Years ago when I was playing poker in Hong Kong, there was this irritating guy, always in a pink polo tee, kept on complaining that why I limp (just call) preflop with big pairs. Something about information blah blah. I really didn't like the guy so I never bothered to listen to him. One day he saw my aces got cracked by 29 of spades. Still I didn't listen to him.
Now I realised he meant well, but I didn't appreciate his tone and attitude. You almost always, ALMOST always have to raise your big pairs. There are a few reasons. 1. is to protect your hand and avoid people limping in with what I call "stupid hands" and crack your pair. ie. J2 and flop comes 22x. 2. Is to build some value into the pot so your premium hands, however rare they come by can make you some decent money. 3. You want those hands that are dominated by your pair to call you. ie. KQ, AQ, QJ, etc. These hands are almost drawing dead if you have a big pair.
The only FEW exceptions to the rule that I accept are:
1. You are almost certain it will be heads up.
One of the main purpose to raise with your pair is to chase away the stupid hands and get one or two to call you with most likely dominated hands. However if you see a guy raised and you are pretty sure no one else is going to call, and you can go heads up with him, then by all means, just call. Heads up with a big pair you will always be the big favourite to win. Also you have hidden your hand strength and more likely to get paid off if your opponent hit something.
2. There is a maniac on the table
Sometimes when you are lucky enough to have a maniac on the table that raises almost every hand, you can slow play your pairs preflop. If he is behind you, let him make the action and most likely many players will call behind him knowing his range is super wide. Then when it comes back to you, you can 3 bet and isolate the fish or just take down a decent pot preflop.
3. Under the gun
I don't recommend doing this always because it often backfires. However if you are under the gun, (next to the big blind), you can limp your big pairs hoping someone raises behind you and you can 3 bet. However if your table is super nitty, (all tight players) then raise. Some people think I don't want to win just the blinds with a big pair. Well, I always say, winning less is better than losing more.
4. You are super short stack
Well when you are losing you want to win back your losses. When you are short stacked and have a big pair, you can try to slow play them to get a big return on your remaining chips. Big pairs usually still hold up but now the risk vs reward is worth slow playing them. The other reason is if you are short stacked, raising usually doesn't get many hands to fold anyways. So just let the cards fall and hope you land on the winning end.
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