$6.6 NL HE MTT: Learn from the opponents - how to (not) play a small pair

[fundiver199]

Game

Hold'em

Game Format

No Limit

Table Format

MTT

Buy-in

6.6

Game Options

1. Turbo

Currency

$

This one is mostly for LOLs. It would have been reasonably for the opponent to limp preflop and then jam over my raise. But if you are going to see a flop with a small pair, when you have an effective stack of 22BB, then you probably dont want to turn your hand into a no-equity bluff, when you miss your set. As for me I was obviously like... hmm I guess call?

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[primrose]

Hot Take: this hand is not that poorly played. A raise from the BB could absolutely be nothing; I raise with nothing from the BB all the time. Even if it is a strong hand, it could be a pocket pair between 99 and QQ, or AQ or AJ. And after the check-raise on the flop, the jam on the turn has to work only around 40% of the time; at this point you just hope that you have the K and go for it.

I'm not saying it's a well-played hand -- a lot of risk that he didn't need to take -- but I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as, e.g., the AA hand you've shared.

 

[fundiver199]

I'm not saying it's a well-played hand -- a lot of risk that he didn't need to take -- but I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as, e.g., the AA hand you've shared.

Thats a fair point, but there are many other hands than small pairs, we can pick as bluffs. A small pair could still be ahead on the flop, so at least in my opinion a more reasonable line would be to check-call and then make a decision on the turn. But small pairs play so poorly postflop with a low SPR, that for me its an easy limp-jam preflop. Or if BB is someone, who almost never raise, then maybe even a limp-fold.

 

[puzzlefish]

Thats a fair point, but there are many other hands than small pairs, we can pick as bluffs. A small pair could still be ahead on the flop, so at least in my opinion a more reasonable line would be to check-call and then make a decision on the turn. But small pairs play so poorly postflop with a low SPR, that for me its an easy limp-jam preflop. Or if BB is someone, who almost never raise, then maybe even a limp-fold.

I thought that way too but recently I've been running into overpairs that would probably have folded from pressure had I seen the flop and cbet, so now I am second guessing my pre-flop jams.