So I'v always thought pockets pairs are nice, if its pocket deuce its mega money if you catch another deuce. I been playing in casino lately and usually try limping in, at stakes of £1/£1. But if someone was to say raise preflop to £4 should I be calling with any pocket pair? If say the board comes 6 , A , 10 and the guys got Aces but I have pocket pair 6's in my hand making it trips I'd get super value on that pot.
How do you guys play your pocket pairs? Is it worth me calling raises pre-flop of say £4?
Depends on stack sizes and the willingness of opponenet to pay you off when you hit. You need to have reason to believe he can pay you off between 10 and 20 times the raise size depending on who you ask in order for the play to be profitable long term. So in your 1/1 game effective stacks need to be a minimum of 40 (60 or more would be better) and you need to feel strongly that villain will stack off with his overpair, TP or 2P hands. See the link for previous discussions. And welcome.
*Grunch*
I usually take a look at the villains stack size. You have to have the implied odds to set mine. If your villain is sitting on say 50bbs it's not really worth it to chase your set because the pay-off isn't worth it. On the other hand if your villain is sitting on a deep stack, for obvious reasons it is worth it. Also PP's play very well multi-way because it is a lot more likely that when you hit your set that one of the villains hit part of the board also and you are usually sitting in a great position. When the set does come in I tend to play them very fast. Bet Bet Bet. When you are ahead, especially in small stakes, don't slow play them. Villains at these stakes will not lay down TP no matter how much aggression and also chase draws way too far so get as much value as possible. Lastly if the raise is too much and you are OOP, don't try it unless you have a good read. PP play great IP, MW... so don't over-value them with raises and re-raises etc.
But basically you should call if you will be able to win 20x+ the amount you have to call and there is low likelihood of someone re-raising after you act. So limp for 1, there is a raise to 4, you need to have the raiser (and any other callers) have 60+ behind combined to start being able to set mine. That's the min, more is obviously better.
Good players in bigger games generally raise PPs, but in 1-2 I just limp in with most of them, then see if the raise will allow me to prifitably set mine. I go by 15 times the bet size in effect stacks as my guideline.
