First when I noticed the new cash game tables on PS I was drawn to the 250 buy in ante tables because Bigger BB ratio should mean bigger skill advantage. I shortly realized I wasn't the only one who though so and found my self at very Tight Aggressive full ring tables. This was still profitable for me but unsatisfying at the same time because I felt there should be better BB/100 at this buy in level. Interestingly enough, after looking at my PT stats, the majority of my money made at this new buy in came from BB steals as opposed to winning big pots. This is probably because after about 500 hands I really loosened my opening requirements for steal attempts. After about 2500 hands I had made $27 when opening pots with a raise and made about $15 where I called or raised all in. (obviously this is a smallish sample but I think it will hold true with a larger sample)
After my testing at these new tables I then went to the other extreme 20-50 6 -max. The first thing I noticed was the dynamic of set mining. In most cases calling a raise with a small pocket pair in the hopes of hitting a set is almost always wrong. If you are sitting with the max buy in of $5 and someone else has $5 and they raise 3x that is probably worth a call with a small Pocket pair. However if the raiser has anything less than $5 it is probably wrong. If you hit a set 1 in 7 times on the flop and if you count how often the initial raiser has a higher pair and also hits a set or sucks out on the turn or river, added to how often the initial raiser has a pair lower then aces and is scared off by over cards, you probably need to be getting 12-14/1. I have read some estimates for set mining to be 10-1 on your money but I believe that to be a little low as it doesn't factor in all the outcomes. Obviously some are so small they don't need to be factored like how often you suck out with quads. But other factors play a larger role, like having TT agiasnt AK and the flop comes TJQ or having 33 against AK and the flop comes 3TQ and AK sucks out with a flush or a straight. All of these increase the implied odds you need to set mine. Interestingly you can use this to your advantage as well, when you have a larger pair, by raising 4x. In most situations, someone who tries to hit a set on you will be getting the wrong implied odds and you should show a good profit over the long run.
So with that, it brings me to my larger concern about this limit, calling all ins or re-raising all in with the following hands. QQ, JJ, TT, 99. I exclude KK and AA from this list because AA is never beat pre-flop and KK is only behind about 1 in 30 pre-flop on a 6 max table. Because many people at this limit are playing with much less then the initial buy in you find yourself in a situation of do I call with this hand or re-raise all in when the initial raiser has only 10-15 bbs left behind him/her?
So my question is this... is it better to just fold pairs below TT to a raise when there is no set value. Calling seems wrong and I don't think re-raising all in wins often enough to be profitable in the long run, against a tight player.
If you have a question about a specific hand, post it in the microstakes No Limit forum. Since this is a general question, I'm moving it to Beginer's Questions.
