Losing lots of money with KK.

[AlexMR]

I keep getting KK vs. AA constantly. SERIOUSLY. I am involved in that situation at least once every two days, or once every 2000 hands is my estimate.

I just cant believe what is happening to me and the consistency that keeps happening. I know that most people would've quit before all this happen to them. I keep asking myself when the numbers are going to even out because I am just getting the bad side over and over. I was checking my PT stats for the last 40K hands and with my MId/small pocket pairs I am only hitting a set once in 13.2 attempts which is way below the statistical 1 in about 9 attempts.

I really think I have been playing very well. But there is nothing I can do. Maybe stop pushing and calling all ins with KK preflop? Do you think it is -EV not to do it? I cant remember the last time I was called or when I called an all in preflop with KK that it wasnt against AA. Seriously. I just cant remember. If you check my journal you will find an insane amount of those hands, and I remember a post back in nov/december 2005 when I was saying something about how rare the KK vs. AA situation is, because in a whole year playing probably 150K hands, I hadnt been dealt KK vs. AA more than 2 times.

BTW, I am i a 16-17buy in downswing. I hit one of -11buy ins this just two months ago. I am feeling so frustrated I cant even describe it. I feel like quitting but I know I wont do it. Not while I have 40buy ins to play NL$50. This is brutal. I have the worst luck ever. Period. ...and I dont even believe in luck.

Only today, I lost four buy ins, after losing the 5 big pots I played. I lost full stacks with three sets, a str8 vs. trips all in on turn and the KK vs. AA hand.

Well, the whole point of this post was to ask if you think at NL$100 is a bad idea to call ALL INS with KK or push ALL in with it. I honestly cant remember the last tme anything other than AA called me, as I said. I know it used to be -EV to fold KK preflop except with the most solid read, now i feel is the other way around...

[ua1176]

[DoctorHandles]

I think you need to decide what you want from poker. You posted not so long ago your statistics before moving up to NL $200, and a lot of them were "less than ideal." When posters told you this, you claimed it was because you play so many tables at once.

If you're just trying to bonus whore and want to be a grinder, making an unoptimal play because your attention is better elsewhere or set-mining is fine. It won't, however, help you become a better poker player and potentially allow you to make more money.

Figure out what you want from poker. Also I don't know your current financial situation, but having to make a certain amouont of money in a certain amount of time is a recipe for disaster. You can't force good cards to come.

[AlexMR]

having to make certain amount of money in a certain amount of time?

Who said that?? Dont get me wrong. My last database has more than 60K hads and shows me as a 4PTBB/100 winner. That is not huge but it is way more than what most players can show. I am always willing to change things in my game. I decided to tighte up because I wanted to start playing lots of tables and I was certainly unable to keep the pace playing my standard 17/3.5 game. I am now a 12-13/2 and i still get lots of action. Even when I raise preflop. Oposition on these stakes is sometimes overestimated. "You wont get any action if you only raise premium hands" is about the biggest lie I have ever heard. More than 80K hands proved that to me.

I believe a very high winrate can be achieved in NL$100 with a very low VP$IP. "Less than ideal" VP$IP. I have learned and seen many things in this year and a half playing poker and one of those things is very good players trying to match their numbers to the "ideal/optimal" point. OBSESSING about those "ideal" numbers. That is a mistake. That is a recipe for disaster. We have tools like PT that are there to show us where the real leaks are. As you find them and work on solving them you become a better player. If I raise AA-JJ/AK and get plenty of action, I might leave some EV by not raising TT and 99 but probably it is OK if I feel the variance is not worth the EV I am losing.

As for what I want from poker, as i said in my journal, I want to give myself a shot at higher games as my expertise and BR allow, but if for some reason I need to stay at NL$100 being a 4.5PTBB/100hands winner, that is OK for me. I wont complain.

[DoctorHandles]

[MTPaid]

This may be really wrong of me to comment here because I'm only playing $20/$25 NL right now and most of what I experience is not relevant to $200 NL even though I consider myself much better than your average $25NL player. (I hope that comes across as confidence and not arrogance) Yet, something here has jumped out at me. I'll say it and then you can all laugh at me if you want.

When I see someone that's 13/2 I give them action too. I actually think it's even easier playing them because I feel like I almost know what they have, even at the lower levels. If I don't flop more than a pair I drop it. They are always going to win the minimum from me while I will often take there stack. I will even call a slightly larger than normal sized raise from them sometimes because I'm so sure I'm getting there stack if I hit. I find it much harder to play against someone that is low 20's/7 to 10. Hopefully that made sense.

[Pozzo]

[k3nt]