KQo vs. Shortstack (NL25)

No stats of the BB, he was somewhat loose but not too aggressive.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP1 ($40.05)
MP2 ($20.85)
Hero ($30.95)
CO ($17.05)
Button ($25.25)
SB ($24.85)
BB ($9.40)
UTG ($17.40)
UTG+1 ($28.55)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with Q, K.
2 folds, MP1 calls $0.25, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.25, 3 folds, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.85) 7, K, 3 (3 players)
BB checks, MP1 checks, Hero bets $0.75, BB raises to $3.75, MP1 folds, Hero raises to $10.25, BB calls $5.40 (All-In).

Turn: ($20.25) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($20.25) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $20.25

Do you like the limping?
On the flop I think I have to push or fold against his c/r. Will I find him often enough with a diamond-draw or a crappy king to justify the push?

I would either raise or fold preflop, I choose raise because you have position on the limper and want to make sure you don't lose position to either the CO or button.

As played, considering opp's stack, I think this is fine.

gotta raise this preflop

Doyle Brunson has a rule.

You don't ever want to get broke in an un-raised pot.

This is the kind of hand where you could go broke, in a pot that isn't worth very much to come in for.

Limping is for extremely powerful hands in EP (AA, KK) hoping for a raise, so you can really ramp it up....

OR, limping is for suited connectors, from late position, so that guy that limped KQ off and flopped top pair is actually not the favorite to win the pot.

Try it, put one of the random hands as 4d,5d against your KQ off, and see how often you win.

Your Pre-Flop Raise may push 4d, 5d out here. Or at least give you some kind of clarity that he has 4d, 5d with the way he plays it.

Originally Posted by Ragnar4

Doyle Brunson has a rule.

You don't ever want to get broke in an un-raised pot.

Dude, Brunson wrote that for deepstacked games against people who didn't suck. Both don't fall in that catagory here.

OP, raise preflop and the rest is fine.

Thanks,
vs. a bigger stack I surely had folded. But after looking at this hand again I think I should fold here too, since the $1.6 aren't worth the trouble even at NL25

What about KQs in the same position preflop? Make a small raise (about 3BB) to get money in the pot and hope to flop big or make a bigger raise (~5BB) and fire the flop no matter what comes?

Originally Posted by Ragnar4

Limping is for extremely powerful hands in EP (AA, KK) hoping for a raise, so you can really ramp it up....

Nuh-uh.

@OP: Just make it 1.25 to go preflop, and yeah, fire out a continuation bet.
Postflop was fine in the hand you posted, it's just preflop that sucked.

@Lahoozer. So you're saying that I shouldn't play cautiously in an unraised pot against many players? Just because he wrote it about players who don't suck doesn't mean it doesn't apply to any yahoo that is playing any two cards. You're telling me you've never gone broke in an unraised pot, because you don't play at high stakes versus good players?

@ash. Why not? It works for me just about every time I do it. I just don't do it every time.

Originally Posted by Ragnar4

@ash. Why not? It works for me just about every time I do it. I just don't do it every time.

Vs decent players it turns your hand face up, and vs bad players you'll find that there'll be limps behind a bit too often.. Plus vs bad players you can raise it normally preflop anyway and they'll call with bad hands.

Originally Posted by Ragnar4

@Lahoozer. So you're saying that I shouldn't play cautiously in an unraised pot against many players?

Yes you should play cautiously in unraised pots against many limpers with deep stacks. With 2 opponents (one being short stacked), you don't need to play that cautious.