Thanks! That's very helpful.

I didn't mean to suggest raising K5o but limping with it. It's something like top 40% and hence not in the raising range. Otherwise, I think your raising selection is pretty similar to mine, although it seems like you like somewhat tighter selection for limps.

I also agree that any EP or MP limper completely changes things, as you're now in a multi-way pot and can just play it FR.

What I'm really trying to get away from, however, is simply applying hand values at a full table to ultra-shorthanded situations. For example, I consider 54s a much better hand than A3s in FR, but it's just not in a 3-way pot, where A3s is actually a near monster.

Also (somewhat in contradiction to the above statements), I think I've devised a plan for dealing with the chop problem: Rather than limp, just mini-raise ($10 at a 2/5 game) and make a real raise $15 or $20 (I like to keep these raises very small, since I want a caller with a strong hand and optimal position, and you don't have many possible callers left).

Anyhow, the $10 raise creates a pot where the rake isn't quite so horrible relative to pot-size as it would be with just a limp (given the casino's rake structure), and it also forces the blinds to make some kind of decision OOP.