playing 22-99 100-200nl

I'm looking at leaks and doing some study. About time I did more of this. This year I'm break even with my low pocket pairs (22-99, about 800 hands of each). Yuck.

Thoughts at the moment - any comments would be great!

1) stop calling EP raises from EP with 3-betting/squeezing regs left to act (I think Nutsinho pointed this one out)
2) stop opening small pocket pairs from EP, people are calling to set-mine with pairs up to and often including QQ. They're also not folding these pairs to c-bets unless an ace flops. When i get a set and heavy action I'm likely in all kinds of underset trouble
3) play from blinds vs steals?
4) consider villain's opening range when considering playing for set odds
5) in position i don't need a set to bet, just reads
6) set-mining out of position shouldn't be vs good players
7) consider 3-betting vs weak ranges more (e.g. CO steals)
8) iso-raising with 22-44 not so smart
9) it's hard to get multi-street action with a low set as the pf aggressor

no doubt more to come soon...
re 2, 8, and 9 - I have 20% pfr with 22 and 61% with 99 over this sample. Spew?

1) Even at 200nl, there are rarely spots where I am folding here just because too seldom are there squeezer types in LP
2) When thinking preflop, I am never worried about set over set. Trust your reads postflop and go from there.
3) when folded to in LP or in the blinds, your pp is ahead most of the time. Play the aggressively and treat missed sets like missed AK flops.
4) 100% true. Keep in mind that this does not mean you should begin folding your set mining hands right away - start to consider that 99 is well ahead of a loose range and therefore raising is the better option.
5) reads always pwn
6) implied odds always go to the crapper oop vs good players
7) see #4
8) depends on the limpers. I think it's a fine move vs laggy passive players, and again, treat missed flops like missed AK hands.
9) yup.

You really shouldn't be putting 22-66 in the same category as 77-99 and esp 88-99.

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Originally Posted by bankitdrew

4) 100% true. Keep in mind that this does not mean you should begin folding your set mining hands right away - start to consider that 99 is well ahead of a loose range and therefore raising is the better option.

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Not at all and I dont even know if RR 99 is better than folding lmao. Calling is superior and its not even close and position has nothing to do with it.

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Originally Posted by daven

2) stop opening small pocket pairs from EP, people are calling to set-mine with pairs up to and often including QQ. They're also not folding these pairs to c-bets unless an ace flops. When i get a set and heavy action I'm likely in all kinds of underset trouble

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This is part true and part not. I agree that when you do flop bottom set on a dry board vs a reg that you'll have the underset a lot, but he's also going to have AA here too. That's because regs are flatting AA/KK a lot more and if he is then its 50/50 you have underset/he has AA. Also, you can cbet some flops more than others against good regs. Just know what hands they have preflop and how often they fold to cbets and its nothing more than doing some combinatorial (sp?) math in your head.

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9) it's hard to get multi-street action with a low set as the pf aggressor

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Are you talking about vs Regs or donks? Being the PF aggressor vs donks is great when we flop a set because our SPR allows us to get it in easier. Vs a (good) reg its hard to get multi-street action anyway unless your out-coolering him or he's got a hair up his butt. Range balancing helps here.

Seems to be pretty standard and TBH being breakeven from EP with all your pairs isn't horrible its just not optimal. If I could raise 22 UTG and have it be breakeven I probably would do so.

at 200nl i wouldnt call an ep raise from any type of winning player with less than 77
I also dont like going HU to a flop vs a decent MP/LP range with small pockets - id rather turn up with AA or typical 3bet hands flatted

This all changes if pot is going to be 3way or a fish opens the pot