KK hand in home tourney--thoughts please

I was in a 8-person, $20 buy-in home tourney last week. It's down to four players (1st and 2nd get paid) and I'm 2nd with T4400. Player to my left is in first with T5000 or so.

I pick up KK in the SB and, when folded over to me (blinds are 100/200), raise to 800. BB reraises me to 1200 (?). I thought I could take the pot right there, so I pushed. Oops--he called, and flipped over A-10s.

You probably know where this is going: an ace hits the flop, I fail to improve and just like that, am playing pool on the other side of the room.

Maybe a better play would have been to call and decide what to do after seeing the ace show up on the flop.

The preflop all-in was a gross overbet--I had gotten accustomed to my raises being respected at the table, and when he re-raised me a meek 400, I think I overreacted by pushing. I am mostly a limit player and rarely play live NL, except in home tourneys like this, so I'm not sure about my play here.

On the other hand, I suspected he had an ace, and thought I could push him out with the all-in, plus earn T1200 without having to sweat out a flop.

Finally, I think I forgot where I was in terms of chip stacks. I could have called his mini-raise, backed off when the ace hit and still had plenty of ammo. But the blinds double every 1/2 hour, and we were 10 minutes away from doubling them to 200/400. I really didn't want to leave those chips on the table.

Anyone play this hand differently, and if so, how? Anyone else push preflop like I did?

[RiverDood]

You're about a 70/30 favorite to win that hand, pushing preflop. If you want to win tournaments, you'll need to play those sorts of situations hard.

Sorry it didn't work out. Most of the time, if you make that play, you're in the driver's seat to win the whole thing.

If you want to let the other guys fight it out for first -- and just play for the last cashing position, you can play more timidly. But then you'll rue the times you let KK slip away without a fight.

Overall you played it right. You just didn't get lucky.

what happens when the ace hits, you check, he pushes you fold he and shows u 22-qq or any other hand he might have played with.when heads up holding KK an Ace will hit the flop 18% of the time provided ur opp doesnt have one in his hand.assuming u always call and fold when there is ace 18% is pretty big % to fold KK heads up in the late stages of a torny. not knowing relative chip stacks he pushes no matter what on flop, and when he bingo's u , u will post should i have pushed preflop and forced him out?

Take that gamble every time. BTW, his raise was illegal; if you raise to 800 from 200, he's gotta make it at least 1400.

[varoadstter]

Honestly, if you're not excited about getting all your money in with KK you should probably find something else to do with your time.

[BillFranklin]

you made the right call. you were a big favorite but just got unlucky. It happens.

[Khabbi]

You definately made the right play and suffered what Phil H would refer to as a bad beat. You were the favorite and you got all your money in with the best odds, good play.

This is a pretty common occurence in a lot of tournaments I play in. When you are playing at the lower levels like 5-20 dollar SnG or small home games people see an Ax and cannot wait to get their money in the pot.
Yes it's true you are 70-30 to win and therefor I would push KK here as would most other people I know. Like they said most of the time you double up but you have to realize that about 1/3 times you're taking a rough beat and seeing that A.

[John Bedtelyon]

This is a normal occurence and sadly a bad beat story disguised as a question. This has happened to everyone, and nobody wants to hear about it.

However since you posted it, you were obviously right, you had the MONSTER favorite going in and the only thing you don't want to face is Aces, as that's the only hand better than your kings.

Also, I think it must have been mentioned by now that his raise was illegal which tells us a little something about his skill level, and you were completely right in pushing.

Sympathetic enough?

JMB

Thanks for the replies. . . except for the last one, which accuses me of using this post as a trojan horse for a "bad beat" story. Please. I've got far better bad beat stories than KK losing to A10. PM me if you want to hear them.

The point of this post was to receive critique on my preflop all-in play. Did I make the right decision to risk my tourney right then and there, when I suspected he had an ace? Or should I have called, seen a flop, then acted accordingly? Was pushing with the idea of taking down the pot right then a good move? Or should I have expected a somewhat loose call with an inferior yet dangerous hand in a casual, friendly home-tournament atmosphere? These were the questions I hoped to receive feedback on.

Amazing, how quick people can be at this site to flame. Absolutely amazing.

BTW, it never occurred to me that the re-raise was illegal (which it was). I'll keep an eye out for that when we play again this Friday.