Set mining

Poker Strategy / Matthew Pitt / 09 September 2010 / Leave a Comment

The problem many players have, particularly those who play low stakes, is to simply set mine each and every time they are getting 10-to-1 implied pot odds, regardless of player type or the position the raise came from.

One of the best feelings in poker is to call a raise with a small pocket pair, such as a pair of fives, and then the flop comes down As-5d-Qh giving you a set and a good chance you will be paid off handsomely by a hand such as Ace-King or Ace-Queen.

Some poker players purposely limp and then call a raise or simply flat-call a raise preflop with any small to medium pocket pair with the sole intention of flopping a set of completely giving up on the hand. This practice is known in the industry as set mining.

Whilst some players use the term set miner to be negative about tight, unimaginative players, set mining can actually be very profitable if used in the correct circumstances and against the right type of player. When you see a flop with a pocket pair you will flop a set around once in every 8.5 times, which quite obviously means you will completely miss the flop and give up on your hand 7.5 times before you flop a set.

This would mean if you were playing in a $0.50/$1 game with $100 effective stacks, you held a pair of threes and called a $4 raise but would fold to a continuation bet if you did not flop a set, you would need to make $30 just to break even when you do flop your set. Because of this many players use a ten-to-one rule meaning the effective stacks need to be ten times the initial raise in order to set mine profitably. This takes into account the times you flop a set and do not get paid off or you flop a set but still lose the hand.

The problem many players have, particularly those who play low stakes, is to simply set mine each and every time they are getting 10-to-1 implied pot odds, regardless of player type or the position the raise came from. At lower stakes a large percentage of players will commit their entire stacks with top pair or an over pair so most are ripe for set mining against but when you move up stakes and the players become more skilled set mining becomes less profitable.

Also, loose-aggressive players may initially seem that they are perfect for set mining against but they will rarely have a hand that can withstand a raise on the flop, though you can use their aggression against them and slowplay your set. With this in mind it is actually tighter players who are better to set mine against as they are more likely to have some sort of hand. Again, following this train of thought it is often better to try and flop a set against an early position raise than a late position opening range as early position raises are generally the sign of a strong or at least above average hand.

Set mining can be very profitable indeed but do not simply attempt to do it every time you have the implied odds to do so. You will quite often find that simply folding against the loose-passive player is the correct play or three-betting the loose-aggressive stealer is more profitable.

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