KK Early Stage of SnG

[gaming_mouse]

$20 buy in PL SnG, 7 players left, blinds at level 2.

I'm Button with KK. 3 limpers to me. Do I bet the pot and try to collect right now, or look for a set on the flop and a possible oppurtunity to doublt up?

TIA,
gm

[kidpoker22]

Limping would be outrageously silly. I would raise 5x the BB. That would thin out the field and only give you action from hands that you want, i.e. hands yours will have an extremely +EV against.

[YourFoxyGrandma]

I'm not a PL player, but I assume that the 3-4xBB raise rule still applies. I would lean towards 4-5xBB with the 3 limpers though.

As for the flop, playing ks for set value is not really the way to go. Pot it if the board is draw-heavy, play a little slower if not. If an ace flops you still have to bet at it, but slow down if you're getting alot of action. Hope this helps.

[Sidekick]

There are VERY few situations where I'm going to limp with KK. I am betting the pot in this situation. There is enough money in the pot already so I'm not going to be too disappointed if I just take down the pot right now.

Do you really want to give the SB and BB the chance to limp in with crap hands and maybe flop 2 pair to beat your kings? I tried slow playing KK a few times when I first started out and it often times blew up in my face against hands that never would have called a decent sized raise.

I would rather win a smaller pot with my KK than lose a big pot to some crap hand that got to limp in. If they call me with crap and win... well that's poker.

Even if you bet the pot at this point, there is a reasonable chance you will get at least one caller. I try and make people pay to play catch up rather than let them catch up to me cheaply.

Hope this helps.

[pokerstudAA]

Kings are not trying to flop a set. They are great all by their lonesome. Except when an ace comes....then they usually suck.

Dont let people see flops and give them a free chance to crack your kings with two pair, a weak A, or some lame draw. Raise it up! Push if you want or raise it 3x BB+ limpers or more. Dont be afraid to throw some chips in with the second best hand in poker.

[partygirluk]

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (9 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

saw flop|<font color="C00000">saw showdown</font>

Button (t1500)
SB (t1500)
<font color="C00000">Hero (t1500)</font>
UTG (t1500)
<font color="C00000">UTG+1 (t1500)</font>
MP1 (t1500)
MP2 (t1500)
MP3 (t1500)
CO (t1500)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K/images/graemlins/club.gif, K/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
UTG calls t20, <font color="CC3333">UTG+1 raises to t100</font>, MP1 calls t100, <font color="666666">5 folds</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to t1500</font>, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls t1400 (All-In), MP1 folds.

Flop: (t3130) J/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 6/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Turn: (t3130) J/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

River: (t3130) 3/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t3130
<font color="green">Main Pot: t3130 (t3130), between Hero and UTG+1.</font> &gt; <font color="white">Pot won by Hero (t3130).</font>

Results in white below: <font color="white">
Hero has Kc Ks (two pair, kings and jacks).
UTG+1 has As 3c (two pair, jacks and threes).
Outcome: Hero wins t3130. </font>

[rjb03]

Your original post says this is PL; that is a NL hand.

[IHateATMFees]

Can you please post the name of the player who called off all their chips with A3o?

More seriously, is this sort of play common in SnG's on pokerstars?

[rjb03]

[ QUOTE ]
Can you please post the name of the player who called off all their chips with A3o?

More seriously, is this sort of play common in SnG's on pokerstars?

[/ QUOTE ]

Party has generally worse players if that is what you are asking. Players like that are not too common, at least not in my SNGs, there is hardly ever an all in first hand.

[Sidekick]

At the lower buy ins, yes it is fairly common. I have no stats on this type of thing, but I would guess maybe 15-20% of the players I see at the lower buy ins play in this manner. Many times I am just amazed at what players will turn over on a hand.

I try not to be too shocked at the players at the lower buy ins any more... but they still manage to stun me with their play in many of my SnGs.

I was boggled earlier today when a player called someone else really lucky. I asked them if that was fair considering that they had just cracked pocket AA about 3 hands earlier with ATo. The response was, 'No. Pocket aces aren't that great a hand.' Or something very close to that.

There were two players in this particular SnG that were playing hands like K4o, Q5s, Axo, etc. When a decent player got busted out by a runner, runner flush hit and made some comment, the player playing the crap hand poorly was adamant that they were playing well and would continue to do so and win the majority of the SnGs that they entered.

Never underestimate the power of self delusion.