Encorporating Professional NL Holdem, KQs in the BB

[dabluebery]

Home game for low stakes with friends, all players relatively competent post-flop, but fairly loose preflop standards.

8 player NL Holdem, stack sizes between $30 and $40, blinds are $0.25 / $0.25 (quarter-quarter)

Preflop: Hero is Big Blind with K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

4 limpers and the small blind checks his option. My stack is a little over $40, one player has me covered, and everyone else is around $30. Pretty normal that 4 players would limp. I have a reputation for "punishing limpers" with preflop raises. It's possible someone could be slowplaying a better hand but I'm guessing my hand is pretty good against the limping standards of these players.

If I check behind and take a flop, it'll be 6-ways with an SPR of between 20 and 30 depending on the other stacks.

Should I check or bet here? Why?

[bored]

I raise to $2.50 and get it AI w/ top pair or a big draw.

Why? For value against their weak hand ranges.

[dabluebery]

Thanks. Why $2.50 and not more or less than that?

[Antinome]

I imagine he's trying to get exactly an SPR of 5 [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[SMACK BOOTY]

1 buck standard raise + .25 per limper (5)+ .25 for being OOP (?).
Sounds goot...

[Student Caine]

Grrr...dammit...what is SPR?

*places order for PNL from Amazon*

[Matt Flynn]

dabluebery,

if they are weak enough to call that huge raise with a broad range of hands, it's an easy raise.

against "tougher" opponents who will fold say all but pairs and big-card hands that beat yours (AK and maybe AQ), you'd be raising huge with a hand that's not good enough or bad enough.

[dabluebery]

If I want to raise, is it better to make a small raise (say $1.50 more, a pot sized raise) or a larger raise, to like $3 or $2.50 or so?

Raising a larger amount seems like I can narrow the field a little better, offering opponents thinner pot odds to call me. It also brings the SPR down to much smaller numbers (6 or less)

A smaller raise seems like it won't entice many hands to fold, hands like suited connectors and small pocket pairs. It increases the likelihood that I'll be playing an even bigger multi-way pot.

Checking behind seems reasonable to me, keeping the SPR high in the 20 to 30 range, depending on the stack sizes.

[Sunny Mehta]

[ QUOTE ]

A smaller raise seems like it won't entice many hands to fold, hands like suited connectors and small pocket pairs. It increases the likelihood that I'll be playing an even bigger multi-way pot.

Checking behind seems reasonable to me, keeping the SPR high in the 20 to 30 range, depending on the stack sizes.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're gonna play this hand in a multiway pot, you'd much rather do it with a high SPR, where you can play it more like a drawing hand and not have to get tied to one pair.

So if you do raise, you should raise an amount that narrows the field, gets a decent SPR, and/or gives you initiative to steal on the flop if you miss.