Kings Pre-Flop

I played two big pre-flop pots with KK in Las Vegas cash games, one where I ended up folding and one where I got all in against QQ. A lot of people expressed curiosity about these hands when I first tweeted them, so I figured I’d post the details here.

Folding Kings for 200 BBs

The first was in a $10/$25 game at the Rio. We were 9-handed, and I opened to $75 UTG1. A seemingly good player in MP 3-bet to $225, and then the CO, a good Maryland Live regular with whom I’d played before, made it $400. With some players, such a small raise could be a sizing tell that they don’t have AA, but in his case I didn’t think such an exploitive read would be appropriate.

It folded back to me, and I raised to $1000. MP folded, and the CO quickly shoved for about $5000 effective. At the time he seemed very confident and I folded without too much fuss, but of course I questioned my play for a while afterwards and eventually crunched some numbers. My conclusion is that if he always shoves AK then folding is a mistake, but if he shoves {KK+,AKs} then folding is correct. (As an aside, if I’m folding KK, then AQs is actually a better shove than AKs for him because it blocks fewer of my 5-bet-fold combos).

As for whether he should 6-bet shove AKo, that comes down to whether I’m 5-bet-folding AKo. If my 5-bet range is just {KK+,AKs}, then it’s best for me to stack off only with AA. If I’m going to throw in 12 more combos of 5-bet-folds, then I need to call with KK as well. Honestly I think I would 5-bet AKo here, for better or for worse, which means that folding this is at least exploitable, if not a mistake in this case. Also I should probably use slightly smaller sizing on the 3-bet. Realistically, even if I make it $925 he probably isn’t calling. I just need to find the smallest size that will induce a shove/fold response.

The biggest factor that makes me even consider folding KK here is that there are three players in this pot, two of whom are in relatively early position. This really constrains everyone’s ranges. After all, when I 5-bet, I have to worry not just about the 4-better but also the guy who 3-bet in MP. Likewise the 4-better has to worry about an UTG1 raiser who will wake up with AA an appreciable amount of the time, etc.

Stacking Off with KK for 275 BBs

In this second hand, the 5-better was the 3-better, which means that he had only one live player behind him when he made the 5th bet.

It was a $5/$10 game at the Venetian, and the player in the HJ had just joined the game and posted a BB in order to get dealt a hand. He was in his mid-20s, looked very comfortable at a poker table, and bought in for $4000.

UTG, an aggressive young European who had recently busted out of the VDS Main Event, opened to $40 and got two calls from players who looked like the sorts of players to call with weak hands. The HJ popped it to $220 in what is generically a pretty good squeeze spot, especially considering he already has $10 invested, although the size is suspiciously large.

I was in the SB with KK and about $2750. I raised to $580, which I think even that is a little large. A raise to $550 or even $520 would enable me to have a slightly wider range here and thus look a bit less strong (though it’s hard not to look strong when cold 4-betting with five players holding live hands behind you).

The action folded back to SB, who agonized a bit and then shoved. Of course I’d decided I was going to call before I 4-bet, but one factor in that decision was that because it was his first hand at the table, HJ might expect to get slightly less credit on his raise and thus be willing to stick it in a bit lighter.

I ended up winning a big pot against QQ, which was a nice capstone to my Las Vegas trip.