Gauss Blog, Never Surrender. Never.

Well its time for a Halloween tale of horror. There’s no candy, it’s a trick and there are no treats.

Oct. 13. 09, I was on the button with KK and a very tight reg who normally opens to 3x opened to 4.5x, from UTG +2. This guys stats are 13/10 over a good sized sample. Flop is J55 he bet $9 into a pot of about $9 on the flop. I called. The turn came another J. He bet pot again, about $30, and I called. On the river he put me all in and I called, thinking only really aces beat me, even though I suspected he had it.

I ignored my read out of frustration, I had been losing some pots and not getting hands, and now that I had kings I didnt want to fold. What does a tag reg put $80 my full stack in with?. An overpair, maybe, but if it is an overpair only the best overpair.

I felt he might have aces, why not three bet to find out?, AK prolly folds and I take the lead and can get away. AA raises or calls depending, but then Id know, id know for sure, and coulvde got away for $12. bad play on all streets. anway. its not all fun and games, the bet fold or the raise fold is a valuable tool. Cant ignore it out of timidity or greed or frustration

Oct 14. 09. Now here I am the very next day again in a full ring .5,1 game on Tilt. In middle position I am dealt KK. It’s folded to me and since Im reading 800 poker internet threads and playing, I make a bet slider mistake and raise 2x to $2 instead of 3×. A player in the hijack calls, the cuff off calls, and the the button raises to $10. Here again the villan on the button is 14,13 statswise, again a solid reg. I call and the hijack folds and the cutoff calls. Flop comes T 5 7 rainbow. I check, cutt off checks button bets $25 into a pot of about $35. I checkraise to $50. Cuff off folds and button tanks and then goes all in. Now at this juncture I have about $50 left as both villan and I started the hand fairly deep with about $130 each. I call off my stack, he shows AA and I lose a stack for the second day in a row with KK.

Here’s the thing. It seems I am good at advising others to remain cautious with naked overpairs, and I even seem to be ok at taking that advice except when it comes to KK. This second hand could also have been dealt with better in a number of ways. First bet at least 3x so you know a reraise is meaningull and its a little less likely your being squeezed. Second, four bet preflop, third recognize that your initial read is correct. A solid reg reraises to 10x in the BB and I feel he has aces, just like the day before, yet somehow I convince myself to continue to the felt with my KK. I could’ve folded or even reriased preflop. When I reraised the flop bet my plan was in fact to fold if he shoved. What I failed to account for was that I would be largely pot committed by making that move. Also, I dont care if Im getting 4 to 1 pot odds when Im 99% sure Im drawing to two outs, $50 buys alot of tacos and this isnt limit holdem.

It is important to note that at 80bb and 125bb both these villans are solid players. If we have villans who think QQ is the nuts as an overpair we have different situations. Given the circumstances they are mistakes. At least the second hand shows some attempt at an evolution in my game. In another way these hands are about hand equivalency, would I feel better in either case holding QQ? If your beat, your beat, right Jen Harmon?

Anyway, I wanted to set out these misplayed KK hands for edumacational purposes. It’s surely not cool to continually be dealt KK when villans have AA, but played well these hands should have cost about $20 each, not $80 and $125. I have done a few things well in all of this: 1. I have recognized a leak and taken the constructive step of blogging about it. 2. After the second beat I got up and went for a walk and thought about the mistake, instead of continuing to play and chasing my losses.

Good Luck, Never Surrender.