1/2 live

Hero has 1250. Been playing numerous hours.

Villain is a young kid. Similar to hero in terms of age. New to the table. His second hand. Stack is 200.

10 handed game. Straddle on. I raise to 25 in early position with KK. Two people limped before me.

Villain three bets to 100 in late position.

Everyone folds.

Hero puts villain all in.

Villain shows AA

The flop was Q93 rainbow.

Turn was a Q.

River is a brick.

Villain wins.

I honestly just wanted to fold pre-flop considering I have no information on him. I was running really good, but I honestly feel my ego came into play for this hand. Like, who is this kid is he really trying to push me pre-flop.

Wanted to get the perspective of other players. Would some of you prefer calling and seeing a flop? Would you fold? This was the first time I was super deep in a 1/2 game.

When you are deep stacked, what is your strategy?

Folding KK 50bb at a minimum is ridiculous.

Especially vs an unknown.

BBV post. You are not deep stacked.

Your raise size is too small by the way pre-flop. It's 1/2/4 or 1/2/5 maybe even bigger pending straddle.

And you just raise 5x over 3 blinds and 1 being the straddler.

$35-$40.

$25 preflop is fine in a $1/$2 game with a $4 straddler. It's basically a pot-sized raise.

As for the rest of the hand:

1) It it looks like AA, smells like AA and sounds like AA, it's probably AA.

2) Most $1/$2 players play face up.

3) Most $1/$2 players are there to see flops. They don't drive to the casino to fold. They might have a VPIP of 70, a PFR of 10. But their 3-bet PF is probably about 2. Because they aren't sticking in a stack with QQ. They just aren't. They aren't sticking in a stack with AK. They just aren't.

I am not saying you should fold here, but you should realize you are most likely getting coolered.

Until a player convinces me otherwise, I give them the benefit of the doubt that they aren't going to spazz out preflop. Postflop is an entirely different animal but preflop, this is what it is.

It's not a standard raise at 1/2/4 10 handed with 2 limpers.

Pot is 15. It's a weak raise.

Don't want to see big opens, don't straddle.


You can only fold if it's KK+. Any range that is QQ/KK/AA it's all-in baby.

I will do the math for you: 3x 4 = 12 +4 = 16 +4 =20 +2 = 22 + 1 = 23.

So, yeah, $25 is fine.

Gonna lock this up. 1) Don't give results. 2)There are a million "fold KK pre?" threads. Cliffs: Not for less than 150BBs effective. 3) You're not deep. Your stack doesn't matter since the pot can't get any bigger than his stack. With the straddle on, you are 50BBs effective and this is a trivial shove.