You are in middle position with 5:diamonds:5:clubs:. The game is loose and passive. The first three players fold and the action is on you. What do you do?
This is one of those times where you should ignore the starting-hand charts. Small pocket pairs are playable from middle position in loose-passive games. However, you want a multiway pot. You're looking to flop a set or better. The odds against that happening are 7.5-1. Therefore, you want at least two other players in the hand to give you the proper pot odds, as well as implied odds. The table is ten-handed and there are four players to act behind you (not including the blinds). Unless you're absolutely certain that at least two other players will limp in, you should fold.
Raising is a bad play because small pocket pairs are difficult to play after the flop unimproved. You might not have a multiway pot, but there's a good chance that someone behind you will cold-call. It is also likely that the big blind will call. You will have a hard time betting two loose players out of the pot with a continuation bet.
Oddly enough, I would call from under the gun in a really loose-passive game. This seems to contradict my earlier advice, but there is a greater likelihood that you will have a multiway pot since there are seven players left to act (rather than just four). Of course, I would fold if I thought there might be a raise behind me. Like I said, I would only make this play in an exceptionally loose and passive game.
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