How do you play mid Pocket Pairs?

[LakersFreak]

I usually find myself limping in with pocket 7s, 8s, 9s, etc. and getting beat by a queen king flop everytime, with sets rarely coming up. Should I play more aggresively, raising max pre-flop to let only 1-2 people see the flop, then betting big again after the flop?

Any answers would help, thanks.

[bisonbison]

Come to microlimits. We'll learn ya.

[krazyace5]

If you play low limits, no one is gonna fold no matter what you do, so keep limping and trying to hit your sets.

[CORed]

The answer is -- You guessed it -- It depends on your opponents. If a preflop raise gets 4 callers you will still need to flop a set to win most of the time and you will be paying twice as much to see the flop.

If a preflop raise will get you heads up most of the time, raising preflop is good. You should also take position into account. If you are first in in late position, raise. You might steal the blind (this is a good thing with mid pocket pairs), or end up heads up. If you raise pocket 8's UTG, it is a lot more likely that you will get multiple callers, or, even worse, get three-bet by a bigger pocket pair. If you have more than one limper in front of you, limp behind: You will seldom get the limpers to fold for one more bet. In a loose-passive game, with lots of people seeing the flop, there is nothing wrong with playing for the set, and folding if you don't hit it. You will only hit about 1 time in 8, but you will get paid enough when you do hit to make it profitable. Remember that middle or bottom set can be one of your best money-makers. You will often get lots of action from one or more top pairs, and set-over-set is rare enough you shouldn't worry too much about it.

Post-flop, if there are three or more players in, you should nearly always fold if you miss your set and there are two overcards to your pair. You can often bet or raise the flop with one overcard, but be prepared to fold if you meet much resistance. If you are lucky enough to end up with an overpair, go for it.

[DeeJ]

I also dislike mid pocket pairs, 77 to TT really. The number of times you're stuck with the single overcard decision against a single betting opponent sucks, such as having 88 and a K62 flop. The decision is easier out of position, because I'm betting into it. If I'm raised I'm likely folding. If I'm called I see the turn for a single bet and take it from there. It's when I'm bet into it's tough. 2 opponents betting into me and I'm folding. One bet into me with 1 or 2 behind it's tough. 3 or more behind I'm probably gone (too much chance of a K).

Even if a single opponent is tight, he could easily be betting AQ or 77 which you are ahead of, but often he's betting a K which you aren't.

People have said you should try to see the turn cheaply before giving up, but even then I'm having trouble seeing the best course with a single overcard and single betting opponent.

Everything else CORed said I pretty much agree with.

But I'm always praying to hit the set on the flop, or the turn. What is best is to have a board pair with a 3 flush on the turn/river so you can crash your boat into the nut flush [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

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If you raise pocket 8's UTG, it is a lot more likely that you will get multiple callers,

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I find raising UTG clears out players fast because I'm fairly tight. Maybe I should throw in the occasional 99/TT/88 raise UTG to change things up a bit.

[SinCityGuy]

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Maybe I should throw in the occasional 99/TT/88 raise UTG to change things up a bit.

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TT and 99 shouldn't be raised occasionally UTG. They should be raised almost all of the time.

[csuf_gambler]

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Maybe I should throw in the occasional 99/TT/88 raise UTG to change things up a bit.

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TT and 99 shouldn't be raised occasionally UTG. They should be raised almost all of the time.

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no

[twolf]

If I'm not mistaken you're talking about NL and in NL you should play these hands for set value and release them if they don't hit. If you raise 77's and up in NL in early position and got reraised you would feel sick, try to see them as cheap as possible.

If you are talking about limit raise 8's and up against 2 limpers max but 1 is more ideal. At low limits I doubt this will work but you don't mention if it's NL or limit or what limits. If you get a scary flop check and fold or bet until somebody lets you know that you are beat.

[DeeJ]

At full tables, with tightish players? I will raise TT more often than not, but less so 88 UTG, neither 100% of the time. But if I'm seeing a J or Q or K or A on the flop, with 3 or 4 to the flop, I'm likely behind. This happens often. With an AKx or AQx or KJx flop, I'm hating it so I also want to get in cheaply. You aren't pushing a strong Ace/King hand out of an TopPair flop.

Having said that, Abdul does go down to 99 so maybe I am too tight here. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[Webster]

Shouldn't even be playing anything but QQ UTG.