pp rule-of-thumb suggestion

what do folks think about the following rule-of-thumb:

all things equal, if in any given preflop circumstances my pp is not strong enough to re-raise an initial 3xbb raise with, i will play it only for a set & not for anything else--not even for op on the flop.

Thats pretty much how I do it. The only problem with that is the times AK etc. raise preflop and cbet. If you are against someone who only bets with a hand then I agree. If you are against a standard TAG type player who will bet even when he has totaly missed the flop with high cards and you are capable of reading that player then you should call for a set when he hits his A or K, but be happy with an overpair if you read him for A high. If you cant read him then you have alot of reverse implied odds at work and I think your way works best.

This rule is nice to get you out of trouble, but you're leaving money on the table. People raise/cbet unimproved overs all the time, you should call them down sometimes with e.g. 88 on a J94 board.

Originally Posted by johnny_fish

This rule is nice to get you out of trouble, but you're leaving money on the table. People raise/cbet unimproved overs all the time, you should call them down sometimes with e.g. 88 on a J94 board.

This is sound advice. Another idea is to raise the flop to find out where you're at if the pot warrants it. If the pot is big enough to be worth fighting for, then you can't just dump when someone shows you strength without a good reason. Even if they're not lying, you've still got 2 outs!

Reraise back if he missed the flop. There are enough pots to be stolen and enough money to be made that on the occasion you run into an overpair on a low flop you like you can fold and give opp benfit of the doubt.
Still you dont have to, but eventually you will need to...

If I have a TT or better in position, I always re-raise. No matter how big the bet.. unless it was some godly 12Xbb.

I'll tend to re-raise a flop bet in the board shows no ace when I hold 77 or better as well. A lot of the time, your PP heads up is winning after the flop - raising will give you this information.

My rule of thumb for playing PP's strictly for set value:

I have to think I can AVERAGE NETTING AT LEAST 10X what I put in preflop.

Note I said net, not pot size. To clarify: in a blind war, if you win a $50 pot, you only netted $25, since you put in half.

Note that in a full stacked game, this means you are almost always going to be playing a PP to a standard PFR.