Playing Small Pocket Pairs Preflop in 6-Max No-Limit Hold’em

How much should I worry to run into an overset in case I hit my set? If there are no draws possible and yet my opponent(s) calls or bets/raises, are there any situations when to consider a fold?

Top pair, two pairs, maybe a lower set and of course a bluff are all possibilities where I am ahead, so I usually ignore aggression and hope for the best. But maybe that’s wrong?

Greyzy

Greyzy,

The “classic” answer, e.g. in Gordon’s Little Green Book, is just to consider set-over-set so rare that you don’t even think about it.

PNL mentions in a footnote that set-over-set can destroy the implied odds for small pairs if you’re very deep. I would imagine that at stacks of 250BBL or more it’s at least a salient factor to consider. So you might still play 22-55 preflop when the time’s right but not be quite so eager to get stacks in if the hand is really deep.

Also you should consider if your opponent is a known set-miner, who’s playing little else besides pocket pairs.

Playing Small Pocket Pairs Preflop in 6-Max No-Limit Hold’em…

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[...] Julho 6, 2008 Playing Small Pocket Pairs Preflop in 6-Max No-Limit Hold’em [...]

What adjustments need to be made for a full ring game? Can you limp/call small pp’s in EP to setmine profitably or is it better to either raise or fold these hands from EP?