hi everyone, i'd like someone to analyze this hand for me. I would like to know your thought process and reasoning for your actions on this spot:

blinds 1/1$ in a local casino live game, 10 player cash no limit holdem. the players all seem relatively tight, with not many hands getting to showdown. I have been sitting on this table for about 2 hours in, with about 80 big blinds left in my stack.

i was on BB picked up KK. 2nd pos raised to $2, 3rd calls and its folded back to me. i raised to $12. 2nd pos folds, 3rd pos calls the bet (he has about $120 in his stack).

the flop: A 6 A. I can't remember the suits. didn't notice them.

I checked. Villain shoved all in (covering me).

What would you do now? What would be your reasoning? please elaborate as much as you can. Thank yous.

I think it would be better if you first gave us your thought processes at this point.

In addition, not being able to remember if there was a flush draw on the flop is a major problem for analyzing the hand.

At this type of stakes, a call may be $2, thus effective stack is 40bbs, Idk.

I'll assume the flop is rainbow - work on being more diligent in reading the board.

Fold w/o reads. Unless you feel this opponent bluffs, most will not. You are beating QQ-, which would not normally take this line.

to be honest, im still a novice player and the pressure at the table was getting in to me so my thought process wasn't too in depth.

of course as the flop came out i realized i was either way ahead or way behind. i checked to give villain a chance to check behind. when he raised so much i was just too afraid of the possibility of him holding all kinds of ace-xs. so i folded.

he showed his hand, which was KJos.

I am trying to analyze the situation to get clues, apart from individual reads on the player, whether this should be a call or fold.

i am beating lower pocket pairs, as you said samo, but am also beating any other two high cards bluff like he had. for both these kinds of holdings this is unusual line to take, but i think it is also an unusual line to take in case HE IS holding an ace.

what do you think?

A 6 A is a hard flop to hit. Most villans at this level would not want to scare away customers if they held an ace. So with no reads and under 100 bb left I call. I really would need more info on villan though.

I think his range for calling the initial $2 raise and then calling your $12 3bet is 22-TT(JJ?), AQ,AJ,AT,A8s+,KQ,KJ,KT,QJ,QT,JTs+

Using pokerstove, KK has 75% equity against this range.

Going to the flop our stack is at $68. The pot is at $28 when he shoves on the flop. So you have to call $68 to win a pot of $164.

Our pot odds are 41% or about 2.4:1.

For this reason I think its a call?

The pre-flop raise is a standard size in 1/2 game but you might bump it 1 more bb because you'll be playing the rest of the hand oop. The flop, AA6, is more favorable to a pf raiser's range then the hand range of an opponent who called a raise and then a re-raise. In HU pots you should C-bet (2/3 pot-psb) most flops, particularly when oop, too include this flop. Once you checked and he shoved you should've taken a little time (not too long), which is always acceptable, particularly when facing a big raise, and thought about your opponent's action. In considering his action you might've asked yourself would I shove over a small pot with AX or 66 on paired flop against an oop pf raiser who checked the flop and whose nervous and so looking to fold (protect his money) or would I instead try and allow the pot to build? You're thinking correctly when you recognize you're either way ahead or way behind but check folding isn't the most efficient way to determine where you're at in this hand. C-bet and if he raises then consider your next action. You're new to the game, playing tight and by your account feeling stressed and these realities are recognizable to many of your opponents and so makes it much easier for them to apply pressure to you.

Post flop this decision is read based. If you think he is prone to bluff, especially in spots when his opponent gave him rope, then you should make the crying call. Without a read all we have to go on is how he played the hand. While his line does seem suspicious, it indicates he's an inexperienced player, not that he's necessarily bluffing. Inexperienced players tend to get excited when they flop big hands and over bet them.

Without a read I would fold.

results too soon:

If I check this flop, it isn't because I am afraid of the A, it is more because I don;t think a weaker value hand is going to call a bet, and also it gives villain a chance to bluff away. So, in essence, with good read, we would be playing KK as a bluff catcher.

So we check and he shoves. He either has: 1) trip Aces/FH 2) another PP 3) complete air ball

We are ahead of 2) and 3) and need to only worry about 1). Another villain raised pre, so we can possibly deduce that the other villain may have held an A. there are two aces on the board. That is possibly 3 Aces accounted for and the likelihood of the villain holding one of the Aces is lessened somewhat. Also, if the villain is a bad/rec player then I give him much less credit for an A. If the villain was a good/creative player, then I might give him credit for an A and fold.

All in all, I am calling this shove.

Shouldn't of checked to him on flop, that's a move you make with an A or boat or when you are giving up completely. Once you gave up control of the pot the villain can now try to steal the pot or make it look like he's trying to steal the pot. Sure you can say to yourself "well if he had an ace or boat why would he bet so big and try to get me to fold, why wouldn't he value bet me to death?" But remember this is an amateur and 1. He might not understand getting max value. 2. He might know that u know it looks bluffy. Point I'm trying to make is that if you c-bet 2/3 the pot on flop and he reraises you, its a lot easier for you to put him on A and throw your hand away. Instead you made it a tough decision for yourself and now your on 2+2 instead of owning that fish. Haha.

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thanks guys for all the comments

This is very very wrong.

Checking with a polarized range is a common theme with most losing player.

Interesting that there is still at least one 2 + 2 reader that manages to come up with something like this.

Not sure if serious, but your entire thought process is completely and utterly bad.

I'm not entirely sure what you were suggesting Richard Parker.

when you say 'checking with a polarized range', do you mean by that that me checking to him is common theme with losing players?

and also why do you say CoolHand's reasoning is so wrong?

Lmao that's what I said if you could read. You check with a polarized range (meaning it could be super weak and super strong) but that would give too much incentive for the person IP to bet. That clearly wasn't OPs motive because he is on here asking what he should do. By betting instead of checking you can easier define his hand by making him make the big decision. Sure you can check and hope he bluffs at it, but you gotta be prepared to play your hand since you induced the bluff.

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Super weak OR super strong*
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This is everything you need to remember from this HU OP. Everything is right here, above me. Read this through and through.

Turning your hand into bluff catcher against an aggressive opponent can often be the most optimal way of playing a hand.

Aggressive players have a much wider "betting" range than a "calling" range, therefore it makes more sense to let them bet than bet into them when you're holding a strong value hand.

I don't think he understands what a bluff catcher is and why it is more profitable to turn a strong hand into one.

He also doesn't quite understand the purpose of betting. If we're to bet in this spot, we're betting to get value out of worse hands, not as some sort of "where we're at?" bet.