Small & Medium Pairs

Based on a short discussion I had with Flyboy last week, I've been thinking about how to play small and medium pocket pairs. Specifically, I've been pondering the "ideal" conditions to set mine with said pairs. Here's a few things to consider:

• Deep Stacks. The deeper the effective stack size, the better. A good rule of thumb is the 5%/10% rule (if the bet call size is less than 5% of your stack, you should call to set mine; if it's greater than 10%, you should probably fold; if it's in between, you have to look at other factors. A lot of people (myself included) often use a similar rule called the 15x rule; i.e., if the effective stack to call ratio is greater than 15:1, you should probably make the call.

• Multiway=Good. Said simply, the more players in the pot, the better your implied odds. If players are loose and passive at your table, the chances of a multiway hand increases.This means you can profitably play more EP small pairs.

• Squeezers=Bad. Before cold calling with your 44, you need to look at the tendencies of the players downstream of you. If you have villains with high 3bet numbers on the button on in the blinds, you might consider folding.

• Initial Raiser's Range. If the initial raiser has a tight preflop raising range, the chances that he has a hand that will pay you off when you hit increase. Said another way, the lower the villain's VPIP, the better.

• Initial Raiser's Aggression. We generally want an aggro villain who will either a) try to blow you off the pot with air; or b) try to bloat the pot with his TPTK-type hands. Passive players, especially those out of position, are tougher to get to pay off.

• Position. The later our position, the better. This is because position allows us an easier time manipulating pot sizes when we hit our sets, and makes it easier to decide what to do when we miss the board looks dry and safe.

• Our Ability to Fold Post-Flop. This is the corollary to the previous bullet (Position). We shouldn't be playing hands like 44 and 66 if we're not confident in our abilities to fold postflop when we miss. You have to remember why you entered the hand in the first place. If you forget, your hand can easily turn into an RIO (Reverse Implied Odds) hand.

All-in for now...

-Bug