Top Pair Decent Kicker OTB - Mistake?

[ericlambi]

Wish I had the HH for this, but here goes. 4 players left in PP $20+2:

Villain (T3500) Posts BB - $200
Hero (T2200) Posts SB - $100
SmallStack1 (T1400)
SmallStack2 (T900)

SmallStack1 folds, SmallStack2 folds.

I have KJo and raise to 600. Villain calls. Flop

K95r

I bet out 600. Villain calls. Turn is random card. Pot has 2400, I have 1000. I push. Villain calls. River comes and villain turns over K5 (soooooted of course).

Was this a mistake or bad luck? I probably could have cruised into the money if I hadn't gotten involved with the big stack. The others were playing tight waiting for someone else to leave . . . could have taken chips from them pretty easily. I don't know at which point I get away from this hand though if it was a mistake.

[sir..please]

this is quite a tough one, i'm kind of stumped but i reckon i would have played it the exact same way. I think the word for it is unfortunate

[downtown]

I think you're getting mixed up with the big stack with a marginal holding. You need to think about why you are raising the big stack and why it's a bad idea with this holding. What's your plan if he reraises you all in? (If it were me, I would potentially do this with air.)

Moving on to the flop action, you need to shut down when your flop bet is called. That call along with the preflop call should scare you. If the big stack can try to move you off your hand with no problem, why isn't he?

Obviously it's also bad luck here, and maybe he would have played the K5 the same way, but in the long run be more cautious when mixing it up with the only bigger stack on the bubble.

P.S. It sucks to have that big stack on your left, I know. It happened to me yesterday 32450982034958109 times.

[beetyjoose]

Obviously it is unlucky that your dominate position got turned on you post flop. However I would have not raised with that hand from the small blind against a big stack. There is really no need.

With that being said, if you raise with that hand and hit it, you're probably in it for the long haul.

[ericlambi]

That's really my question. Do you get involved with KJo against the only person that can take you out of the tourney?

Once I hit, there is really no way around the hand.

What do you have to have in this position to get involved? What's the lowest pair you would play here? Would you play AQ/AJ/etc.?

It all depends on how the big stack is playing. 4-handed with high blinds, KJo on the button is not that bad but the situation where you're just out of the money makes it bad to raise with. This is a hand that I would limp or fold with, and it all depends on what I think he'll do. If you limp and he raises big at you, then fold and you'll know to not limp at him. The key is to try to keep the pot small, and it makes it much harder for the other guy to try to bluff you out when he has to risk so much to win so little.

I would only raise here if and only if I knew that there was a very good chance that the guy would fold. The problem with raising is that if he calls, you commit yourself to the pot when your chips are that low, so you can't let go of top pair with any decent kicker. Imagine if the pot was only 500 because you limped and he called. Would he bet hard if he flopped 2 pair? If he does, then you can fold without question. What if he bets weak? Then you can call without question.