Part: Part Two - Playing Styles & Starting Requirements

Set-mining a medium pair

Pre-flop
Blinds 100 / 200Pot 900 (4.5 BB)CO9♠9♦● 30,000 (150 BB)YOUto actUTG● 30,000 (150 BB)Tight UTGraises 600 (3 BB)SB● 30,000 (150 BB)posts 100 (0.5 BB)BB● 30,000 (150 BB)posts 200 (1 BB)BTN● 30,000 (150 BB)BTND

A tight, solid player raises from under the gun and it folds to you on the cutoff with 9♠9♦. Stacks are deep - everyone has about 150 big blinds.

Deep-stacked, a tight UTG player has raised to 600 (3 BB). You hold 9♠9♦ on the cutoff. Best play?

WhyA tight player opening under the gun has a range that has your nines beaten more often than not, so this isn't a raising war you want to start behind in. But you'll flop a set about one time in eight, the stacks are 150 deep, and that's precisely the depth where a single set pays for a mountain of missed calls. Take the cheap look. Three-betting bloats a pot you're behind in; folding throws away the implied odds that make the call print.
What happensYou call 600 (3 BB); the blinds fold. Heads-up to the flop. Pot: 1,500 (7.5 BB).
Flop
Heads-upPot 1,500 (7.5 BB)9♣6♥2♠CO9♠9♦● 30,000 (150 BB)YOUtop setUTG● 30,000 (150 BB)Tight UTGbets 900 (4.5 BB)D

Flop: 9♣ 6♥ 2♠ - you flop top set. The tight raiser continuation-bets.

You flopped top set and the pre-flop raiser c-bets 900 (4.5 BB). How do you play it?

WhyRaise here and every bluff and worse pair in his c-betting range folds on the spot - you'd win a tiny pot and blow the disguise. Flat instead: the board is bone dry, nothing realistic draws out, and letting him keep barreling into your set is how a flopped monster grows into a stack.
What happensYou call. The pot builds while his range stays wide and unaware. Pot: 3,300 (16.5 BB).
Turn
Heads-upPot 3,300 (16.5 BB)9♣6♥2♠J♥CO9♠9♦● 30,000 (150 BB)YOUtop setUTG● 30,000 (150 BB)Tight UTGbets 2,200 (11 BB)D

Turn: J♥. The tight player fires again - he likely has an overpair or just improved.

An overcard falls and he bets 2,200 (11 BB). You still have top set. Now what?

WhyA second barrel after you flatted the flop is a tight player telling you he likes his hand - usually an overpair or a strong top pair he isn't folding. That's the green light to build the pot now, while he's attached, before a scary river talks him out of it. You'd never fold top set here; the only real question is sizing.
What happensYou raise to 6,500 (32.5 BB) and he calls with A♥A♣, drawing to two outs. The pot ballooned exactly when you wanted it to, and his overpair is welded to the hand. Pot: 16,300.
River
Heads-upPot 16,300 (81.5 BB)9♣6♥2♠J♥3♦CO9♠9♦● 30,000 (150 BB)YOUtop setUTG● 30,000 (150 BB)Tight UTGchecksD

River: 3♦ - a blank. He checks, with about 9,000 (45 BB) behind.

Blank river, he checks, ~9,000 behind. Best play with top set?

WhyBy smooth-calling that big turn raise instead of jamming over it, he told you he doesn't have a set - his hand caps at strong one-pair holdings like the aces. Those still call a river bet, so put the rest in. Leaving chips behind against a hand that will pay is just handing them back.
What happensYou shove, he calls off with the aces, and the set holds. A set over an overpair, played to get every chip in by the river - that's the entire payoff that justifies set-mining in the first place.
You paid a small price to hit a big flop, flatted to keep his barrels coming, then raised only once he'd committed with an overpair. Same hand, three different gears - each chosen to keep his chips moving toward you.

Set-mining lives and dies on implied odds: call cheap against a tight range, and when you spike the set, let the aggressor keep firing before you raise. The money comes from his commitment, not from your speed.