Sorry if this has been talked about. Still learning. Been thinking about a curious spot in HU : Having a small pair (22-77), relatively deep, and facing a raise from an agressive player.
Before I do an action, I ask myself... why am I doing this? The only decent reason I can come up with for playing a small pair relatively deep is to A) flop a set, a full house or quads and stack my opponent or B) to hope that the flop is lower than our pair (unlikely), C) raise a bluff for value on a dry flop or D) to jam preflop for fold equity... or if called, pray our pair fades a flip against overcards.
HOW TO PLAY
Option #1: Reraising small pairs preflop seems bad to me, because if called.... we're OOP in a bloated pot usually facing 1-2 overcards. If our villian outflopped us, we are on the wrong side of a 80-20 and just 2 outs to improve. Also... We're tempted to fire at the flop blindly, because we won't like many turn or rivers. If we check twice, and we could be bluffed off the best hand since our small pair can't take much heat.
Option #2: Calling a raise to hit seems like the best play. But how often do we hit AND our opponent to have a hand. Regardless, it's prolly worth the -EV play overall in order to end the match suddenly when the opponent has an overpair, TPTK, 2P etc. I think it's a -EV play overall because I find that the planets don't align often enough and we have to pitch our small pair unimproved.... usually by the turn. I don't think it's wise to station to hit unless they are teenie-tiny bets pricing us in.
Option #3: I hate jamming pairs (22-77) against loose guys for fold equity because if called were racing... or we're in bad shape.... With increased blinds, different story.
Also... calling the preflop raise to raise the turn bet for VALUE seems like a spew play to me, because we really don't want a call with our underpair for the same reasons stated: potential bad turn and river cards
Does this logic seemed flawed?
I think the key to finding profit here, is you having to have the ability to call preflop AND be able to not only bluff on dry boards, but bluff on otherwise good boards.
Look for things from the aggro player like a polarized cbetting range.
I see many aggros (some winners even) that play very transparently on the flop. They might check back bottom or mid pair on drawy boards, yet cbet their strength and air. That, even on a drawy board, qualifies as a great bluff raising opportunity.
There's a lot more to it than that, but try to find spots other than dry boards where you can bluff raise. Think about what their double or triple barrel range is and play accordingly.
You're right though, if you're just playing your hand, you likely won't profit much. At shorter stacks you'd clearly be better just shoving if you couldn't explore and find other profitable opportunities aside from bluff raising a few dry boards and set mining.