Pocket Kings in the Small Blind

[bruce]

30-60, cutoff openraises. I have never played with her before, but she appears to be pretty solid in my 15 minutes
of play with her. I make it three bets with Kings in the small blind. Big blind folds.

Flop comes 4 4 7 (suits irrelevant)

I bet and she calls. Turn: 4 4 7 5 (no flush draw)

I bet and she raises. What is my best course of action?
Do I call or do I reraise and lead out on the river until shown the wrongs of my way? Comments appreciated and results to follow.

Bruce

[elysium]

hi bruce
this thread is being written by a player who went all-in tonight in a no-limit game with KK against the dang rockets.....whew. did i ever lose a bundle. what do you want to know?

[bruce]

Well I did that myself playing in a big pot limit game myself. Went broke against the live one, the fellow who happens to own a sports franchise when he was so drunk he couldn't even hold his cards straight. I knew I was in troulbe when he said after I put all my money in, "what are we playing, bruce, lowball"

Bruce

[Dynasty]

You make it 3 bets or you stop playing 30-60.

[AceHigh]

I think you should reraise and bet the river.

[Rick Nebiolo]

bruce,

This sequence by your opponent acting after you often indicates a very strong hand . She raised BTF but didn't go to war after you reraised head up out of position. She called your flop bet with a baby board. She raised the turn after another baby came. This trapping style leads me to believe it is almost even money she has aces

Still, you have the second best pair. I'd just call the turn raise. If she is getting frisky with AQ or AK she might fold to a reraise anyway. She might even fold the smaller big pairs. But AA puts in another raise and I think you would have to pay it off since QQ, the other KK, or even JJ might do the same.

If I just called the turn raise I'd lead back in on the river if a ten through king hit (otherwise check-call). This gets the weaker pairs and good AK or AQ type hands to call (where they might have checked behind). Even aces might find it hard to raise again, but if you were raised again, you might be able to fold against a long time opponent but not a new one, even one that seemed "pretty solid".

Regards,

Rick

[Pot-A]

I'd probably reraise. She knows that board didn't help you, and she knows you would three-bet to drive out the big blind with a lesser hand than you'd normally need to raise.

There's only one hand she can have you lose to and she has every reason to play this way with a hand that's good enough to sho down. So reraise and call her down if she raises again. Otherwise bet the river unless you see an ace.

[bruce]

Automatically three betting in this spot is not a default mechanism for me. If the opener was in an early spot three betting in this spot is pretty automatic. I can more clearly define a range of hands from this player ( JJ, QQ,
Ace big etc.) but with a button raiser esp. a seemingly solid player in addtion to these hands she can have a small
pocket pair, suited connectors, or Ace small. I don't have
my math here in front of me (and I'm not sure if I did it correctly) but when you take into account all the different permutations and your frequency of winning and losing and the number of bets you win and lose depending upon the results it is pretty damn close playing it either conservatively or aggressively. For the record
I called her raise and led out on the river and my hand was good. Don't know what she had.

Bruce

[Rick Nebiolo]

bruce,

Perhaps my response inticated a line of play that was a bit too conservative. I'd have done the same as you (called the turn raise) but I lead the river only if a ten or paint comes. OTOH, I thought callling or three betting the turn was close as it appears you did.

Anyway, you put in a lot more thought into this problem then I did. Did you think it was anywhere near even money that she was very strong based on her play of the first three rounds (as I thought) or am I fearing a snake under every rock?

~ Rick

[bruce]

I played with her maybe three or four orbits and the two hands which she showed down both times she called an earlier position better without raising either time. One time she meekly called when she had KQ and she had flopped top pair and there was an early postion aggressive player who was doing all the betting. When she then became very aggressive against me I decided to slow down a bit. I did not want to reraise her and then be
faced with her reraising me and then I am in a pickle. I see enough So. Cal. players who
will automatically reraise in this spot and then check the
river. Was she capable of doing this? I really don't know.
Based on her previous play I was somewhat fearful of her outflopping me and actually having triplicates or better.

Bruce