Stud Hi: Dead pairs

What do you do in this situation: You're in late position on 3rd street. You have split K and two or three people calling the bring in. However, the other two K in the deck were folded in front of you. Therefore, you can't improve to trips or better (unless you hit some very good runners) and won't win showdown often. Do you attempt to raise out some of the callers to improve your equity in the pot? Do you just fold out? You very likely have the best hand now, but will almost never improve. Thoughts?

Ring or MTT ... ??

If in an MTT, need all stack sizes (mine and theirs), others' card up and position of limpers. I might call the bring-in or fold, depending on the missing info. Unlikely I would complete in this case.

Ring? Depends on my image vs. other limpers. I would be inclined to complete here. See if I can draw any folds, especially if there is no Ace on the board yet.

Just because the K's are dead, my other hole isn't and no one else seems to be pushing a good hand (made or drawing). Looks like they want to see near-free cards. Take that option away. Many times I have completed in a similar situation and drawn the 4th St. mate to my other hole card while seeing little improvement to the remaining hands.

Everyone's favorite poker saying is "It depends", and never has it applied more than here. However, I'll try to give you some general advice:

There are 2 reasons to raise on 3rd street. Reason #1 is to thin the field. Reason #2 is for value. In the situation you describe, if there are several limpers already in, and its unlikely that any of them fold to a completion, then you can't thin the field. Also, since both of your kings are dead, we're not a very big favorite over the field, so we really can't raise for value. So the play would be to either fold, or call and keep the pot small.

Limping behind with dead kings allows you to disguise your hand, and keep the pot small. Keeping the pot small allows you to fold on later streets more easily, and it gives you more fold equity on later streets if you later want to thin the field. Additionally, because you "slow-played" your hand, players may bet into you on 4th/5th, allowing you to raise and then knock out those pesky limpers. Or they may incorrectly put you on a hand like a 3-flush, and play incorrectly against you.

The choice of folding or calling should depend on many things, in order of importance:

1) The number of players in the pot, and the door cards behind you. If there's 2 limpers in, and you only have the bring in after you, we're most certainly playing (and maybe even raising). If there are 3 limpers in, and there's a live ace to act after you, then we're almost certainly folding.

2) The quality of your kicker. K♠ Q♠ - K♥ with all the spades, aces, queens, jacks, and tens live is a much different hand from K♣ 2♦ - K♠ with all the kings and deuces dead. Having a straight flush kicker (with your flush suit in the hole) that is totally live allows your hand to play much stronger in a multi-way pot. The worse your kicker, and the more limpers there are, the more inclined you should be to fold.

3) Other crap like the size of the antes & bring in, how aggressive the game is playing, ect. If your opponents are easy to read & manipulate, and the antes are super large, obviously we should be more inclined to play.

In "7-card stud for advanced players", Sklansky goes pretty in-depth into situations like these, so consult his book for more reading.

So um, yeah. It depends. But (as you probably know by now) the Stud games are ALL ABOUT "It Depends". Hands can be horrible or awesome, depending on the upcards and the number of players in the pot. So get used to analyzing all these factors when choosing to play/fold on 3rd street.

Thanks guys. The situation (which I forgot to mention) was a cash game, the S round of HORSE specifically. I called, which I didn't like doing but didn't feel comfortable raising or folding in the situation. I was hoping to represent a diamond draw but ended up folding when I could make a believable bluff with later streets. My kicker was weak, an 8, so I couldn't make much with that either.

And I completely forgot about Sklansky's stud books. Guess I need to pick one of them up.

Definitely. I'd suggest 7 Card Stud for Advanced Players. The Stud Hi/Lo split book is written by Ray Zee, and it has no content for Stud Hi. Also, the Hi/Lo split book just isn't as well written as the Stud Hi book. It makes too many generalities, and doesn't go as in depth as the Sklansky Stud Hi book does. Also, the stud hi book will give you some skills that relate to Razz & Stud 8 as well.

Short Answer: Buy this.

I would fold the split kings since there would be no other kings left, except in the situation where there would be only 1 more person in the pot against you. If this guy doesn't have an ace, and you both make 2 pair, your 2 pair can win against a worser 2 pair.

I would play the kings really slow and check a lot, but I wouldnt call too many bets unless i make a nice draw.

I would keep raising until you see a better pair than you. That is what I would do and probably the best thing.