[Dominic]

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IMO your conclusion is right but your reasoning wrong. The reason to just call with KK here is because if you push then a decent player calls with AA/KK and gets away from anything else - if you call you can c/r all in on the flop - you still lose the same amount to AA, but win more more QQ,JJ etc.

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this is what I was getting at....thanks for putting it so succinctly!

but what if you're playing against fishy players who will call an all-in with AK-AT to any mid PP? I know in the long run we're way ahead doing this...but is there anything to say for just seeing the flop against BAD players (not just decent ones) to lower your variance on being sucked on against A-blank?

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You don't really lower your "bad" variance by doing this. Getting all in as a 4-1 favorite consistently is FAR favorable to "just calling" preflop and hoping the guy doesn't spike an ace. Also, how do you know he has an ace? I rarely go all in with KK preflop just because most people at the limits I play won't be calling all-in with hands that I beat. If I knew they'd call AT-AK and like 88-QQ, I'd push all day and night. If you are willing to give up such HUGE EV opportunities then NL is definitely not the game for you. It will be very rare that you get your money all in as a better favorite than KK to Ace-Rag or small PP preflop.

For example, say you held T9 and your opponent held KK. The flop was T93 no backdoor flush possible. You'd only have 72% equity - would you wait until the river to lower your variance, or happily go all in now? Here's a hint, your edge in this situation is less than 1% better than getting KK all in vs. AT preflop.
-James

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Good points....and yes, I really have no problem pushing it all-in pre-flop with KK at any time. I'll take my 4-1 against Ace blank anytime. I was just wondering if I was giving anything up by not being so push-happy.

Thanks for the replies!