How to play KK in cash games?

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HSmith

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So on my pokertracker my biggest losing hand is KK, im over 2000 big blinds down with it and its the single hand thats stopping me from being a profitable player.
So how i play them is just like AA or QQ, natural pre flop raise if first to act, re raise if the same has opened the betting. Now the problem i have is that either everyone folds and i win very little, the other player has AA and i dont get lucky, or the player gets a flush on the river. Im obviously losing massive pots here, and it needs sorting out, im tempted to just fold them and move onto the next hand to avoid the bs. I also find when i have AA and they have KK they king almost always comes on the river...
Any advice please i will be so grateful, im up with my other pocket pairs, just KK that im totally haunted by
 
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pineknob

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So on my pokertracker my biggest losing hand is KK, im over 2000 big blinds down with it and its the single hand thats stopping me from being a profitable player.
So how i play them is just like AA or QQ, natural pre flop raise if first to act, re raise if the same has opened the betting. Now the problem i have is that either everyone folds and i win very little, the other player has AA and i dont get lucky, or the player gets a flush on the river. Im obviously losing massive pots here, and it needs sorting out, im tempted to just fold them and move onto the next hand to avoid the bs. I also find when i have AA and they have KK they king almost always comes on the river...
Any advice please i will be so grateful, im up with my other pocket pairs, just KK that im totally haunted by



Maybe keep the pot small from thev start? Play them like they are 8s? Let the info of the flop be your friend... and when you flop trips you can make more because they wont suspect your that strong... and if you lose iy wont be that much.
 
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roman5551993

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If you have more chips than the other players go all-in.
 
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EarnDAStack

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So on my pokertracker my biggest losing hand is KK, im over 2000 big blinds down with it and its the single hand thats stopping me from being a profitable player.
So how i play them is just like AA or QQ, natural pre flop raise if first to act, re raise if the same has opened the betting. Now the problem i have is that either everyone folds and i win very little, the other player has AA and i dont get lucky, or the player gets a flush on the river. Im obviously losing massive pots here, and it needs sorting out, im tempted to just fold them and move onto the next hand to avoid the bs. I also find when i have AA and they have KK they king almost always comes on the river...
Any advice please i will be so grateful, im up with my other pocket pairs, just KK that im totally haunted by


I think it's possible that you're playing your KK too passive and then letting your opponent dictate how big the pot can get by doing so. When you have such a strong hand preflop you want to keep pressure on them and try and get value out of weaker hands, not let them hit your draws by being too timid. I would recommend you take a look through your hand history and see if your bet sizing was giving your opponents cheap draws that ended up beating you or you let people see the flop too cheap and thus are only getting big action from a hand that out flopped you. One of the things I try and ask myself while I'm playing is why is the villain looking to get this many chips in here? Especially if he's turned into the aggressor.

Also maybe review relative hand strength your kings have in some of the hands you lost big in. I don't think a hand like KK should be losing so many BBs. It's possible you're giving it too much value on boards that are really unfriendly to KK
 
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HSmith

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Maybe keep the pot small from thev start? Play them like they are 8s? Let the info of the flop be your friend... and when you flop trips you can make more because they wont suspect your that strong... and if you lose iy wont be that much.
Would you not called a re raise to your 3 bet or an all in with your Kings? Because this is what im faced when against aces
 
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Streetwylde

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If you are playing in freerolls or very low stakes good luck with even AA. These are donkinfested tourneys and they will call all in with J5s and such and I know because it happened to me. They saved the donk with the miracle with a J and a 5. For one thing no good player is going to call an all in with J5s EVEN if they are short stacked say even with only 5 bb left let alone call when they have a bigger stack. It's just hard to win at the lower stacks because of such terrible play from the DONKS...
 
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HSmith

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I think it's possible that you're playing your KK too passive and then letting your opponent dictate how big the pot can get by doing so. When you have such a strong hand preflop you want to keep pressure on them and try and get value out of weaker hands, not let them hit your draws by being too timid. I would recommend you take a look through your hand history and see if your bet sizing was giving your opponents cheap draws that ended up beating you or you let people see the flop too cheap and thus are only getting big action from a hand that out flopped you. One of the things I try and ask myself while I'm playing is why is the villain looking to get this many chips in here? Especially if he's turned into the aggressor.


Also maybe review relative hand strength your kings have in some of the hands you lost big in. I don't think a hand like KK should be losing so many BBs. It's possible you're giving it too much value on boards that are really unfriendly to KK
How is re raising a passive play? I play the hand very aggressively and not letting people see cheap flops, turns and rivers, like I said, the main reason I lose with kings is because I keep running into aces, is there a way to avoid this?!
 
