DECISION POINT: In a Cash Game, the UTG player raises, it folds to you on the Button, and you call with 5♥5♠. The Blinds fold. The Flop comes 7♦5♣Q♠. The UTG player bets. Action is on you, what do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: You call preflop with a pocket pair and flop bottom set. Your opponent bets into you on the flop, what do you do?

After calling a standard preflop raise from a player under the gun, we hit bottom set on a dry and scattered flop and face a continuation bet from our opponent.

When deciding how best to extract value with your big hands, there are several factors to consider, including number of opponents, board texture, position and stack depth. Slowplaying tends to be more profitable against fewer opponents (ideally just one), on drier flops and when in position. All of those are true in this hand.

We also want to consider stack depth, as slowplaying is more profitable when standard betting will result in an all-in by the river. When stacks are deeper, we often have to put in a raise at some point in order to stack our opponent.

Note that given our opponent’s stack size, they will be all-in by the river if standard sized bets happen on the turn and river. We do not need to put in a raise in order to get this opponent’s stack in the middle.

Overall, this is a great opportunity for slowplaying our bottom set. We should simply call this flop bet in position. Raising would show less profit in the long run.

Calling is the best play.