A hand I should have had the discipline to lay down

[steeser]

Home tourney, 9 people in it. Still relatively early, we start with 100 chips, and I have about T90 left. Blinds are 1/2. I have yet to play a hand outside of my blind, but have played with them before and they respect my play.

Anyways, I pick up KK UTG, and raise it to 6. The button calls, and both blinds come along.

The flop comes down Q22. Checked to me and I bet out 10. Button folds, and the SB goes all-in (similar stack as me). The BB folds and I start putting him on a hand. He is medium loose (he'll play most any ace for a limp, sometimes for a raise) and any/all pocket pairs. I can't put him on QQ as I would have heard about it pre-flop. I also can't give him credit for the 2 being that it was a raised pot. So I quickly call and he turns over A2, and I am out first.

I keep feeling that I should have folded, especially given that I didn't have much equity in the pot, but don't think there was a player at that table that could have done it either.

What would everyone else do?

[jedi]

Couple of things:

1) It's early in the tournament. You have 74 chips if you fold. Plenty of time to come back.

2) You say they respect your play. What would SB check-raise all in with? If he's capable of doing it with a bluff early in the tournament, then calling wasn't a bad choice.

3) Why can't you put someone on a 2 just because the pot was raised? If he can get away from the hand from any unfavorable flop, then he might be right in calling the raise.

I'm not sure if I could have folded in this situation here either, but these are things to think about away from the table.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

I wouldn't have folded here either, the money just isn't deep enough. Odds are more likely he has AQ-QJ than A2 (just about the only hand he can have besides AA or QQ that beats you).

[juris]

Four people see the flop, a paired board with you betting out respectable. He goes all in. I have no idea why you wouldn't think he had a two at that time, but you know him and he's your friend.

You acted upon your instincts, which is good. Your read was wrong, which was obviously bad.

What to do? The "book" answer is fold, because the paired board is scary to your high pair. The bet suggests a boat, trips, or a bluff. With four people in, pretty good odds on a 2 out there somewhere. Fight another day.

I think the real trick though is to figure out why you were so wrong about your read, and work on that. Think about how the guy bets over the long haul, and what he plays. If you just got flat out unlucky, and you might have, then chalk it up to "that's poker" and be sure to include him in all of your future games. It'll even out (and better) in a hurry.