Hey guys,

I have a general preflop question regarding medium pocket pairs which you should be open raising from early position (like 55/66/77/88/99).

What do you do getting a standard sized reraise?
Just one example to make clear what I am talking about:



Do you think calling the reraise against bad players is still profitable especially on micro stakes or would you rather fold OOP?
I just always have the feeling I loose those type of hands OOP if I do not hit my set (which includes good implied odds especially on this low level against weaker opponents).
I feel in general not that comfortable playing OOP.

Do you call the reraise from the SB/BB if you have position on him?


Really interested how you play these hands.

Depends which position 3-bets, tendencies of that villain, and the sizing used. FWIW, 77 is the bottom of my default calling range in the spot in your hand history. I think it's basically a breakeven spot, so I sometimes call and sometimes fold. I wouldn't call with 66/55 unless villain has specifically exploitable leaks. 77 should be fine vs a BTN 3-bet, but not fine vs MP, as his 3-betting range should be a bit stronger.
If the blinds 3-bet, I call with all pairs in my UTG range. Position makes realizing your equity (often getting your hand to showdown) much easier.

what does your UTG opening range look like? if u open 55+, JTs+, Axs+, KQo+, AJo+ from this position then I would suggest folding 77 and continuing with 88 or 99 + and folding 77, unless you are sure you can get a lot of value if you flop a set playing versus a fish.
If you are opening a bit wider like 22+, J9s+, Axs+, KQo+, AJo+ then 77 should be a call and 55 or 66 folds.

The easiest and best play at micros IMO is to just fold. Lots of micro players have low 3bet percentages, and when they do 3bet, they barrel flop and turn a lot. There's just no good way to play the hand when you're facing the prospect of calling down multiple streets vs a tight range.

Even against wider solid 3bet ranges you can still usually start out by folding a lot. Our opponent having more suited broadway type hands doesn't really add much value to our pocket pairs since we're merely flipping there.

We only really need to start calling when our opponent is just wacky or is deliberately using a wide range to exploit us. We should also strongly consider just 4betting (folding to 5bet) if that is the case in order to move out hands we're flipping against. But we obviously shouldn't do that if our opponent is capable of making some light 5bets. Vs some players you have to choice but to just call and uncomfortably play out a lot of boards.

This is a very good reply, but let me explain something very important...

Arty has described what his default calling range is, and when he says default, one would expect that he means his balanced range.

Now... Balancing pre-flop massively restricts the profits we stand to make. Especially against weaker players. In this hand we're against the weakest of players and so the balanced option is almost completely useless. Imo, it's actually worse than useless to somebody in the micro games.

And so, although I think arty's answer is the most insightful here, I expect that even he realises that balancing is damaging to you in these low games. It is arguable that keeping in your mind a default balanced range is good so as to give you a point of reference, but, I have reasoned that memorising balanced plays also makes it far more difficult for you to develop your understanding of the game. It stumps your growth. Which is a major disaster for a micro stakes player. I hope arty will take this into consideration next time he advises low level players.

To me, it's McNasty's advice which wins him the crown here.

I think that folding to the 3bet is a good idea against these low players as standard. If we're deep or have some specific information on this opponent which leads us to do otherwise then of corse, do adjust accordingly... However... when we play exploitative poker we can do anything!! And so I would definitely advise a limp as standard in EP with those weak PP's. This way we are able to call happily.