raising with small pairs 22-66 preflop?

When I first started playing holdem I would fold these small pairs to most raises pre-flop, then I changed (After reading AOK's strategy guide on this site) to "mostly" calling up to 4bb pre-flop in the hopes of hitting a set on the flop & winning a big pot or folding if I didn't hit on the flop.
I have since been reading a strategy book by Phil Hellmuth which advocates raising & re-raising with these small pairs pre-flop & then C bet on the flop whether you hit a set or not. (The idea being you can win a lot more pots this way than the 1 in 8 when you go set hunting & you will get paid of even bigger when you do.)
I was just wondering if anyone on FTR uses a similar strategy & whether it is more profitable, or also even if you don't use it, do you have any input as to why it would be a bad idea & finally also would it be suited to looser or tighter tables thanks.

l like to limp these and only call a raise if the effective stacks are deep enough.

I raise small pairs in 6-handed NL cash games. Mainly to get more value out of my sets and to be able to pick up the pot on the flop unimproved.

Originally Posted by noble007

I have since been reading a strategy book by Phil Hellmuth which advocates raising & re-raising with these small pairs pre-flop & then C bet on the flop whether you hit a set or not. (The idea being you can win a lot more pots this way than the 1 in 8 when you go set hunting & you will get paid of even bigger when you do.)

I was just wondering if anyone on FTR uses a similar strategy & whether it is more profitable, or also even if you don't use it, do you have any input as to why it would be a bad idea & finally also would it be suited to looser or tighter tables thanks.

Renton advocates doing this and it has a lot of merit. It expands your preflop raising range greatly, making it hard to put you on a hand and increasing the likelihood you'll get action on your big ones. I'm not so sure about the reraising part though.

Essentially, it opens up opportunities for you to take down small pots preflop or on the flop when you miss as well as buying you extra cards to hit your 2 outer. What you have to be careful about though is c-betting into calling stations (don't), which is why, imo, it's more effective on a tight table than a loose one. You can end up check/folding the turn from EP in a lot of pots you've raised and c-bet if you're getting called all the time, so table conditions are important and you have to pick your spots for firing second barrels carefully. That doesn't mean you shouldn't still raise preflop though. You're still building pots for when you hit.

If you want to try it out, start doing it in position. Example (which frankly could be done with any two):

Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
10 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $62.37
UTG+1: $100
UTG+2: $131.25
MP1: $105.80
MP2: $208.56
MP3: $12.05
CO: $102.30
hero: $96.65
SB: $170.02
BB: $75.24

Pre-flop: (10 players) hero is Button with 4 4
UTG calls, 2 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 folds, MP3 calls, CO folds, hero raises to $4, 3 folds, MP1 calls, MP3 folds.

Flop: 6 8 5 ($11.5, 2 players)
MP1 bets $1, hero raises to $6, MP1 folds.
Uncalled bets: $5 returned to hero.

The jury is out for me as to whether it pays for itself per se, but I have to think that the action I get on my nut hands wouldn't be as much if I was put on a tighter preflop raising range. I also don't do it all of the time. Limping them part of the time helps to mix things up too.

Moved from Small Stakes LHE

i raise when im fist into the pot, if i was playing <100nl i would just limp.

Originally Posted by Miffed22001

i raise when im fist into the pot, if i was playing <100nl i would just limp.

Those are my sentiments.


Original poster: Don't read Hellmuth's book. Its not good. The only books an NLHE'er needs are

Theory of Poker
Super System
NLHE: Theory and Practice
Pot Limit and No Limit Poker
Harrington on Holdem Vol 1 (and 2 if you are really into tournaments, 3 not so much)

Original poster: Don't read Hellmuth's book. Its not good. The only books an NLHE'er needs are

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fyp

Yes, raise small pairs preflop whenever the situation allows for it (ie, most of the time).

true there really isn't a book to teach you NL.

Its such a complex game to be so simple.

ToP for me, but then i play lhe too which improved my NL game no ends