I was having a lot of hands where I raise (or reraise) w/ Kings, get called, bet the flop, and get a bunch of folds... I've been experimenting with just playing passively with a big PP PF... Basically, just let the guy bleed himself to death... That way, if a Q or J flop, he's probably gonna stack me anyway if he has pocket Qs or Js... If an Ace flops, I can try to bet out and get out if I'm raised...

Do you guys like this play or not..?

Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.50 BB (9 handed)

SB ($19.20)
BB ($38.15)
UTG ($42.30)
UTG+1 ($54.25)
MP1 ($30.30)
MP2 ($66)
MP3 ($54.50)
Hero ($128.75)
Button ($47.25)

Preflop: Hero is CO with , .
UTG raises to $1.75, 4 folds, Hero calls $1.75, 3 folds.

Flop: ($4.25) , , (2 players)
UTG bets $4.25, Hero calls $4.25.

Turn: ($12.75) (2 players)
UTG bets $36.3 (All-In), Hero calls $36.30.

River: ($85.35) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $85.35

Results in white below:
UTG has Jd Jc (one pair, jacks).
Hero has Kh Kc (one pair, kings).
Outcome: Hero wins $85.35.

As long as you thinkits going to be heads up, its fine to do that now and then.

Once the flop comes, play it like a set.

I agree with Ice. That is fine as long as you know there are not going to be 2 or 3 more callers behind you. KK doesn't look so good with 5 to the flop.

i will call a lot of raises with KK and AA in position...especially if the raise is decent size. if i know there are a couple of calling stations behind though, i'll just reraise.


I normally raise the flop though.

I like this play and i really like to just smooth call preflop with KK and AA. The only thing I dont like is the call on the flop, you really want to get him pot commited on the flop so that a scare card on the turn doenst chase him off.

I like the PF smooth call, but I think you play the flop too slow. I guess I'm really just chiming in with the majority view here, but I raise this flop hard ($16). If he smooth calls, I'll probably put him in on the turn.

A slowplay on KK is, I think, even deadlier than it is on AA. True, if he has a lesser pair, he has only 2 outs (which my opponents seemed to always hit last week), but an A can scare him away, too, on QQ or JJ. And if he was making a continuation bet on unimproved AQ, he has 3 outs.

I really think you WANT to win moderate pots on the flop on these big pair hands. If you can get your 2 callers to a raise of 4xBB, then that's a 100% win (no outdraws) for net winnings of 9.5 BB (less rake). I don't mind that at all. I'd really rather have the huge pots on my sets, nut straights, or nut flushes--or all-in with AA PF (or KK if I'm ahead).

This post actually gives me an excuse to bring up a few follow-up thoughts to the KK discussion we had a few months ago (where I advocated rather conservative PF play, particularly after ice posted his "power play" hand). Basically, bringing in the old "gap concept" idea, I think here's the PF situation:

Let's say that your raiser just has JJ-AA or AK (very solid, conservative raising strategy). Well, in actuality, you should be re-raising anything in the top half of that range. So, that gets us to Brunson's re-raise on KK/AA. Pretty straightforward and certainly correct.

Now, IN THEORY, if the re-raise is large, everything should lay down except AA, who re-raises all-in. And now you should fold your KK. But... IN PRACTICE, if this is just by the book poker theory, you're not going to have just AA coming over the top of you. A LOT of players will then move in with QQ or AK, some may flat call with AA. Basically, you haven't really clarified where you're at (with AA, I know exactly where I'm at PF--I have the nuts; with KK, not entirely) given various overplays.

Anyhow, as solution to this whole nebulous situation, I'm really liking the PF flat call on KK, at the risk of letting them catch up. But I think you need to play the flop extremely fast--so fast as to make AA seriously think about laying down. And, while AA may not be in principle capable of laying down against most people, if you're playing regulars, I think after hitting them with a few sets, they'll reconsider (or give you quite a bit of money).