Advice about middle pairs UTG?

Question

My biggest weakness in tourneys is when I get medium pairs UTG or 2nd position. I've been knocked out about 7 times in a row. The last time, I folded 9's and made it to 4th from 8th. This latest time, I had 77's, and the SB caught a K on the river.

Any advice about how to play these?

Answer 1

I would call UTG and hope that no one raises and that I would hit a set.  Otherwise, if someone raises and I don't have the right odds to call, I can always fold since I am not heavily invested.

Answer 2

medium pairs are the toughest hands to play in any position...i think a lot of people will recommend limping in early position, but i disagree strongly with this theory, because they are so hard to play after the flop...i would raise if there was no one in the pot already from any position, hoping to win the pot without a contest

one piece of advice i will definitely give is don't always treat them like a small pair, because they aren't a small pair...many times when one overcard flops you will still have the best of it with your medium pair, which is why you need to give these hands a certain additional amount of value in comparison to the small pairs

Answer 3

If my M is above 20 I will raise or limp with any pocket pair.

If my M is between 5-20 I will fold any pocket pair below 88 and raise all other pocketpairs.

If my M is below 5 I will open shove any Pocket pair

with an M between 5-10 it is very dependant on how close to the bubble you are and the prize structure.

Answer 4

I know lots of people would suggest folding middle pairs UTG or middle position but honestly it all depends on the situation and stack size / tourney or cash ( people at your table). If you are in a tourney and the blinds are small id limp to set mine from 2's-10's honestly , if someone inf front of you re raises id call UNLESS it goes raise and reraise  then id fold. You can also try and switch it up and raise UTG or +1 (etc.) and try to out play your opponents on the flop with  A C-bet reguardless of what comes out , In a tourney with blinds high its best to fold these as its more then likely you WONT hit your set and youll just be tossing in dead money. Now if your short stacked with a mid pair you might decide to ship the chips in . Cash is an all together different animal and can be played vary differently depeing on the people at your table. Hope this helps.

Id suggest that IF indeed you get into trouble more so then you profit from then well then its +EV just to fold them in early position and move on. Leak fixed. * him catching the king on the river is just a that d**n old man river , sometimes i love him love and sometimes i hate him.

All you gotta do is get your chips in ahead , if your the fav and hes the dog you know your doing something right and then you just gotta let the cards do their thing.

Answer 5

If you are too low on chips calling is not an option which would be my normal strategy. But pushing all-inn depends on number of players that will likely call your all-inn. If you think you have reasonable chance of stealing the blinds I would be more likely to push!

Folding is sometimes the right strategy.

Middle pairs are very problematic because even against a mediocre hand like J10 you are in a coin flip situation!

Answer 6

Middle / Low Pairs are about the same - if you play them you are hoping to spike a set on the flop - if you don't, you are going to have to be very good at reading if your opponent(s) hit the flop or not.