trying to improve my game... thanks for any help and opinions in advance.
im having trouble deciding what to do with small/mid pocket pairs with relatively large blinds. do you guys recommend shoving, raising or simply folding and why? i posted some hand histories as examples of the situation im having trouble with.
Full Tilt Poker $2 + $0.25 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t80/t160 Blinds - 6 players - View hand 768739
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: t3515 M = 14.65
BB: t4535 M = 18.90
UTG: t1440 M = 6
MP: t1640 M = 6.83
Hero (CO): t1650 M = 6.88
BTN: t720 M = 3

Pre Flop: (t240) Hero is CO with 6 6
2 folds, Hero raises to t320, 2 folds, BB calls t160

Flop: (t720) 7 Q 3 (2 players)
BB bets t200, Hero folds

hand #2
Full Tilt Poker $2 + $0.25 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t80/t160 Blinds - 6 players - View hand 768738
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (UTG): t2450 M = 10.21
MP: t2340 M = 9.75
CO: t3365 M = 14.02
BTN: t2865 M = 11.94
SB: t1185 M = 4.94
BB: t1295 M = 5.40

Pre Flop: (t240) Hero is UTG with 7 7
Hero raises to t320, 3 folds, SB raises to t1185 all in, 1 fold, Hero calls t865

Flop: (t2530) 2 Q 9

Turn: (t2530) 2

River: (t2530) 8

i shove the first hand from the cutoff because you have 10bb...minraising sucks because 66 plays so poorly postflop if you dont hit your set.

in the second hand stack sizes make this really awkward and you are UTG, so i think folding is best - because otherwise you're pretty much turning your hand into a steal IMO.

Hand 1 - Fold or shove. Just over 10 bb from CO, reads on opponents would be nice, tighter they are more I shove, looser the more often I fold here.

Hand 2 - Fold, I always fold here from UTG with blinds this high.

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1) Looks like a standard shove to me
2) Stacks and position makes me wanna fold this

1) Just ship it.

2) I usually fold aswell. But I would raise 88, 88 just looks so much better then 77 to me .

Hand 1: Definitely a push/fold depending on the players yet to act. min raising just leaves you with a really awkward stack to see a flop. lower pocket pairs like 66 also don't flop well so if you are willing to play it just shove.

Hand 2: I fold this everytime bc of position and the playability of your stack.

1/ looks like an easy shove preflop w/ 10 BB

2/ I don't hate a raise depending on the table. I raise just a bit more than minimum, though. Call the shove from the blinds obviously.
That said it's probably neutral EV so folding is also good, might be better if you've been semi-active.

hopefully someone went into the why but hand 1 in a vacuum is a shove and I'm sure in a 9man folding hand 2 is standard unless there are some special table dynamics.

that being said just some friendly advice, you're probably better off not trying to ask general questions like "what to do with medium pocket pairs mid game" and better off just posting a hand-history any time you can't work out what you feel is a good line for that particular hand.

unless im wrong, i think a fold on hand 1 would be bad, 10bb + cutoff, you need to shove this imo

Def this.

ok cool.. thanks guys i appreciate all your help.

um wat Do you mean raise/folding? Surely not open folding? We are 6 handed?

+1. Anything else is kinda awkward/not what we want to do here

RA