Other than the bad-beat portion of this, I think this is an interesting hand to play with - and part of it comes from the volume of it being a kill pot. What would you do on each street - and if it comes down to it - would you fold anywhere? (against a KKxx hand, I'm approximately a 44:56 underdog on the flop and a 55:45 favorite on the turn)

This is a half-kill hand at a $2/$4 table (so the stakes are $3/$6). I have AAQ2 ds and raise from the BB after 4 limpers and the SB come in - everyone calls, including the kill blind who is 4th to act after the flop. The flop is KJ3 with two suits - both of mine. So - I have the overpair of aces, a gutshot straight draw, a flush draw, a backdoor flush draw and a backdoor low draw. If there's a draw - I have it.

The SB leads out - and I raise to knock out the lows. Only one other person calls back to the SB, who now 3-bets. At this point - I have him positively on a set (and I'm fine with that). I call and so does the other player. The turn is a 4 of the second suit - so all of my backdoor draws have become regular draws... The SB leads, I call - the other player folds.

The river is an ace, giving me top set against a guy I have pegged for a set of kings. He bets, I raise, he reraises, I cap - he calls. He shows 259K and scoops. UGH!

Preflop is an autoraise, obv.

I think your flop raise is not great. You want everyone else in here if at all possible. Why do you want to force anyone out of this pot, as well as paying more bets to see the turn?

I think your thinking on that street is flawed for that reason, unless there is a good chance everyone will call two bets cold, which they won't unless the game is very loose. Anyone who wants to fish in with A2, AK, lower flush draw, lower straight draws etc, for goodness sake LET THEM!

I would call the flop and raise/cap if anyone starts a raising war. I'd bet the turn if SB checks or call again if there are people left to act behind you. If by some miracle it's heads-up with you and SB I would bet/raise on most turns. I really think you gotta let the field put bets in on that flop, though.

On the turn when you hit your second draw I think you have to make it another bet to go. Any card other than a board pair or a Q is liable to give you at least half the pot, you have about 20 outs to a potential scooping hand.

On the river you aggressed the whole way and put in 4 bets for a non-nut high with no low. I certainly wouldn't fold but I don't see why you're raising a hand that almost certainly isn't getting more than a half of the pot.

Think about it - If he has KK then he either has a high only hand (so quite probably a straight made on the river, scooping) or two low cards to go with it (giving him half the pot). I think one raise is maybe OK on the off chance he has top set and counterfeited low or something but in all honesty I think even one raise here is marginal. Capping was a poor play, IMO.

So except for preflop I play it totally different on every street, lol!

However, that is some sickeningly bad beat, Star!

Monk
xxxxx

Well, I posted this because I obviously am thinking better of some of my actions. First of all, what do you think of the read on the flop? The only way he's reraising - in my opinion is with a massive draw like mine (which he obviously can't have because I have it) or with the top set, maybe only a set of jacks. At least, that's what I would put a reasonable player on - this guy was so far off in left field I can't even believe it now.

But you are right about the flop raise - I should be allowing people to come in on this pot to help it grow, not trying to drive people out.

I'm not sure about the raise on the turn though - yes I have plenty of outs - but right now I have nothing. I guess what I'm not sure about is what I hope to gain from the raise - am I trying to drive people out or build the pot?

On the river, I was certain I had him beat. Although you may think he's got a quality high hand or a KKxx with a bad low - I think there's a strong possibility that he's got a very bad king (KK94 or something similar). Of course, his hand was significantly worse than this, but that happens on occasion. Maybe putting in 4 bets on the river is a little rash - that may have been me being frustrated - but I truly believed I was up against a set here. Maybe the problem is that I saw a set and saw nothing else.

Anyway - I do think it is an interesting hand to work with. What do you put him on with his flop raise? What would you put me on if you were him?