How much to call with low-mid pair?

[saints]

When someone raises with what could be a big pair, how many times the big blind should you call with a 6.5 to 1 chance of hitting trips? Im finding it hard to fold mid-small pairs just incase I hit trips but I don't think it's profitable. Any Ideas?

[GaF]

Re: How much to call with low-mid pair? I'm assuming you're talking cash games, and not tournaments - so deep stacked.... It can only be a judgement call - that on AVERAGE you will get paid off (isn't it a little higher than 6.5-1? :unsure) enough by this opponent.... So the raiser HAS to be deep stacked.... Typically I'm happy calling a standard raise up to about 5xBB... Do you have PokerTracker or Poker Office? You can soon see if it is profitable. Of course the way to play them would be completely different in a tourney.....

[robilaruk]

Re: How much to call with low-mid pair?

When someone raises with what could be a big pair, how many times the big blind should you call with a 6.5 to 1 chance of hitting trips? Im finding it hard to fold mid-small pairs just incase I hit trips but I don't think it's profitable. Any Ideas?

its its cash - is it full or short tables - that also makes a difference similarly if its a tounry - you want a full table and be calling late for pot odds, as long as it is not too much of your stack Damo

[NafYepmop]

Re: How much to call with low-mid pair? Heres an article that i found on playing small pp's

The key to playing these hands are the implied odds, these are related to pot odds and include the odds that the pot will offer once all the betting rounds have taken place. Take a no-limit hold’em game with $1/$2 blinds for example, one player to your right with a $200 stack has raised 3x BB, your on the button for you to call your pot odds are 6 to 9, your calling $6 to win $9. Assuming the blinds fold your implied odds however can be anything up to 6 to 203 your calling $6 and you have the opportunity to win the rest of the raisers stack. However if your stack size is smaller than the raisers you can only win the amount of your sack.

When it comes to playing small to medium pocket pairs you need to take into account table stack sizes, your position, the way the tables playing and the playing styles of the players involved. - The stack sizes of other players are very important, small-medium pocket pairs are played as drawing hands drawing to trips, boats or quads. The chances of your pair increasing trips on the flop is about 7.5 to 1 therefore in order to justify your call you need implied odds of more than 7.5 to 1. Using a $1/$2 NLH example, if you were just to call every time you would need to win at least $15 when you connect to break even, not taking into account when you are out drawn when u do connect. You therefore shouldn’t play these hands against people with short stacks, as they can’t offer you the correct implied odds to justify calling. - If you’re in late position you can observe how the majority of the table has played before you act. You can see what players are going to be involved in the pot and use that to choose your action. You can also use their actions post flop to size your bet or raise. - At a passive table where there is often not much raising pre-flop then your position becomes slightly less significant as the sandwich effect doesn’t come into play as its less likely that someone is going to raise. - The playing styles of players involved is important in your decision making, ideally you want to be playing the pot against a player that is loose aggressive post flop as they will be more likely to offer you the implied odds that you need.

The action that you take pre-flop is dependant upon the risk that you wish to take. Bigger pre-flop pots usually equal bigger post-flop pots, if you were to limp every time and be up against 3 or 4 players then the pre-flop pot in a $1/$2 NLH game would be $8-$10 with a post flop pot of about $20-$25. Where as if you were to raise 4xBB and get 1 or 2 callers the pot would be $16-$24 with a post flop pot of around $32-$48. Therefore raising pre-flop increases your risk but increases your reward.