Playing pocket pairs in early position with a small M

[bbqsquirrel]

This is a tricky situation that I have encountered quite frequently lately.

Say I have 2000 chips, a slightly above average stack, at blinds 50/100. I am dealt 99 or 88 or 77 in early position. What do you do?

If I open limp and am raised, I probably won't get the correct set-hunting odds coz M is so small.

On the other hand, if I open raise and am reraised (e.g. 100 - 300 - 750), my opponent is likely going to be pot-committed and we are faced with a difficult decision.

What's the best play? What if your pair is even smaller (66 to 22)? What if M is smaller? What if there are limper(s) in front?

[euphoricism]

UTG im probably raising 77+ and folding everything else. Maybe even just 99+.

With a few limpers, I'm pushing 99+ and limping along with the rest.

[Fortune 500]

The lower your M is, the less valuable small pairs become early. THey're great hands late. UTG, I am folding most things 88 and below, making adjustments for shorter tables of course. It plays totally differently 4 handed as opposed to 7 or even 6 handed, I think. It's highly situational. Also, the aggression of the table plays a factor.

[taipan168]

In your example, it depends on the number of players still to act. Say if you had 2000 chips, blinds 50/100, 6-handed table I'm standard raising (2.5-3x BB) 77+, AJ+, maybe 66+, AT+ if the table has been tight.

If the table is still 8-handed then the lowest hands I'm raising from UTG or UTG+1 are 77+, AJ+.

Basically once blinds hit 50/100 I am almost never open limping, raise or fold only. The benefit of raising preflop is that it sets you up to take the pot down very often with a c-bet on the flop, and also lets you get away (relatively) cheaply if a similar or big stack pushes over preflop.