A lot of the hard decisions poker players have to face come after the flop, it's easy enough to learn what a good starting hand is but all of the difficult decisions are made after the flop. Pocket kings are indeed the second best starting hand in Texas hold'em poker but second best usually ends up costing you lots of money.
The best way to deal with any high pairs is to not "marry" them, yes it is almost never going to be a great choice to throw pocket kings away especially before the flop.
Every time you look at your starting hand to see KK you're more than likely to play them but the question is, how should I play them? We suggest to play pocket kings the same way as you would play most hands if you usually raise three times the big blind with marginal hands then you should do this with pocket kings because this way you are less likely to raise any suspicion about your hand.
Remember pocket kings don't come around that often so be sure to maximise your profits when you do have pocket kings or aces for that matter. Try not to do anything out of the "norm" or make a play that seems suspicious.
So you have made it to post flop and the only card pocket kings hate to see is the ace because usually when your opponents call a raise more often than not they will be holding some sort of ace. However this doesn't mean folding is the best option but you should proceed with extreme caution and try to think of these factors.
- Out of position - Check your pocket kings, if your opponents bets then try to remember if this player is a frequent bluffer
- If your opponent bets the ace but rarely bluffs then straight up fold those pocket kings it can be tough but you will live to fight another day
- In position - Either bet hoping that your opponent folds or you could check to protect from a possible check-raise
The strongest factor in deciding to call is in the "board texture" if for example the flop comes out A77 or A92 you should probably go right ahead and check. More often than not if pocket kings are the best hand after the flop then they will normally be the best hand after the river.
Another example of "board texture" to be careful of is for example the flop Ah,10h,9s try to make at least one raise but if you are re-raised or another heart comes out then you're probably going to fold. The problem being that if you're dominated there's only two cards left in the deck that can help you improve.
Attention on stack sizes is important, if you're playing a poker tournament and you're low on chips or have a small stack size then even if you do see the ace you should probably move all in before the flop. When playing with a large stack size or if you have a lot of chips at your disposal, proceed again with caution if the raises become large or crazy then you should consider folding your pocket kings.
Plenty of online poker players have a difficult time folding pocket kings and this means they sometimes end up losing more chips then they should have.
