How do you play the following hand?

You are dealt a pair of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8s pre-flop in a cash game table with 6 people. Does your strategy change if its a tournament? Assume all players are even stacked.

For me it depends on position. Under the gun or early, I'd raise to see if I can end up heads up or just taking the blinds. In the blinds I'd just call if there were callers ahead of me because most likely someone is going to have 2 overcards. I don't want to risk a large amount (live or tournament) on a 50/50 draw unless I'm short stacked.

ZCore13

If I'm not short stacked and im in early position I like to limp in and hope to catch trips on the flop. In late position I would normally raise and act like I have a high pocket pair. If I'm short stacked in a tourny I would go all in from early position. If I'm in late position I would still go all in, unless there was a raise and re-raise before got got to me. Then I would really have to think about how big the raise is and how many chips the re raiser has...basically a lot of variables could get me to fold also.

There's a big difference between 22-66 and 77+ in a tournament. In general, with 10 big blinds or fewer, shove any pair. 10-15bb, raise all pairs and call a 3 bet all-in with 77+. 15-25bb, fold 22-55 UTG, raise 66+. >25bb, raise all pairs.

In a 100bb or deeper cash game, raise all pairs if first in the pot, limp 22-66 after limpers, raise 77+.

In general, 77+ plays much better heads up than small pairs (room for postflop maneuvering) plus the built in set value. Also, opponents can shove dominated pairs into you, where as smaller pairs generally cannot stand pressure postflop.

Wow, I was talking about this exact situation earlier today with another player.

In a tournament I had 2-2 and I was in late position. There were four callers ahead of me (no raise pre flop) and with four callers ahead of me I was not going to raise with a pair of deuces.

So I called, and the flop came 2-8-Q so I flopped a set. I was hoping someone had AQ or KQ... just not a set. The first player to act made a bet that was triple the pot and I put that player on AQ. No one else called and the action came back to me and I was big stack and pushed all in. The raiser called and flipped over QJ. I flipped over my set.

the turn was another Q giving me a full house... but disaster came on the river with a J giving the other player a bigger boat.

So in my discussion earlier today, my friend said to me "you should have raised big with your pocket pair and try to win without a flop." I looked at him and said "raise big with 2-2 ??" Perhaps the only bet that would have forced everyone else to fold pre flop would be an all-in, and I wasn't going to go all-in with 2-2. And in this particular hand, I think the player with QJ might have called a bigger bet pre flop, and maybe even an all-in.

Quote: AlanMendelson

Wow, I was talking about this exact situation earlier today with another player.

In a tournament I had 2-2 and I was in late position. There were four callers ahead of me (no raise pre flop) and with four callers ahead of me I was not going to raise with a pair of deuces.

So I called, and the flop came 2-8-Q so I flopped a set. I was hoping someone had AQ or KQ... just not a set. The first player to act made a bet that was triple the pot and I put that player on AQ. No one else called and the action came back to me and I was big stack and pushed all in. The raiser called and flipped over QJ. I flipped over my set.

the turn was another Q giving me a full house... but disaster came on the river with a J giving the other player a bigger boat.

So in my discussion earlier today, my friend said to me "you should have raised big with your pocket pair and try to win without a flop." I looked at him and said "raise big with 2-2 ??" Perhaps the only bet that would have forced everyone else to fold pre flop would be an all-in, and I wasn't going to go all-in with 2-2. And in this particular hand, I think the player with QJ might have called a bigger bet pre flop, and maybe even an all-in.

Your friend is just results-oriented. Ignore, unless you were short-stacked but not so short that you would've had no fold equity. From your post, you played it fine.

It would be really hard to go all in with 2-2. Just depends how deep in the tourny you were and how big your stack is. I'd never go all in or make a big raise early in a tournament with just 2-2. You won't win many races with that. Also if it was late in the tournament and you had 4 callers ahead of you it would probably raise my suspicion that somebody was slow rolling a big hand. I think you played it pretty well but I'm definitely no poker pro either

I think you played it perfectly Alan. It took runner/runner to beat you. I'll take that any day.

ZCore13

I will limp in with a 6 or lower pair if I am late in position and the betting is low. Early or with heavy betting just toss them away.

In a tournament I might be a little more loose in the early stages, looking for a set.

Quote: AlanMendelson

Wow, I was talking about this exact situation earlier today with another player.

In a tournament I had 2-2 and I was in late position. There were four callers ahead of me (no raise pre flop) and with four callers ahead of me I was not going to raise with a pair of deuces.

So I called, and the flop came 2-8-Q so I flopped a set. I was hoping someone had AQ or KQ... just not a set. The first player to act made a bet that was triple the pot and I put that player on AQ. No one else called and the action came back to me and I was big stack and pushed all in. The raiser called and flipped over QJ. I flipped over my set.

the turn was another Q giving me a full house... but disaster came on the river with a J giving the other player a bigger boat.

So in my discussion earlier today, my friend said to me "you should have raised big with your pocket pair and try to win without a flop." I looked at him and said "raise big with 2-2 ??" Perhaps the only bet that would have forced everyone else to fold pre flop would be an all-in, and I wasn't going to go all-in with 2-2. And in this particular hand, I think the player with QJ might have called a bigger bet pre flop, and maybe even an all-in.

I think you played it correctly. I did the same thing and lost of the river to a house as well. It bites.

For me, it depends on weather the table is loose or tight. If it's loose, I'll let the competition hang themselves. If it's playing tight, I'll steal the ante by going all in and daring someone to call me. If it doesn't work out for me, well that's gambling.

Quote: chaunceyb3

There's a big difference between 22-66 and 77+ in a tournament. In general, with 10 big blinds or fewer, shove any pair. 10-15bb, raise all pairs and call a 3 bet all-in with 77+. 15-25bb, fold 22-55 UTG, raise 66+. >25bb, raise all pairs.

In a 100bb or deeper cash game, raise all pairs if first in the pot, limp 22-66 after limpers, raise 77+.

Basically this.

Quote: AlanMendelson

Wow, I was talking about this exact situation earlier today with another player.

In a tournament I had 2-2 and I was in late position. There were four callers ahead of me (no raise pre flop) and with four callers ahead of me I was not going to raise with a pair of deuces.

As long as you are fairly deep (>20bb) I think this is okay. If you had fewer callers and a 15-20bb stack, i'd consider folding.

" So I called, and the flop came 2-8-Q so I flopped a set. I was hoping someone had AQ or KQ... just not a set. The first player to act made a bet that was triple the pot and I put that player on AQ. No one else called and the action came back to me and I was big stack and pushed all in."

Tournament is so damn different than poker. But it is rarely a bad move to get all your money in when you have the best of it. That's why you call with a small pair and 4 others already in. TO FLOP A SET !