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pineknob

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Would you not called a re raise to your 3 bet or an all in with your Kings? Because this is what im faced when against aces


odds are literally in your favor that most of the time they wont have aces. (25 to 1 on 10 player table) .. so u just have to call unless you have info that tells you they would never do that with any hand but aces... 96% of the time you are starting out ahead of all other hands. Do any of these situations reveal something useful that tells you to fold? If not. Call. If you cannot afford the loss then maybe play lower stakes or accept less winning to have less variance.
 
ssangyongpoker

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Personally for me, KK is just like AA.. It is very hard to play because at the end of the day it all matters how the cards fall out.. Sometimes luck will be on your side, sometimes it will not

For me it is very hard to fold KK.. I never see myself folding this hand
 
Peppinotom

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So on my pokertracker my biggest losing hand is KK, im over 2000 big blinds down with it and its the single hand thats stopping me from being a profitable player.
So how i play them is just like AA or QQ, natural pre flop raise if first to act, re raise if the same has opened the betting. Now the problem i have is that either everyone folds and i win very little, the other player has AA and i dont get lucky, or the player gets a flush on the river. Im obviously losing massive pots here, and it needs sorting out, im tempted to just fold them and move onto the next hand to avoid the bs. I also find when i have AA and they have KK they king almost always comes on the river...
Any advice please i will be so grateful, im up with my other pocket pairs, just KK that im totally haunted by
If you still need a poker tracker, you shouldnt play cash games, as a software doesn't adjust as fast as a REAL poker player :sheep:

KK is all in (latest on the rivr, in case ther is no ace on the board... you loose to AA, shit happens) may the KING return!!!, whomever you play. Or has anybody ever folded KK in a cash game???
 
hachile1

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So on my pokertracker my biggest losing hand is KK, im over 2000 big blinds down with it and its the single hand thats stopping me from being a profitable player.
So how i play them is just like AA or QQ, natural pre flop raise if first to act, re raise if the same has opened the betting. Now the problem i have is that either everyone folds and i win very little, the other player has AA and i dont get lucky, or the player gets a flush on the river. Im obviously losing massive pots here, and it needs sorting out, im tempted to just fold them and move onto the next hand to avoid the bs. I also find when i have AA and they have KK they king almost always comes on the river...
Any advice please i will be so grateful, im up with my other pocket pairs, just KK that im totally haunted by


first you have to define if you speak first at the table or not because the ideal when you have this kind of hand like KK or AA and you speak last, if an opponent raises in this case immediately send all in and still important details if you are used to being careful and suddenly you raise or put an all in this case it is clear that your opponents will give up their hand because he will feel that you have a strong hand, the psychology comes into play you must at most avoid showing your style of play to your opponents. another technique is not to raise and let your opponents touch their J or Q and immediately put all in and there will follow you you will have a good chance of winning with these hands good luck
 
TheSeaWizard

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I myself have a tendency to destroy my opponent's KK about 60%-ish of the time.

KK is a hand that you want to play more aggressively than not. I often win with the hand when I get it myself. It doesn't happen super often that your opponent has AA. So play KK as aggressively as you can, all-in if you have to, preferably in position.
 
LanaRhoades

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I raise 3x and then a heavy C bet.If the vilian calls so I go all in!
 
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mulliongc

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The problem with big pairs like KK or AA is this. Players fall in love with them and lose to much when they don't stand up. I say "Play them fast early, but don't fall in love with them like they can't be beaten, because they can be beaten." Remember the old addage, "AA usually wins a small pot and loses a big pot." That goes double, maybe triple for KK. And why does it work that way? Because players fall in love with the fickle hands of AA or KK.
 
Datdude1

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I've seen KK get taken down at the tables plenty of times and it's kinda insane how often it happens. When I get KK, depending on my chip stack and where we are in the tournament I'm making a very significant bet or all in to try to get those 'river luck' hands off of the table so my chances are better.
 
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Having read a few comments I agree with the previous reviews that either you are playing too passively or after the flop you raise too little, which is a chance for your opponent's stake. or it also happens that KK loses and AA also loses because they do not have 100% to win. it means not your day today
 
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pineknob

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I just 4 bet KK in a cash game and they all folded.. position helps.
 
frost234

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I play the КК aggressively preflop, and then I play according to the situation
 
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ribelstraip

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So on my pokertracker my biggest losing hand is KK, im over 2000 big blinds down with it and its the single hand thats stopping me from being a profitable player.
So how i play them is just like AA or QQ, natural pre flop raise if first to act, re raise if the same has opened the betting. Now the problem i have is that either everyone folds and i win very little, the other player has AA and i dont get lucky, or the player gets a flush on the river. Im obviously losing massive pots here, and it needs sorting out, im tempted to just fold them and move onto the next hand to avoid the bs. I also find when i have AA and they have KK they king almost always comes on the river...
Any advice please i will be so grateful, im up with my other pocket pairs, just KK that im totally haunted by
This situation is called "cooler". Both players and AA and KK play mathematically correctly, through a raise, re-raise, ol-in, since the hands are "bonus" and have high chances of winning the hand, the rest is "dispersion" or just luck. And the position is not important. Hands like AA and KK are played aggressively from any position.
 
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AAJovheart

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you need to be agressive and keep the pressure, if you find an insistent caller or a big bet caller then the flag is up especially if the board texture is wet
 
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Bobby6Hill

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No chance

KK is just like AA in my eyes, but try waiting for the flop some more
 
Secret Rival

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Excellent thread. New to the site, clicked on this thread by chance.

Very informative, thanks guys and ladies.
 
Perceval

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you need to be agressive and keep the pressure, if you find an insistent caller or a big bet caller then the flag is up especially if the board texture is wet


If all players are or become aggressive, the game becomes BINGO ....
My opinion: too many players play too aggressively.
 
tauri103

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in cash game I prefer to play KK as if I played with AA. 9 bet preflop even if he has not had a raise before I take the floor. It depends on several factors after the flop but usually. I fold if he has an Ace and my opponent bet too expensive. this strategy is especially good in the long run because we take less risk of being called by the hands of rubbish and when we touch a good spot.on can make his hand to the maximum.
 
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