Hey all,

I've tried searching the forums with pretty limited success. I was wondering where I can get some good advice regarding middle pair after the flop where you were the PF aggressor.

Jonathan Little's book advocates raising your premium hands/draws and check/calling your marginal hands.

I'm finding myself in middle pair situations a lot where I have a pocket pair and I've brought it in for a raise. I'll get called by 1 or maybe 2 players acting after me. On the flop there will be an overcard on dry boards (wet boards pose much more danger and the pp is worth less, I get that).

For example: 1/2 live no limit. Both players have 100bb
Hero: JJ in middle position
Villain in CO: Decent player, reasonable activity and bet sizing

Hero raises 3.5bb. CO calls, all others fold
Flop: K,8,6 rainbow.

Hero:

I would call this a marginal hand. It's too good to fold right away, but not a great betting situation. A cbet has merit, but if he raises am I calling this down? If I don't bet and he bets, is this something I continue to call down to a showdown for half my stack? In most scenarios if I'm calling, my PP continues to get worse until I can't even call it marginal and end up folding which I'm sure is negative EV.

I struggle with this spot a lot.

Player dependent of course but this is a clear C-bet. I'd probably bet $15 into a $25 dollar pot.

If he raises I am usually letting it go. Just make sure you are c-betting your top pair type hands as well.

I like check/calling one street vs. unknown opponent on this extremely dry flop. Deciding on turn. If it checks back, I'll bet turn a lot of the time.

Why would you call with 2nd pair if a non-maniac raises you OTF? As far as crafting a line starting with c-betting or checking, do it based on V's frequencies. Does this guy bluff a lot? Take a passive c/c line with a bluff catcher. Does this guy call light? Bet for value.

Overall though, I lean towards checking this. Keeps the pot from getting bloated when we have some showdown value. I'm also never raising this small pre in a 1/2 game.

I feel like if I cbet and he goes overtop then this is a clear fold. Not cbetting is probably a bit weak here too. The tricky part comes if I cbet, he calls and then I check the turn and he bets. OR, if I check, and he bets, and then the same happens on the turn and river. That can get pretty heavy for a middle pair and I'm not sure it's a +EV play at all.

This is a pretty clear check. The hands that fold to a bet had very low equity anyway. You get some value from a bet from other second/bottom pairs and floats, but it’s kind of thin. Your hand is strong enough to check call one or two streets

Great reasons to check flop.

I think that if Jonathan Little was advising, then the answer would be check/call, then check turn if I don't improve and probably fold if he bets again.

x/c flop. If you are worried about being exploited*, then you can check some of your top pair hands, as well as some sets to protect your checking range.

*shouldn't be an issue at 1/2 live