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POKER STRATEGY - PLAYING KK AND QQ |
Playing Pocket Kings and Queens
in Hold'em
written by BeatTheFish.com
...Fishy
says, "Are you kidding me? Even the fish know to raise these
hands!"
Pocket Kings and Queens are great to be
dealt preflop in hold’em. They’re made hands and you’ve got a big
pair already, even if you don’t improve. Unfortunately, they’re also
very vulnerable hands that can get you into a lot of trouble. For
this reason, you should very rarely, if ever, slowplay these two
pocket pairs. You’re just asking your opponents to take your money
if you do.
Suppose you get dealt Q-Q in third position. Naturally, you’re going
to play the hand, but how should you play it? In a no-limit cash
game, suppose you just smooth call the minimum bet. Much to your
disappointment, no one raises the pot behind you so you can reraise.
Instead, 4 other players call the minimum bet and both blinds stay
in. The flop comes down J-10-6 with two clubs. With an overpair to
the board, you feel pretty confident right now. There are 7 players
in the pot who’ve come in on the cheap. The small blind checks and
the big blind makes a reasonable bet.
You raise him, and everyone folds to the button who goes all-in. The
big blind calls the all-in bet and action is back to you. This is a
terrible situation for you, because while you have an overpair to
the board, what could these guys possibly have to make that large of
a bet? You nervously call. The big blind turns over 10-6 offsuit for
two pair, and the buttons turns over the 5-3, both clubs on a flush
draw. The turn brings a K of hearts, and the river a 2 of clubs. The
button rakes in the massive pot with his completed flush.
This type of hand is very common, especially in online poker. When
you allow that many players to come in for the minimum bet, you’re
going to see all sorts of garbage hands stay with the hand. You
can’t even really fault the guy with the 5-3 – he’s getting great
pot odds to see a flop. With 7 players seeing a flop of two more
suited cards, you can be reasonably sure that at least one opponent
has two more of them. Someone else could have a set or two pair. And
sometimes you’ll run into opponents who have slowplayed pocket pairs
even bigger than yours!
The lesson is: you’re not going to know where you stand with Q-Q or
K-K unless you raise preflop! When you raise, you’re going to thin
the field out and those trash hands are going to think twice about
staying in the hand. Raise it enough, and only the complete idiots
and premium hands will stay with you. Fire in a pot-sized raise from
any position and see what happens. If you’re in early position and
get reraised, slow it down a little. With Q-Q, you’ll probably just
want to call the reraise and see a flop. He could have A-K, K-K, or
A-A. When you have K-K, you can consider putting all your chips in
at this point. K-K is a little safer because the only way you’re
beat at this point is if your opponent is holding Aces.
Be very careful on the flop with these two pocket pairs. Invariably,
you’re going to see an Ace come on the flop all too often when you
have pocket Kings. What are you going to do? Since you raised
preflop, your opponent is likely to have called with big cards,
perhaps an Ace-high hand. If you’re first to act after the flop, bet
a small amount with the intent of getting more information. If he
raises you with any authority, you should probably fold.
You’re also going to run into times where you have Q-Q or K-K and
end up all-in against A-A. It seems to happen a lot because these
are hands that people are willing to go all-in with preflop. The few
times that these hands are dealt together, both opponents are
usually going to end up all-in. One quick note to consider about
Q-Q: if you make a standard raise and get reraised all-in, do you
think that your opponent is likely to have done that with a worse
hand than Q-Q? If not, throw your hand away.
Play your Queens and Kings right: raise ‘em hard preflop, and be
willing to let them go if you get too much action for your liking or
the flop brings an overcard.
Back to
General Poker
Strategy
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may not be used in any form without permission.
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