KK heads up

[Rico Suave]

Yup, a heads up post in the micro-limits forum--who would have thunk. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I do not have a read on my opponent. Here is the hand in question.

Party Poker 1/2 (10 handed)
Rico has Kd, Ks and is BB

Button folds, SB raises, Rico calls

Flop(4 SB): 5h, Qh, 6s

SB bets, Rico calls

Turn(3 BB): Qs

SB bets, Rico raises, SB folds

My question here is how bad did I play this? I hate slow playing and I hardly ever do it, but in this situation, I thought it might be correct. Here is what I was thinking.

The SB could be trying to steal with a marginal hand. If I 3-bet pf, he would likely fold to my flop bet. I am sure many will say (maybe correctly) that "it is better to win a small pot than lose a bigger one." But I thought my hand was big enough to justify trying to extract more bets.

My plan was to call (or bet if checked to) and then raise on the river. Is this a bad plan?

Well, I know, I did not stick to my plan....I am not sure why when the 2nd spade fell and there were 2 hearts and 2 spades on the board, I felt this overwhelming urge to "charge a draw",and so I raised.

Anyway, does any of this make sense? I do not believe I have ever been in this situation before (I only play $1-2, so it is no wonder). Should I have just rammed and jammed as I do in almost every other scenario?

All comments welcome.

--Rico

[scotnt73]

I think you played this just right. You made the most in this situation.

[rkiray]

Well since I will often suspect the sb of trying to steal I will reraise with hands much weaker than this, when I actually get a premium hand I want to raise right away. This helps disquise my other plays and I may get paid off well if I had been caught trying to resteal earlier. At these limits these plays may not matter though. Any opinions on that?

[Alobar]

I think you played the hand really well. You got him to bet out the flop and the turn, which he prolly wouldnt have done had you re-raised pre flop. As he may have just check folded the flop, or the turn. You can really only do so much, and its luck weather or not he hits a card and gives you action. You got some extra bets out of him and still gave him the oportunity to play back at you. You do miss out tho if he is actually holding something like AT and would have come back at you pre flop. Its only a shame you didnt get to go down to the river and win with a showdown, I love when this happens when someone tries to steal my blind from the button or SB, and then I show something like KK or AA, cuz they dont try it again, and lots of times if it was the SB guy and it gets folded around to him in another hand, he just folds.

[JTG51]

I'd 3-bet preflop. Most players won't fold on the flop, even if they were stealing with junk and totally missed. When you find players that will give up easily you should 3-bet them more often, not less.

The Q on the turn is possibly the worst card in the deck for you to raise on (other than maybe an A). You'll get 3-bet on the rare occasions when you are behind, and he'll fold most of the other times. Given the way you played it up till the turn, calling and raising the river might have been better.

[Nottom]

Honestly when the Q on the turn came I think I would have just called. A raise is going to fold most non-Q hands and you will get 3-bet by a Q. You will often get an extra BB by letting him bet again on the river with a worse hand.

If he has the flush, you will often get the same amount of bets if he misses (since he will often bluff the river) while saving a bet or 2 when he makes it.

That said, I would have 3-bet preflop and just pounded away at him. No one ever believes you have a big hand when you raise heads up.