What do you think of this situation:

1/2, hero has $220 and opens to $12 in MP with KK. Btn calls, SB 3-bets to $40. Both are unknown players.

I elected to 4-bet to $100. I think calling is definitely wrong because that would give Btn very good odds to come along, but I didn’t want to jam because I’m probably only getting called by AA, whereas I can see many 1/2 players 3-betting and calling here with QQ, JJ, or AK; extra high weight on QQ/JJ because I think players don’t 3-bet as much with AK at this level.

Flop comes A-brick-brick rainbow (2 small unconnected cards that I don't remember), and SB checks.

I’m suddenly not loving my pre-flop bet size as much; I have $120 behind in a pot of $200. The clear choice here is to check because an ace is going to call our jam, and we beat pretty much any non-ace hand.

But let’s say villain leads out OTF; it’s obvious from the pre-flop action that I have a big pocket pair, and unless it is specifically AA which is now less likely than either KK or QQ, I’m probably going to have to fold here. Stop-and-go is more tournament strategy, but it seems to work in this spot if used? (Don’t flame me if I’m getting stop-and-go all wrong! I don’t play tournaments at all, just know tidbits of tournament concepts.)

How would you have sized your pre-flop 4-bet? Did my size open me up to mistakes / exploitation post-flop? And any general tips for playing KK with an A on the flop?

1. Call the 3-bet PF.
2. GII on any non-A flop.
3. Enjoy monies.

Preflop you're too shallow to pick any 4bet sizing that isn't a jam. You need to either flat the $40 or else jam $220. I lean towards jamming with KK whereas I lean towards flatting with AA.

If you were something like $300 effective, you could 4bet to $90 instead. You don't need to size your 4bet big because you're in position and the SPR is going to be super low.

As played, you have to call it off. You're blocking all but 6 combos of AK, and a lot of villains won't 3bet AQ at 100% frequency.

If you are going with the hand then check back flop so you can bluff catch turn. Betting flop doesn’t accomplish much.

I wouldn’t level yourself into saying “my opponent can’t put me on an ace since I 4 bet”. You can have AK in theory and most opponents aren’t thinking on this level. If you really think your opponent is just going to bluff A high flops then just don’t fold KK. I wouldn’t level yourself into this thought process though.

I probably flat vs. a total unknown though I consider visual information a read. If I raise pre, I'm just going to shove.

AP we are committed so I xb flop and call/xb turn and river unless the situation changes. Like say turn is an A and he x turn and also river, I shove for value.

Since villain's range probably includes as many pocket pairs as AK/AQ hands and your stack is less than the pot, I'd get ready to put the money in postflop no matter the flop.

Your range might be pretty transparent after the 4-bet. In a vacuum we could argue for a small bet to tempt calls from smaller PPs.

THATS WHY I DON'T LIKE POCKET 2's BECAUSE A 3 ALWAYS COMES UP!

Jamming the flop is horrendous. KK is one of the best hands to check back here, and possibly bluff catch on the turn or river.

I guess flop isn't bad, we barely have .6 psb left and we may get bluffed off a better hand, and we deny equity to 1010-QQ (yes, 10% is negligible but if he always folds 1010-QQ here vs our jam and never gets to bluff us or suck-out, that's ok).

bluff-catching here sucks since most of the time he bets he'll have the Ace and we're just calling off drawing almost dead

There is truth in this post

Jamming to deny equity against 2 outs is stupid. We'd much rather have them come along than "deny equity."

The solution to being bluffed off our hand is to just always call. Yes, his betting range will be mostly Aces (but some pairs, especially if you check flop/turn). But his calling range will even more heavily favor aces.

Yo chill lol. I didnt say the only reason OP is jamming to deny equity against two outs, and I didn’t say jamming is vastly superior or that OP definitely should have jammed. I just said it’s not bad, as all 3 options suck.

If you want to talk about stupid, Always calling when his betting range is mostly Aces is literally ******ed as hell. Reread what you just posted. “Always calling” when his “range is mostly Aces” is literally lighting money on fire and is literally so lol. I mean hey, if you like doing that you do you.

It’s weird. I always had trouble in spots like this (these spots and monotones are the two most difficult spots in poker for me) and then I saw solvers cbetting them and did not understand but started copying anyway...and my wr vastly improved.

I’ve come to the conclusion that you are actually really thinly value betting (worse pairs and draws still sometimes call) but more importantly you are betting a range, and range that is hugely waited towards Ax. When villains call down light in these spots (with say, AQ) you are making a lot of g-bucks (galfond bucks, what your range makes in ev when villain calls). kk is a bluffing part of your range, but it’s a value bluff.

“... it’s a value bluff”

Reported.

Naw for real tho all the info is here.
Betting the flop to and only getting called by exactly AX+ is bad.
Either villain is the type to bluff u later in the hand, in which case we should check back and never fold.
Or villain is the type to never bluff u later in the hand, in which case we should check back and just check it down (folding if he ever bets)

The last thing to consider is if we can value bet later in the hand. If we cannot ever get value from QQ- unless he make his set... then by checking it down we give him free chances to hit his set... this is not good. However the solution is to bet EXTREMELY small, even as small as 20 on the flop would take away his odds to try and catch a 2 outer.

(Note that small cbets in 4bet pots are common practice in more advanced game)

Referring to GTO in a 1-2 spot is almost always bad.

+1 to hyperknit's post. Player dependent. If the guy habitually bluffs then you call. The guy has to be really, really bluffy for me to call this though.

If they place face up (most people) it's a snap fold, barring a lol bet sizing tell of 1/6th pot or something. The passive players always check this down with worse so we really don't need to worry about getting bluffed.

Look at this spot as making an "exploitative check".

It has little to do with GTO. It is observing how solvers handle certain situations and coming to intuitive conclusions that apply to broad situations.

Barring decent history, you cannot know “either the villain is the type to bluff or not...”, you can only know your range.

When you check here it should always be to check fold barring reads / history but it allows villain to play much more perfectly than he should. When you get into these check/decide guessing games it is almost always worse than just playing your range. Jamming only Ax here creates a situation in which we are never bluffing, which is fine for live but it’s still also fine to have some bluffs as well. And this bluff has equity (as opppsed to like KQs).

Hands like JJ still call in these spots at a non-zero frequency, badreg just posted one. There is nothing better in the world than value bluffing and getting called by worse.