Part: Part Four - Pot Odds & Hand Analysis

The set-mining price

Pre-flop
Blinds 100 / 200Pot 900 (4.5 BB)CO4♣4♦● 25,000 (125 BB)YOUto actUTG● 25,000 (125 BB)Openerraises 600 (3 BB)SB● 25,000 (125 BB)posts 100 (0.5 BB)BB● 25,000 (125 BB)posts 200 (1 BB)BTN● 25,000 (125 BB)BTND

A player opens to 600 from under the gun and it folds to you on the cutoff with 4♣4♦. Stacks are 125 BB.

You hold 4♣4♦ facing a 600 (3 BB) raise, 125 BB deep. What justifies calling here?

WhyImplied odds. A small pair almost never wins unimproved against a raiser, so you're playing to flop a set - about 1 in 8.5 (~12%), or 7.5-to-1 against. Direct odds never cover that, but the rule of thumb is to call when the price is small relative to the stacks you can win (roughly 10-15× the call behind). 600 into 25,000 clears that bar easily.
What happensYou call to set-mine; the blinds fold.  Pot: 1,500 (7.5 BB).
Flop
Heads-upPot 1,500 (7.5 BB)K♦9♣4♥CO4♣4♦● 25,000 (125 BB)YOUbottom setUTG● 25,000 (125 BB)Openerbets 1,000 (5 BB)D

Flop: K♦ 9♣ 4♥ - you flop bottom set, beautifully disguised. He c-bets 1,000.

You flopped a set against a likely big hand. Best?

WhyCall. On this dry board, smooth-calling keeps his overpairs and ace-king betting, hides your set, and sets up to stack him later. The set you were mining for is the implied-odds payoff - now extract it.
What happensYou call.  Pot: 3,500 (17.5 BB).
Turn
Heads-upPot 3,500 (17.5 BB)K♦9♣4♥Q♠CO4♣4♦● 25,000 (125 BB)YOUbottom setUTG● 25,000 (125 BB)Openerbets 2,800 (14 BB)D

Turn: Q♠. He keeps betting - he likely has a strong king or an overpair.

He fires again, 2,800 (14 BB). With your set, best?

WhyRaise for value. The pot is building, his second barrel signals a hand that can pay, and a set wants the money in before a scary river. This is exactly the big pot the set-mining call was an investment toward.
What happensYou raise; he commits with K-Q for top two.  Your set is way ahead - the implied odds arrive.
You called pre-flop purely on implied odds - a small pair mining for a set at a price small relative to the stacks - then collected the big pot when the set hit. The 7.5-to-1 flop odds are paid by stack-sized implied odds, not by the pot.

Set-mining is an implied-odds play: a small pair flops a set ~1 in 8.5, so call a raise only when the stacks behind are deep enough (roughly 10-15× the call) to pay you off.