55 BTN on T73r: Don't Overplay Underpairs

Hero
5♥5♠
Position
BTN vs UTG
Pot
Single-Raised Pot
Flop
3♥ 7♠ T♠

While 55 is a mandatory call against a flop c-bet, turning it into a bluff-raise is a massive error that burns equity against a range that never folds better.

Flop Analysis

Raising here is a significant mistake. We have a pure bluff-catcher that needs to realize its equity by calling; raising only isolates us against hands that crush us like JJ+ or Tx.

Note: Raising with a weak underpair is overplaying our hand; we should call to keep villain's bluffs in and realize our equity in position.

Flop Analysis

After our disastrous flop raise, we are forced to call the remaining chips due to the massive pot odds, even though we are almost certainly behind.

Note: The mistake was the initial raise; once the pot is this large and we only have 17BB left to call into a 64BB pot, we are mathematically priced in despite our low equity.

Key Concepts

  • Protection Priority
  • Villain Strong Advantage
  • IP
  • Semi-Wet Board
  • POT CONTROL