Quote:
Originally Posted by Unguarded
I almost always play any pocket pair for 2 bets once 2 players have entered the pot. I def cold-call here with 77 or 22.
Cold-calling here lets the big blind in for cheap, and then here we are playing a four-way pot in both worst absolute position and worst relative position to the opener. Even if the big blind folds, we are in that same spot three-handed.
If we call, we are risking 1.5 SB (0.75 BB) in a pot that will likely contain 7 to 9 SB, depending on whether or not the big blind comes along. To profit we will need to make up 4 to 5 BB in postflop action
on average if we spike our set.
In games with a two-chip/four-chip blind structure I incline towards folding my weaker pocket pairs and three-betting with my stronger ones. (In a two-chip/three-chip game like 6-12 or 15-30, there is rather more incentive to cold-call often in the small blind.) The only question is the strength of the pocket pair on the borderline, the pair for which we are indifferent between 3-betting and folding. I would guess it to be somewhere around 88 or 99. I
think 77 is too weak, but I could easily be convinced I am wrong.
I am sure that this has been solved; but the people who have run the preflop LHE solves generally are not talking.