Capitalizing with Kings
When it comes to starting hands that are hard to get away from, pocket Kings is definitely in the top three along with pocket Aces and AK. For whatever reason, strong starting hands can cause players to lose their minds and lose their chips at the same time when they refuse to believe that their hand is beatable, even when the board comes as scary as possible. No starting hand guarantees success, though you can often trace why someone lost with Kings back to how they actually played them.
Slowplaying Kings pre-flop is practically never an option except for the rarest of circumstances. If you limp and get four callers and an Ace comes on the flop, there’s a very good chance that your hand is all but completely useless now. Not only do Kings require a pre-flop raise, they also warrant a re-raise if someone raises in front of you. One raise will get anyone with a weak Ace to fold, while a re-raise will get everyone to fold who doesn’t hold a very premium starting hand.
On the flop, you should be in good shape if there’s no ace and you raised pre-flop, especially if the board is something like J-8-4 rainbow. Some players will chose to check in this situation and try and trap others, but this can be risky in case you were called by AQ and now you might be letting someone draw at an ace for free. Since it’s unlikely that your hand will improve on the next two streets, it would be wise to make a bet and try and take down the pot right there.
Now comes the hard part, the moments when a ace does come on either the flop or a following street. If you or someone else raised pre-flop and there were two callers or more, it’s very likely that this ace hit someone, especially if an opponent bets out on this flop before the action gets around to you. I know it’s hard to throw away these premium hands, but you need to be able to recognize when you’re beat, as you will just lose more and more chips if you can’t handle getting away from big pairs.
By: Chris Iaquinta
