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Poker Trouble Spots: KK in early Position Part 2

• 30.06.2025 7:39 pm
• Helen
• 0 Comments

Playing in early position large pocket pairs for instance KK can proves tricky business for Poker beginners.

The first installment of this article tackled your various KK preflop options. If you have not read the first part, read it here.

The Flop

Among the important things to note from the article is simply how options for post-flop and the method you played the hand preflop correlate.

It would literally consume a lot of time to list each single flop and situation possible; therefore, we have sorted all probable flops into several big groups.

Below are some flop examples and their meanings:

Flopping a Monster

In this situation, you have flopped nuts. All what you should concern yourself with is simply getting as much money as possible into the pot.

Incase you happened to raise preflop, the best option that remains for you is opening with abet.

It's always good flopping nuts.

Most likely, your rival is going to fold, but the moment you get called or maybe have someone who can end up playing back at you, it makes it valuable.

In case you happened to limp into the pot, there is an option to simply take your pick of simply betting or maybe letting your rival lead. The best case is when they have AA or maybe AK and they think they are driving you into a trap.

Incase you had limp-reraised, it's likely you aren't going to get any pay. Only that person having a set of either twos or nines and who has hopes you are having AA or AK can be able to pay you.

You may get lucky and get one over aggressive opponent in possession of AK and willing to bet.

The Flop Bringing an Ace

This can be a somewhat tricky situation. Incase you are holding a KK on any flop that's looking like the one discussed above, you have a middle pair and nothing else.

Incase you limped in:

Incase you limped into the pot with numerous players, you have to give up completely on any thought of playing any big pot using this specific hand.

In any limped pot, more so at low limits, it is almost straight forward that a player who has an ace went all the way to the flop.

Simply play your hand like you would have if you held a tens pair without a kicker.

Incase an Ace happens to hot multiway, you perhaps need to fold.

Going into the pot with an Open-Raise:

Incase you had gone into the pot through opening with any raise, there is need to be a bit worried.

However, you should not be willing to throw this hand away simply, because the range of any player who happens to call your raise includes quite a significant number of hands behind you still.

Again, you are not aiming to play any large pot using this hand. The two big mistakes you can end up committing are:

1. To give up completely without your rival showing any strength
2. Three-betting into any large and contested pot.

Try taking the pot here. Incase your rival feels like sticking around, simply shut down then keep your pot small.

You should be willing to fold, however, do not fold light. (If the odds seem attractive enough it maybe worthwhile calling small bets)

Incase You Re-raised:

Incase you happened to reraise and then headed to the flop, its possible to narrow down greatly the range of your opponent.

There is a significantly small chance that he has AA (A big number of players would in this situation have already moved all-in before flop the moment you reraised, and with the A available on the flop, the odds are small)

There is also a significant chance that your rival has QQ, JJ, or AK.

Although there are a number of hands your rival could possibly have, owing on the specific style he plays, most likely the three hands will fall in his range.

Incase he has either QQ or JJ, he worries about AA, the KK and also AK. Incase he has JJ, you should add QQ too.

This in short means there is one very good chance you will be able to take the pot down with a bet.

Unless you have one very good reason to do that, you should practically refrain from calling or maybe reraising any opponent who happens to raise the bet.

Incase your rival simply calls the bet, you have reason to worry. There are not too many hands with the ability to call the bet you beat.

Be flexible to folding, but do not fold light.

Incase your rival is in possession of either QQ or maybe JJ and happens to call, chances are that he aims at keeping the pot smallest possible. This works for you.

If your rival is not showing any signs of weakness and then he is looking forward to commence and call, raise then bet into you, be prepared to simply back down.

If it happens there is always a chance he is bluffing, a pot similar to this is literally valuable for making any hero call. The investment you have is small still, and you do not have a really strong hand.

Incase anyone aims at bluffing, you should just them be.

Flopping an Overpair

The moment you happen to flop an overpair, usually, you possess the best hand.

Incase you just limped into the pot, there is still one great chance that you are ahead, but any happening to call bets in the limped pot have to be suspect.

They have a draw, a top pair or perhaps a smaller overpair, or they simply flopped something big (like a set) proceed carefully.

Incase you raised or simply reraised into the pot, chances are high you possess the best hand.

There are in essence very few hands to worry about as far as the range of all players calling your raise is concerned.

Unfortunately, you will most definitely see your opponents making same bets using QQ here, like they would after flopping a set. This means you are going to win frequently, a small pot, win a big one sometimes and occasionally lose a big one.

Unless you know the players really well at games of low limit its next to impossible to get yourself away from a given set.

When you are vulnerable, simply keep your pot small and you will be alright.

Too many players tend to overplay the hands they have, and are often willing to simply move all in here and with AT, draw like or maybe a given pair like .

Simply because these hands possible are more than both sets, two pairs (and aces) you in most cases pay your rival when they have a set.

Key Takeaways:

The biggest problem regarding playing a KK and in early position is simply the tendency that you will find yourself plunged in the situation of "way ahead or way behind” on the flop.

In these situations, you are going to both win and lose numerous big pots.

KK has the potential to make you substantial chunks of money, unless you are making numerous mistakes.

The best way you can maximize the hand's profit is simply keeping these pots very small where you know the hand you have is exploitable.

Incase you can simply do this; you will make cash from opponents.