pocket pair play in 6max cash games

[fkn2pt]

just wondering if i have this correct:

in the later rounds of tournies, it is often the correct play to push all-in with a mid pocket pair like 66 against a single raiser who you think has high unpaired cards. when i've been playing tournies i see this race situation a lot.

however in cash games, the value of pushing all in over a single raiser on a pocket pair goes down unless your read is that they will likely fold or have a junk hand (like raising to steal the blinds). is a 50/50 flip for your stack a good play in cash games? just wondering because i see lots of people using this play online in cash games, and i'm wondering whether its because they watch too much WPT or something?

[Element187]

there is two people making the mistake in this situation in a ring game .. the person pushing all in with 66 or the person calling all in with AK.

i dont even call it a coin flip when its a ring game, the pair is ahead 55 to 45, that small of an edge isnt worth it unless youve seen his two overcards everytime before you push. after a few 10 thousand situations exactly like that will this ever show a profit.

[fkn2pt]

so you should only push with 66 if you're pretty sure they will fold?

[RiverMonkey]

I never push with small PPs in cash games; short-handed or otherwise.

Why? Two basic reasons.

(i) Even though you have a small edge over two un-paired over-cards, why risk your whole stack on such a small edge? I'd rather see a flop and try to hit a sneaky set and take my opponents' whole stack (in other words, implied odds will increase the EV of these cards played this way relative to a simple push as a 55:45 favourite).

(ii) You have a small edge pushing with small PPs only if you are correct that your opponent(s) are in fact sitting on un-paired over-cards. What if you are wrong? The times that you are wrong and you are in fact up against a higher pocket pair will definitely erode away at that 55:45 advantage. Making this play go from being slightly EV+ (assuming you can be correct 100% of the time), to EV -ve.