Cash game, 9 handed, $2-3 blinds 100-300 buy in
I hold a pocket pair, and am first to act so I raise for the amount that usually thins the field to 1 or 2 villains, say $12. Action folds around to the villain who raises me to $36, action folds back to me, with just the two of us left. The pot is not mult-way so the calling criteria are not met so my decision is to fold or re-raise. What pocket pair would be profitable to re-raise with and which should I just fold? The villains range is wider if he is in late position, but a pocket pair, even duces, still has 42% chip ev pre-flop, with 28% against an early position range of starting hands. It is just hard for me to re-raise with a pair of 4s in this situation. Am I being too timid here? Or is folding any pocket pair lower than 10s a profitable long term play?