now that I have your attention, how would you play this hand? Its not an actual hand, (well its a compilation of several iv encountered in the recent past and want opinions on how to play it...

Assumptions
All participants are full stacks
$100 NL on GC
Im on the button


4 limpers to me and I raise to $5.00 w/ . BB/SB fold, 4 call
Pot is $21.50

FLOP


EP bets $4, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $4

Whats your play? I raised preflop and now there betting into me w/ that board? hmmmmm....... im inclined to fold fearing trip Ks In 2 of the 3 hands I can remember like this , I folded and @ showdown they showed small PPs for 2 pair KK over whatever and I would have won the hand, but it seems like a pretty loose play to call over the long run.

either fold or make a raise.

If i'm gonna raise i'll make it to at least $20. If anyone calls i'm check/folding.

I cant imagine continuing with this hand is +EV in the long run. I fold every time here.

Can you explain your reasoning for this given the information we have so far?

I agree with Iceman's conclusion, and here is how I get there (fwiw).

You were the PF raiser and raised a solid amount. AK is a real obvious hand for you to have with that raise. QQ is also a definite possibility. So is AA, which nobody should expect to bluff you out of. For that matter, you could have KK.

So your opponents have to think you have a real good hand. In fact, you have a worse hand than they probably expect.

Now, you have a bet and a call coming at you before you even get to bet on the flop. Only crazy people are making that bet without a K of their own. (The call could be JT.)

Anybody with the guts to rep a K, not having it, first to act, into a field of 5 players including a preflop raiser -- that's crazy. If he's bluffing, he's a crazy idiot bluffer and you shouldn't call. Wait and take his money another time.

BTW, I wish I could think fast enough to make this fold in a game. Not sure I could.

As usual Ice is right on here, is there a chance you have the best hand yes, but either of them could have a K and you are drawing almost dead. Even if you are ahead you arent going to win much more money past these two bets and if you call it is to easy to get yourself sucked in when you are drawing almost dead. Worse yet is if you improve on the turn, there is no card that can have you beating a single king but there are lots of cards that you might think give you more outs.

Quick question. I've seen the frase before but don't know what it is. What is EV or +EV and how do you calculate it?

It stands for Expected Value. It determines if a play or hand has a positive or negative expectation in the future. There is an article on the main page detailing this.

expected-value-page5.html