What I did was right?

Question

I'm a newbie in Poker and so I would like you to judge the rightness of my actions on the following hand:

Yesterday I was playing NL Hold'em and my cards were a premium hand, K♣ K♦. We were playing 9-handed. I was in the worst position: UTG. Because of the premium hand, I raised to 3x. UTG + 1, UTG + 2 and UTG + 3 folded, but the Hijack 3-bets to 6x. Cut-Off and Button call. The SB and BB called too. To show aggression, I 4-bet to 18x. The two blinds folded this time, but the Hijack, Cut-Off and Button called. So I was going to the flop out of position against 3 opponents.

The flop came 3♣,5♦,6♥. No flush was possible, but anyone with a 2,4 or 4,7 could've hit a straight. This time I called to see other's reactions (Should I have raised ?). The Hijack called, the Cut-Off folded and the Button called too.

The turn came 5♣. Anyone with a 5 would've made a set and then I would be smashed unless the gods helped me on the river with another K. I decided to just call. The Hijack raised four times and the Button folded. So I was left with a difficult question: to fold for fourth's action or not? I called.

The river was: A♥. This didn't help me; on the contrary, made my situation even worse, because any other A would form a pair of Aces. However, to pretend that I was in the best with a set of Aces, I went all-in, hoping him to be scared and fold. The villain called and so the showdown was:

Board cards: 3♣,5♦,6♥ 5♣ A♥

My hand: K♣K♦

Opponent's hand: K♦2♦

I won with a pair of Kings, however, what I did was total gambling. Were my actions correct? If not, what should I have done? Should I have given up when that 5 appeared on the turn and the villain was representing a set ?

Answer 1

Your preflop actions look fine. You have the second best starting hand in poker, so 4betting strongly is correct.

The 3-5-6 rainbow flop is coordinated, but you worrying about hands like 2-4 and 4-7 is just silly. Think about it: would you call a 4-bet preflop with this kind of hand? Probably not unless you were super deepstacked (which you didn't mention, so I assume no).

On the other hand, one of your opponents might have a set, but you can't go through your poker life scared of monsters under the bed. You showed aggression preflop, so c-betting is normal and customary.

The board pairing on the turn doesn't change anything. Either you're still ahead or you're still behind. Bet again.

You don't mention stack sizes, so it's hard to evaluate shoving the river. That said, your reasons seem suspect. In poker you should be betting to either get Value or as a Bluff. These are the two primary (and I would argue only reasons) that you should be betting. What are you trying to get value from by shoving here? What better hands are you trying to get to fold?

A reasonable line on the river would be check-call to induce a bluff.

[and btw, the hand your opponent turned over is irrelevant to how you played the hand. In the future, don't post it.]

Answer 2

I think that pre-flop is pretty strange play by your opponents unless you guys are super deep.

When you say you raised 3x because of the premium hand you should probably start re-thinking this tactic pre-flop. If you raise 3x with premium hand and 2x with hands that are worse this is pretty exploitable play.

I would then say that depending on how deep you are (and unless you are super deep) there is 33 BB in the pot when it comes to you to act when you 4x. At this point an all in shove is a pretty standard play (unless you are super deep) After your 4x there are now 69BB in the pot.

When the flop comes i think your thinking is pretty off. First when you see a flop like this it is a dry flop. That means that it is unlikely to have hit any of your opponents ranges (the cards that your opponents may have).

Nobody should have a 2,4 or 4,7 why would you be calling 18x with these hands? It would be pretty strange.

Now with 66Bb in the pot and a dry flop we should be moving all in a lot of the time here. (Again this really depends on the size of your stack here, normally I would raise about half the pot on this flop so around 30BB but normally this would not leave you much behind so you may as well shove all in you'll be committed anyway)

So if things went as you described to the turn and the board pairs you really cannot be worrying about about a set here. If someone has a five then that's a little unfortunate and you will just have to take the bad beat because considering the set here is negative ev in the long run. So you should be happy the board pairs, this helps us. Now again you have to shove all in here.

I think you line is way too cautious, I think you have to be way more aggressive here.

Answer 3

To make it simple,

Bear in mind that, for those who called your raise in pre-flop, very likely they have an Ace on hand. So basically if there's no Aces on flop, I would raise or even go all-in, not to allow them to draw the chance of catching a pair of Ace.

But if an Ace came out, I would definitely just check.

Answer 4

Although you do not provide stack sizes, still you played the hand very passive. At the flop it is reasonable to assume that you are ahead and make a big bet or even move all in based in the size of the pot.

Answer 5

The truth, imho:

1) You should folded on flop against the str8 possibility, and since "KK" is NOT "AA you should not re-raised on pre-flop.

2) The other guy had a str8 draw. Probably he saw how afraid you was "getting in trouble" too. Maybe he called last hand just a bit tilted by the no-show of the "4" card...