Bubble Play with KK

[benneh]

I'm sorry for not responding quicker, but this actually IS rather standard and boring. I'm sorry that you got bad beat, or ran into aces, or that everyone folded to your all in raise. I'm sure one of these had to happen, or I can't imagine why you would bother posting this as a hand that you thought oh so long and hard about. Just know that a push is the best play here 100 times out of 100 times and find some more interesting hands from the tournament and post them instead.

[Dave D]

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Push

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You have 11 blinds, and even if they both fold you increase your stack by 50% (2.5k+1k+1k+.5k). Ideally one of them will call with a hand less than KK.

The only hand you're scared of is AA. It's possible...but unlikely. Don't forget you're playing for first.

Push

If he calls with AA, it just wasn't your day.
If he calls with QQ/JJ, it just wasn't his day.
If he calls with anything else, he deserves what he gets.

[27offsuit]

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Push

If he calls with AA, it just wasn't your day.
If he calls with QQ/JJ, it just wasn't his day.
If he calls with anything else, he deserves what he gets.

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Well said.

To expand a bit:

I don't play just to limp into the money. I want to make the top 5 (which is usually where the good money is).

The money already in the pot is almost half your stack, so taking it down represents a big win.

The TAG has apparently seen the limper fold in a situation like this before, so could be doing this with any decent hand.

There is a total of one hand you're truly afraid of: AA, but any flop with an Ace is bad news.

There is no reason to let the Villain see the flop without being pot committed ahead of time. He needs to out-flop you, not the reverse.

[Art Vandelay]

First things, folding obviously is not an option and calling is not going to happen here (potentially 3 way pot out of position, yuck). So, the question becomes how much to raise in my view.

Option 1: Min reraise to 5k. UTG+1 becomes pot committed if he's calling this, so if he's playing it's for all his chips. Unless CO is absoltuely donktastic, he's calling another 2.5k into this now monster pot. This is half your stack so I'm not sure I like this move. If you go this route you are pushing nearly any flop, though 3 way with an Ace on the flop you are toast most likely.

Option 2: Push. Any raise other than a min reraise is for too much of your stack so I think it has to be a push. UTG+1 is still in the same boat, as he's playing for all his chips if he continues in this hand regardless of your action. Now, CO has a difficult decision as you've made it much more difficult for him to call off virtually all of his stack, leaving him with ~2BB. If he calls, great, you have the potential to more than double and if UTG+1 calls (I have a feeling you found one of those AA EP limpers) you could really land a big score with your premium holding. If he folds I'm hoping for an UTG+1 call and hopefully we can KO him.

Worst case you push both fold and you add 5k to your stack for an increase of ~33%. Not a bad return on KK. I like the push.

[davidross]

I can't imagine any play other than push. Presumably the CO has the same read on UTG as you do so he could raise with a lot of hands. Even if his range is AK/AA I think a push is in order,and obviously his range is much wider than this.

I'd like to cash, but finishing high is much more important, I'll take the 4500 if they fold, but i'll love the 23K when i double.

Of course I pushed. BUT - I though about it. My good read on the TAG was AA-QQ and AK. UTG+1 folded & the TAG called. Obviously he showed AA by my earlier comments.

Here's the thing - I knew he had it. It was either AA or QQ since I held Kings. I thought that my best chance to win was to fold or hope I was wrong.

I'm certainly not complaining and it isn't a bad beat or sour grapes - my only thought when seeing KK was to get the max chips in the pot. The TAG's raise caused me to stop playing on "KK auto-pilot" and think.

When DO you trust that voice in your head?

[adanthar]

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Here's the thing - I knew he had it. It was either AA or QQ since I held Kings.

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lol

[stevepa]

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Here's the thing - I knew he had it. It was either AA or QQ since I held Kings.

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lol

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Just so OP knows why this quote is funny...given you have KK, there are 6 combos of AA, 6 of QQ and 8 of AK. So your "he has AA or QQ b/c I have KK" is flawed. Your equity against his (absurdly tight) range of AA-QQ, AK is then 57.3% and you have an easy push.

Steve

Note that even if his range is only AA, QQ, you should still push because of the dead money from the limper and blinds.