Whether you’re playing free texas holdem poker or $1000 Buy-in the starting hands AA and KK are the 2 hands preflop that get your heart pounding on the rare occasions they appear. When you have AA or KK the chances of a lesser pair winning pre-river are only about 20% with unpaired hands being even lower. If you have K-K, an A-X (Ace with any card) only has a 25% to 30% chance of winning, and this is only usually if they hit the Ace.
When you have AA or KK you”’ hear that voice saying “raise, raise, raise!” Raise heavily, because we know the only hands willing to call us are high cards, like A-K or A-Q, and a heavy raise will drive off suited connectors that have the best chance of cracking our big Pairs if they hit their Straights or Flushes. Raise, especially from a late position, and raise again any raises. The, you hope, when you raise again is that they will raise again too with a weaker hand (not that they know it) like AK or AQ, then you can set them to go all in or go all in yourself. Party time.
But there are times when there are more subtle plays than ‘raise, raise, raise’. For example, lets say you are in early position with AA and you raise. Everyone else folds. How many times have you been frustrated when you raise or move all-in with those big Pairs preflop only to bait no customers?
So in early position, if that’s what you intend to do – if you want to catch them spilling many of their chips into your stack preflop, then just call, then wish – wish! – that someone raises after you so you can raise again. If they fold, at least you have obtained more chips than if you raised immediately and you scared them off. If they call, that’s beyond preflop play already…
But this “beyond preflop play” is very significant, in that there is a big difference between A-A or K-K. Usually you should be willing to move all-in preflop more often with K-K than A-A. Why?
Because if you have A-A and the flop comes, say, Q-7-3 or K-9-5, those willing to square off with you are those with, like, A-Q, K-Q or K-J. They are willing to feed their chips to you with these hands, and you can call their big bets or all-ins. Your A-A is still the best hand, while they think their large (big but not big enough) Pair is strong, and that hand’s already a significant underdog. A-A is good for trapping as well as for speeding. You can move all-in with it preflop, of course, but as above you can trap with it if you feel like it.
But if you have K-K, the flop might fall A-7-2, and…your K-K, no matter how golden, is now drawing almost dead. There are two Kings left, and anyone who might be there with you may bet large because he has an Ace. (Is he likely to bet with a single Seven?) So you have to fold your K-K, no matter how hard it is for you to get so good a hand and then banish it a few moments later. Or just call, call, call.
So, preflop, you may have to play K-K more strongly than you would play your A-A. It’s not as good as trapping as A-A. Ideally, if you move all-in with K-K, an A-X will call you, or a small pocket Pair and you’ll be an approximately 75-25 favorite. (You’re not likely to be called with K-X or Q-X because they’re not so strong enough for calling all-ins.) If you get called with A-X, they still have to catch the Ace. They’re the ones taking the risk, and not you. If you play K-K slowly, and they ride their A-X with you on the Flop, and they caught the Ace, it’s a thousandfold different from having to catch it. They have no risks to take.
There might be times where there is A-A versus K-K, but these times are rare. And if you’re the one with the K-K, you might even fold it. Say two of you in a preflop hand are the chip leaders in a tournament, and you raise again his early-position raise, then all of a sudden he pushes you all-in! You might put him on A-A, and you fold, very, very smartly and sickly. Or he’s a player whom you know who will not raise that LARGE an amount unless he has A-A. But these times are rare, remember.
So, excepting some special considerations that must be remembered with the K-K, playing A-A and K-K preflop is just almost identical.
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