[2NL-5NL] Playing mid pocket pairs out of position

[B-squared]

Hey, I am wondering what the consensus is about playing hands like 77-99 UTG and UTG+1 at 2NL and 5NL, particularly in 6max. I hate opening (I will typically open in this position to around 4x the BB) these hands in these positions unless the table is super nitty, because they are so borderline and I find I am often being called by loose players in position with hands like mid suited connectors, J9s+, Q10+, K10o etc.
When I look at my equity against a typical calling range of some of these players (something like): {22+,A2s+,K8s+,Q9s+,J8s+,T8s+,98s,87s,76s,A5o+,KTo +,QTo+,JTo}, equilab gives me 57% equity. That said, I am out of position and I find these hands pretty challenging to play postflop unless I flop a set, the flop is something like 2s3c7h, or if the villain never continues to a cbet.

Should I tighten up? Do I limp in? I have no idea!

[spoonitnow]

A good place to start would be to see how they affect your overall range on these flops that you're so afraid of.

[B-squared]

A good place to start would be to see how they affect your overall range on these flops that you're so afraid of.

I'm not sure I know what you mean? Do you mean how the flop connects to my opponents range? Or where my range stands in relation to the villains? I have had a think about this sort of thing, here is- not the ideal example, but the type of hand i'm talking about:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (5 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com/

Hero (MP) ($2.06)
Button ($1.19)
SB ($2)
BB ($2)
UTG ($2.39)

Villain has the kind of calling range I referenced in the original post {22+,A2s+,K8s+,Q9s+,J8s+,T8s+,98s,87s,76s,A5o+,KTo +,QTo+,JTo}.

Preflop: Hero is MP with 9, 9
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.08, Button calls $0.08, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.19) 8, J, K (2 players)
Hero ???

Equilab again gives me about 55% equity. I remember this guy folded a lot of flops so this was a relatively easy spot to bet. But there have been many situations where I have not known enough about my opponent postflop to confidently bet into this sort of board. Most of the time I feel that if I get called here that it's almost time to give up the hand and hope to check through.
My range in this particular position is something like: {66+,A7s+,KTs+,QTs+,JTs,A8o+,KTo+,QJo}, meaning that if I am just comparing ranges, then I am way ahead and should be cbetting a lot of the time.

I am unsure if I am losing money overall due to folding to 3bets preflop and being bet into/called/raised when I miss the flop.

[The Bean Counter]

I prefer to use Equilab to look at how villain's pre-flop range interacts with a given flop, rather than equity. What Equilab will show you is the number and percentage of combos where villain has anything that can continue on this flop (i.e. Jx plus draws) and those that you can expect him to fold vs a cbet. If you then calculate how often you need villain to fold if you bet ATC, you can then easily see whether cbetting will be instantly profitable.

One of the problems you have if you aren't even opening 77-99 in ep is that you'll only be opening 5% of hands or so. Any competent villain with a reasonable sample size is going to know how to play against that range pretty easily. Once you open up a little, the prospect that you've connected with almost any board is increased and you can then start to extract some value with the value part of your range.

[B-squared]

I prefer to use Equilab to look at how villain's pre-flop range interacts with a given flop, rather than equity. What Equilab will show you is the number and percentage of combos where villain has anything that can continue on this flop (i.e. Jx plus draws) and those that you can expect him to fold vs a cbet. If you then calculate how often you need villain to fold if you bet ATC, you can then easily see whether cbetting will be instantly profitable.

One of the problems you have if you aren't even opening 77-99 in ep is that you'll only be opening 5% of hands or so. Any competent villain with a reasonable sample size is going to know how to play against that range pretty easily. Once you open up a little, the prospect that you've connected with almost any board is increased and you can then start to extract some value with the value part of your range.

This makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the help

[spoonitnow]

How your range hits the flop and how these hands fit into your overall range are pretty important too.

[spoonitnow]

Also, thought this was appropriate.