to 7) and when you don't it is usually a check fold. I don't think the implied odds are that great either for your hand unless you hit a nice flop that hits his hand as well.

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with <50BB stacks that's my thoughts as well... Is this the general consensus? Any reference from trusted 2+2 authors / high-limit players?

[Fallen Hero]

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I have found that PP's under 6 are usually losers in EP when you are facing a PFR. You don't hit the set that often (1 to 7) and when you don't it is usually a check fold. I don't think the implied odds are that great either for your hand unless you hit a nice flop that hits his hand as well.

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with <50BB stacks that's my thoughts as well... Is this the general consensus? Any reference from trusted 2+2 authors / high-limit players?

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6max or full?

[Larimani]

6-max

[Mercman572]

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with <50BB stacks that's my thoughts as well... Is this the general consensus? Any reference from trusted 2+2 authors / high-limit players?

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yawwwn...this has been discussed ad naseum. the ciaffone 5/10 rule for drawing hands is the accepted standard. if you are facing a raise less than 5% of your stack its an easy call, more than 10% it's an easy fold. between that use your judgement. you hit a set 12% of the time, this is why the rule works, you are putting a rule of thumb judgement of the implied odds for the hand. If you call for 10% of your stack you must stack the opponent every time you hit for it to be a profitable preflop call.

[Larimani]

Mercman,

I know the 5-10 rule... I have been using it until now - I just wonder whether it works out of position as well... It just seems to me that it's real hard to stack someone with a set when OOP... so what percentage of the stack would you call? 5%? or less?

i normally fold with anything less then 66 vs a raise, unless SB or Button raises me, i go with my reads. If no one raises i limp in and take it from there.

[Morrek]

Sets are pretty much the easiest hands to play out of position, if you're losing with them you probably don't have a big enough sample size.