Early stage mid pair

call every freakin time

Hi, Targetme!

Well, yes- usually calling although it depends on stack sizes/raising sizes etc. If we are deep enough as tittle suggests (early stage), calling a raise with the ultimate position with TT/JJ is superior. We don't only play for set value, but to call some dry one high card board and play IP gaining info where we are in the hand. If we are in a multiway pot though and say flop comes Axx, original raiser cbets into 2-3 opponents, then I am usually folding my mid pair. Re-raising pre so early with these hands is usually not good as we iso ourselves vs better hands only. That if we plan on 3bet/calling(spewy). If we plan on 3bet/folding that is also bad as our hand is too good to be turned into a bluff! Folding is also out of the question imo as our hand is too strong.

Thanks a lot kurrkabin!

I'm not too good with middle pair, because if I call preflop and I'm having overpair at flop, is hard to determine how good my hand is.

If my JJ is overpair at flop and face the original bettor's cbet, how should I put him and how do I react?

Tricky spots! Good question. So, when calling preflop with Jacks- we still stack off with an overpair vs fishy/laggy opponents. Which means we re-raise the flop over his cbet with TT-JJ. That's because they will stack off lite enough to make it profitable ITLR for us + we want to protect our JJ against overcards that will come on later streets. Vs a reg, we have to be very cautious, his range is capped, a good reg will always raise 99+, AQo+ from early position. Some might add 88,AJs from UTG+2-3, but some will also limp 99,TT and fold AJs, so just stick to 99+, AQo+ for the most part. If we re-raise preflop vs that range, the reg will never continue with anything that doesn't have us crushed. So just call preflop.

If flop comes with an overcard, you can usually call one 1/2 pot cbet and evaluate later streets. Say flop comes Q35r, the reg will still cbet his AK(hoping you fold a pair), 99-JJ(as he wants to protect against overs too+ find where he stands in the hand + if he goes for c/c it can get very nasty!). So we call IP(which gives us a huge edge- we can pot control, we are always one step ahead in gaining info). Turn comes 6 of hearts. Changes nothing. He checks again-well, we put him on AK, 99-JJ. Most likely we have the best hand as he will keep on betting QQ+, AQ. Same if flop comes Kxx as he still usually cbets his 99-JJ, AQ type of hands. Axx will be a bit ugly, some will still cbet 99-JJ turning them into a bluff. On the other hand some will c/c TT-KK on these boards, but again- having position is the nuts as then we can bet/bet/bet turning our TT/JJ into a bluff and make him fold QQ or KK! ♠_biggrin:

Alright this is so helpful! I know what to do now thanks kurrkabin ♠_cool: