Very small pairs in late position and all folds

What do you do when your in late position (button, CO, hijack) and your dealt 22,33,44 and even 55 and noone has entered the pot yet? fold? call? raise?

Obviously your not getting the set value you want with these low pairs but you have the value of position. Is it determined by how tight/loose the blinds are and willing to fold?

Secondly the same question but with lower suited connectors (23 to 9T). For these hands that enjoy multiway pots. When you in late position and everyone has folded to you what do u do?

I've become somewhat aggressive as of late. I'm often inclined to raise with the low pairs from that position. If the table is passive, and I think I can get a call from just the big blind and a fold post flop.. .then I raise. If the table is loose, I'm very inclined to just fold.

I won't raise lower suited connectors from late without people in the pot, but I will raise them when there are 3 other people in the pot with me from late just about 100% of the time.

Essentially you want to steal-raise with marginal pps and medium-low suited connectors mainly against players who will fold either preflop or if they don't get a good piece of the flop, and who don't play too aggressively.

Against these types I'll raise suited connectors 65s+ and pp 22+ on the btn. Against more aggressive post-flop players or those who defend their blinds more I tighten my range up to maybe 55+, T9s.

Another point when considering if/when to steal with a small pp: if the SB is prone to get involved, you want him to be 3betting and not calling and letting the BB in cheap. Playing 22 three-handed is a migraine if you don't flop a set. Maybe wait for 77 or better, which plays a bit better three ways by sometimes being top pair or second pair on the flop.

HU, your most likely way to win with a suited-connecting hand is still going to be when you a make a pair and your opponent doesn't, or you make a bigger pair than theirs, or when they fold to a c-bet. 32s can only make you a bottom pair, 65s at least gives you a chance to hit a pair better than your opponent's pair. 65s also gives you four ways to make a straight whereas 32s only gives you two ways. All these little things add up to make 65s a much better hand to play from any position than 32s.

ooook, understandable. So in these situations calling is no longer an option, and the play has turn to raising as a steal basically (even tho it could be the best hand currently).

I've had too many 40-70 VP$IP sorts to my left lately to have had any success trying to steal, so I've been folding these...but that could be part of a general weak-tightness in response to (and contributing to) a downswing.

i prefer to raise or fold depending on the tightness of the blinds. I hate calling as it takes away any chance of stealing the blinds and puts you in a pickle post flop. Any flop is gonna be scary when you have 4s

Depends on the blinds, but anyone other than a loose passive and I'm usually trying a steal with them. Ditto suited connectors 65+, though less often.

Stealing is so situation dependent that it is difficult to answer such a general question. And I am still working on stealing/blind defense.

I was taking a shot at .25/.50 last night so there was a chance that I'd have the opportunity to open raise in late position. Lo and behold everyone folded to me holding 55 on the button. It was early and I had no stats on the blinds, but I tried raising anyway. Naturally they both called and the flop was very ugly (KTT or some such). Yes, there's less chance that they flopped a pair on a paired board, but I got chased out of the pot quickly. As you said "I am still working on stealing/blind defense"!!

Stealing is very, very postflop and read dependent. At the micros you and I play at (HTL), it is black belt poker in a green belt ring.

Open-Raise or Fold all hands when folded to you. Never limp (as a rule).

Open-Raise 55 from the CO, 44 & 33 from the BTN. Forgo small suited connectors. T9s, 87s is good from the BTN.

As a general rule you can pretty easily open raise 35-40% from the BTN and about 25% or so from the CO.

How Tight/Loose the blinds are has some impact but not a ton. Unless you know they ALMOST ALWAYS call or ALMOST ALWAYS fold.... you don't have to worry too much about making drastic adjustments.

Even if you get a call from the blinds, you have the initiative and position going to the flop. This really helps a lot.

However, how aggressively the blinds defend is another story, if they 3-bet a lot or c/r the flop as a defense a lot, then you should think about tightening up a bit.

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Limit Hold'em

Very small pairs in late position and all folds

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Limit Hold'em

Very small pairs in late position and all folds