Pocket pairs, and newfound succes

Hi!

Today I would like to give my view upon small pocket pairs. Many of us actually pretty much know how to play them, but in fact we end up doing another thing. How often dont you see 55 vs aj-ak in the early stages of a tournament. Some guy in ealry position decides to raise his 55...only to be reraised by ak in late position...now...it doesnt work to just call here, its way to expensive betting on hitting a 2-outer, so its either fold or allin here. but even though you are a favourite with 55, how do you know that the other eprson doesnt have a higher pair, that clausable. So here's my reasoning on small pairs:

ealry position: if the blinds are low, you only have the option to call, and fold to any kind of raise.

middle posistion : no action before you or calls, you can call, any kind of raise..fold

late position: no raises so far, it is a matter of how high the blinds are in my opinion. if its early in the tournament, i wouldnt raise as what you get out of it is too little compared to the kind of bluffs i find myself getting into when my raise gets called. In the later stages of a tournament, i would always advocate that you should raise if noone has made a move so far. But raises before that will make me fold it.

small - big blind: i would probably call up to a 3 times bigblind raise here as i am already invested in the pot.

Generally these small pairs are hard to play, and i have great succes using the rules above, but i havent been good at following them. i will from now on though as it wortks out great. Some might say you should call raises, and yes you can do so in the early stages of a tournament, but if so then get away from it if you dont hit well on the flop.


Newfound succes: I dont know if its related, but since i started writing in here, i am playing well...yesterday i played three SNG of 15+1 9 particpants, and came second in the first and won the third giving a total of 60 $ in surplus. so if i play 9... :- ))) Anyway I would have liked to post the hands, but i am a fool to these technical things, so it will have to wait a few days more:-)

small pairs for me: 22-99