Limp-3-betting light in Limit

Just thought I'd share this hand with you all as something you might like to try - post and let me know if it works.

I'd been playing like a maniac this session at 43/35, so table-image might have come into it (unusual for me to limp in).

party poker 0.50/1 Hold'em (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 9 , T .
Hero calls, MP raises, CO calls, 1 fold, SB calls, BB calls, Hero 3-bets, MP calls, CO calls, SB calls, BB calls.

Flop: (15 SB) K , 7 , J (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets, MP folds, CO folds, SB folds, BB folds.

Final Pot: 8 BB

Not a total bluff on the flop since I happened to have a double-gutshot straight draw, although I'd have bet it anyway. Pretty sure everyone had me on AA / KK by this point though.

wow, this is generally not good. the only examples of this ever being good are for trapping more bets in preflop with AA/KK. oh yeah, if i ever saw someone with the table image that you described, my first thoughts would not be AA or KK but rather some small/mid-pair. surprised you got the table to fold, seems pretty profitable if it works a decent % of the time but I wouldnt bank on it

I don't think this is as bad as Dingo says, because it has a couple of upsides that aren't immediately obvious. One, of course, is the chance of making people believe that you have a real powerhouse of a hand (as happened here), but the less obvious - and this is mentioned in Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players - is that with a suited connector, you're often going to flop strong draws, and by making the pot large preflop you entice more players to stay in after the flop when you either have a very strong hand or a very strong draw (and thus have positive equity).

Not something you should do habitually (clearly you already know that) but it's not a disaster by any means.

Oh, and just in case someone misunderstands me I want to pre-empt that: Raising before the flop is NOT so you can give yourself pot odds to continue with a draw after the flop. It's to encourage OTHERS to continue after the flop when they THINK they have odds to continue but are in fact drawing dead (or are at least sweetening the pot for you). There's a huge difference.

Cheers,
FP

In the case of swelling the pot, wouldn't limp-raising give you an unfavourable situation? What I mean is that there should be fewer players seeing the flop for more bets, if the limp-raise works properly - and don't you want a big, multiway pot?

This is coming from a LHE noob so be nice

No, you're absolutely right, Chuck. With the way it's done here, there's an obvious risk of driving someone out (which you don't want) but when it works and everyone calls, that's when you get the added benefit that I mentioned.

But consider this scenario: You're on the button, and you have four limpers in front of you. Raising here, and you're virtually guaranteed that they will all call another bet. I wasn't saying - or at least I didn't mean - that limp/re-raising here was good for that reason, I meant that in this particular case it had that upside. I might have fallen in the trap of being results-oriented.

wow, I've got a strong disagreement with the 3-bet PF on those suited connectors. Building your position for the flop C-bet (or a nut hand) is all very well, but I think your table image should bite you for this one. Especially on that flop - any K, J or two diamonds should be calling with your "maniac" plays.

Having said that, you've flopped a double-draw straight, and I completely agree with betting on that. Not for the fold-around (which really suprises me), but rather to maintain control of the pot, and to hide a later straight. Honestly, with the size of the pot, I just don't understand why you didn't have multiple callers on the flop.