[chris]

Hi there,I am having a hard time playing my hand when i am dealt a low to mid pair. Frequently, i do not raise pre flop, and at least one or two over cards hit. More often than not, i find myself without my set. Any advice?

[jorpot]

Yep, fold em from anything other than the last 2 positions or the blinds. For the last 2 positions you will need lots of callers in front of you to even make this worthwhile. From the blinds you can usually see the flop if the BB has not been raised as you are either getting in for half price or for free. You need lots of people in the pot for these hands to be playable and if you in an early or mid position you cannot guarantee this. If the pot is raised in front of you and you are in late position you should fold as you would be calling 2 bets cold and not getting the pot odds that you need.

If you can get in to see a cheap flop you will still have to lay it down if there is any action and you have not made your set.

[norshvind]

Chris's reply is how to do it. But every now and then i like to put a raise out there, around 3Xbb just to change my play a bit. It also makes you the aggressor in the hand, allowing you to make a play when a 25T rainbow flop lands being pretty confident everyone missed. I only try this in late position. But you still need to be disciplined enough to throw them away when the flop doesn't bring your set and does bring high cards! This may be a very bad play but it seems to work for me.

[ballen]

I really don't agree with Chis's advice, for a couple of reasons but most importantly we need to set the terms for the game your playing. No limit, Pot limit, or Limit? What style of play is happening on your table, tight, loose, etc?

For No Limit I love to raise 3 to 4 times the BB from any position with any pocket pair on a tight table, as long as I'm the first into the pot. If its a loose table I'll probably limp from early position and raise from late position. The reasoning behing the raise is simply that your giving yourself two ways to win. You might take down the pot right then or you will atleast set up your opponent for later rounds of betting.

In Pot Limit I love to smooth call from early position and only raise the pot from very late position if I think there is a chance to take down the limpers (which is rare.)

In limit games I don't see how you can ever fold a pocket pair to a single raise, let alone fold it just because your in early position. This is how you make the most money in limit, in my opinion, by flopping a set and getting paid off. Now you must be able to realize that if your pair is low and the flop comes with over cards that your opponents are more then likely to be holding you have to get away from it.

No matter the game or limits you must be able to get away from a pair no matter how big or small if it looks like your beaten after the flop.