The pros get to grips with King-Queen, a hand that at first always looks tempting, but can land you in trouble
SCENARIO ONE
You’re playing in a $2/$4 online cash game with four players. You pick up K♥-Q♥ on the button. You have a $560 stack. The player under the gun raises to $8. He has a stack of $288. You call, as do the small blind and big blind. The flop is 7♥-3♣-8♣. Everyone checks to you. You check and the turn is Q♦. The small blind checks, big blinds checks and the UTG checks – you bet $26. The small blind folds, big blind raises to $78, UTG folds. Now what? The big blind seems to check- raise a lot, but has only shown his hand once – when he had the goods. Your image is loose-aggressive.
PHIL LAAK
I would call and then I would check the river and probably call most bets there. The big blind could have a Queen, he could be holding A-8, or he could have nothing. Pre-flop, in a four-handed game with K♥-Q♥, I’m more likely to make it $24. If he raises to $120, I fold. If he calls, then I have an idea that when I hit a Queen, it will probably be good because he has nines or tens. But, it’s completely fine to keep the pot small: small hand, small pot.
STUART FOX
This is a bad spot we are in here and it’s all because we just called pre-flop. We should have folded or re-raised, but by calling we have told the table what kind of hand we have. As it is we have bet our K-Q – which looks like the best hand – but have left the door open to a check-raiser. Even if he’s bluffing, it’s hard for you to call here as you are putting your chips at risk when we call off our entire stack on the river if a blank falls. So for me, it’s a fold. We might have the best hand, but sometimes a good player needs to fold the best hand.
MARIA HO
Although my image is loose-aggressive, I would still fold here. One defining reason is because the big blind check- raised me with one player whose hand strength is still somewhat unknown. For the big blind to check-raise with the UTG player behind him to act, it probably is the strength of his hand that is dictating his action. I also don’t want to face a big bet on the river by just calling his raise, especially if a scare card comes because then even if he was on a semi-bluff, he has probably got there.
SCENARIO TWO
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| We might well have the best hand in this situation, but there will be times when a good player has to fold the best hand | |
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You’re playing in a six-handed $2/$4 cash game. You are under the gun with K♥-Q♦ and raise to $14. Your stack is $410. The action folds to the button, who calls. The small blind folds and big blind calls. The flop is Q♥-8♣-8♠. The big blind checks, you bet $26, the button calls and big blind calls. The turn is 2♦. The big blind checks, you check, button bets $36, you call and the big blind folds. The river is K♣. You bet $108, the button raises to $216.
An easy fold, or could you call? The button is quite loose-aggressive and has been bluffing quite a lot in the last hour.
PHIL LAAK
This question is bad for me because it shows my weakness! I don’t fold the river as often as I should. I’m paying the guy off because I want to see it. For $108, I want to see if this guy has it. I’m calling, but I’m losing. Saying that though, I would have check-called the river. You get him to bluff when he’s bluffing. You’re not going to get paid by Ace-high, but when he has an 8 – you lose less.
STUART FOX
We played this hand correctly until the river. I would have checked and then called the button raise, in the case that he was holding A-8 or any 8. This way you lose the least amount of money and we’ve shown a loose-aggressive player – who thinks he owns this pot because he has the button – that he can’t bully us. Our aim is to keep this pot small as we are out of position to the aggressor.
When we have position on this player, we can play the big pots and let him make the decisions. I would call the river as the $36 bet on the turn looks like a bluff so he could have K-J or K-10 and thinks I hold A-Q. In that case, he is value betting the river, or he’s on a complete bluff. I would say it’s 50/50 if you’re winning. So, with the money already in the pot, the right play in the long run is to call.
MARIA HO
I don’t like the bet on the river when the King comes because you can only get raised by firing this card and the only real hand you can beat that called on the flop is A-Q. I would have liked to check and call a bet here instead of betting into the person who took the lead on the turn.
Although the button has shown a lot of aggressive plays and bluffs, his mini re-raise to my bet on the river and his smooth-call, both pre-flop and on the flop, all smell too fishy to me. If you really want to see it, you could pay off just on the chance he still has the guts to bluff after being caught. But, I would have folded because there are practically no hands I can beat.
SCENARIO THREE
You’re playing in a four-handed $5/$10 cash game. You’re dealt K♣-Q♠ on the button. The UTG player folds, you raise to $40 – your stack is just over $1,400. The small blind calls ($1,055 stack), big blind folds. The flop is Q♣-10♣-K♠. You bet $80, small blind calls. The turn is 5♣, small blind checks, you bet $170, small blind re-raises to $340. Now what? What do you put him on? He seems loose pre-flop, but you haven’t had any confrontations with him until now.
PHIL LAAK
It feels like a fold – with three clubs and a straight out there. He could have an Ace-high flush or J-9. On the turn it’s one of those occasions when you know you have to bet, but you know that if you’re raised, you have to fold.
STUART FOX
We should check the turn and call the river, keeping the pot nice and small as we are not certain we have the winning hand since A-J and J-9 – and any two clubs – have us beat. In cash games we can win a lot more by letting the other player do the betting for us – and making correct reads and calling river bets after working the hand out stage-by-stage. I would fold and plan the hand out in my head before I even put one dime back in.
MARIA HO
I want to know where I am in the hand, but I don’t want to bet small on such a drawing flop. When the small blind smooth-calls me, it signifies he could either have a draw or flopped big. When the 5♣ appears on the turn, that would slow me down; I have a hand I can show down, so there is no need to bet the turn when you can check behind and not risk getting raised off your top two pair.
Because of the turn bet, the small blind had the opportunity to raise, putting you in a tough spot – which I would fold to. You don’t have 10/1 odds to fill up on the river; the implied odds don’t exist because of what your opponent has left behind after his raise – and pairing the board will kill your action.
I would not have bet the turn. If he fires into me on the river after I checked behind on the turn and doesn’t fill up, I would call a reasonable sized bet unless the board gets worse for my hand.
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