How to play pocket Kings in Online Poker Tournaments

As my poker play has improved and evolved, I've changed the way I play hands like pocket Kings or Queens. Basically, there are three different ways of playing this hand. In my opinion, the worst and least profitable way is to simply 'call.' Without question, if you simply call you can quickly transition from having the best preflop odds to the worst post flop odds. Despite increasing the number of people in the pot after the flop, this strategy likely won't make you very much chips. First of all, there is now a very good chance that you simply get out flopped by a junk hand. Secondly, even if you flop a set of kings, most of the players that limped in will simply fold to any bet, so even if you get a monster flop, you won't likely get any reciprocal betting action.

The second way of playing pocket kings is possibly even more dangerous. In the past, I would often make a small raise as I was afraid of getting out flopped. I would usually only raise 2 to 3x the big blind. This puts you in a very precarious position. If there is an Ace on the flop, three suited cards, or a three consecutive cards, you are now in a very difficult position. If someone has the flush, str8, or even an open ended str8 draw or set of fives, either you will simply lose your preflop raise or risk going all in and getting knocked out. There's clearly nothing worse than putting yourself in a position where you let yourself get beat by a player who calls you with ace rags and flops an ace. Eitherway, this strategy can put you in a position where you have three or more people in the pot with you and you have a very difficult decision to make. Too many times this option results in you losing to either ace rags, or someone who called with a marginal hand on the BB who hits two pair, a flush, a str8, or a draw they want to gamble on. It's rarely profitable as you now either have to risk your entire stack to win the pot anyway or fold and lose your preflop raise.

The third scenario is the most profitable, but also the most risky. Depending on the size of the blind, I like to make a very big raise with a hand like pocket KK. Prefop, you are getting better odds on any hand except pocket AA. Any day of the week, I would prefer to make a big raise and not getting action on my bet and even take down a small blind than to be put in a situation where I lose my preflop raise or have to call an all in after the flop when my odds of winning could be dramatically worse. More often than not, when you make a very large preflop raise, people usually either fold or put you all in which is what you want. Most of the time, the only hands that will call you will be a lower pocket pair or AK/AQ/AJ.

The reason for this strategy is simple. You are getting 2:1 odds on even suited AK and a very good chance to double your stack if they call. If you get called by a lower pair you have 4:1 odds! If you are unlucky enough to get called by pocket AA, though your odds of winning are very low (4:1), if you had simply raised and he called and there was low rainbow flop, you might have called his all in anyway. Preflop your odds might be very bad vs pocket AA, but if you hit a low rainbow flop, they get dramatically worse (from 4:1 to 10:1). I would much rather go all in preflop with KK vs AA, than to go all in after a low rainbow flop with KK vs AA!

I've been put all in this situation by pocket AA many times. Surpsingly, I've managed to get lucky and catch a king on the turn or river or sometimes the first card on the flop. In a tournament, I would rather take the chance of doubling my stack or getting knocked out vs. losing my preflop raise and getting crippled. Once your chip stack gets crippled, you can't really do much. Hence, you are always better off taking the chance to get to play doubled up than you are to play it safer and risk getting crippled anyway.

With a crippled chip stack, it's virtually impossible to bluff pots and you can't call very many pots. When your stack does get crippled, even if you are only in the bottom third, it becomes very difficult to play. If you call some preflop raises and miss, then your stack starts depleting very quickly. Or if you hit something on the flop, you are likely to get bluffed off after the flop by someone with a good draw or a few overcards. Even if you call their bluffs, they might catch something on the turn or river and knock you out anyway. Quite simply, the big stacks can afford to gamble and you cannot.