I have realized something very interesting and a possible leak in my game that I wanted to share with you folks and get your opinions on.

I think that one of my biggest leaks is when I limp in with drawing hands, particularly small pairs. And one the questions I have been asking myself as of late is:

What am I expecting to develop with this hand?

When I enter a pot, limping in with a few other limpers, what am I hoping to happen? Most likely everyone else is on a drawing hand to just like me and are betting on throwing their hands away in 9 out of 10 flops (including that one lucky one that I hit my set on).

So I am never going to get paid off with these sets! The only way I will get action after the flop when/if I hit a set will be at the same time someone else hits the flush and I am an underdog to win.

So, as an experiment in my NL50 games I am going to change the way I play small pairs and suited connectors preflop. I am ONLY going to play them to a raise (meaning I am going to raise with them if no one has yet to raise, or I am going to call a raise (obviously the more favorable situation)).

In other words when it comes to small pairs I am going to throw all caution to the wind when it comes to pot odds and play them based solely on implied odds.

BTW this may be the popular strategy and I just missed the boat completely. Let me know if you play like this and how its working out for you.