Have had a bunch of difficult KK-hands (at least to me) the last couple of days. Feedback much appreciated!

Hand #1
Big $11. I late regged about 20 min in and this is just my 3rd hand, so no reads. It feels weak to fold here, but on the other hand: He shoves on 4-bet and an overcall. How likely is it he is bluffing here?

Should I have made a 5-bet here myself instead?

PokerStars - 30/60 Ante 8 NL (8 max) - Holdem - 7 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 203.73 BB
SB: 104.87 BB
BB: 97.67 BB
Hero (UTG): 80.92 BB
UTG+1: 65.27 BB
MP: 95.92 BB
CO: 78.1 BB

7 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.43 BB) Hero has K K

Hero raises to 2.2 BB, fold, fold, fold, BTN calls 2.2 BB, fold, BB calls 1.2 BB

Flop: (8.03 BB, 3 players) 4 7 Q
BB checks, Hero bets 2.42 BB, BTN raises to 6.78 BB, BB raises to 16.2 BB, Hero calls 13.78 BB, BTN raises to 174 BB, fold,
Hero ???





Hand #2

$7,50 Bounty builder. Table is a bit loose passive so far, but not expected to get 3 callers. Obv we always check this flop, and since two players have pos. on us I can't see Hero betting turn even though turn bricks. Am I wrong?

But what about river when BB checks? I'm starting to really believe there might be no Ace out there and wouldn't someone have made a bet on either flop or river with a hand like Jack/Ten of hearts? Can we go for value here?

PokerStars - 100/200 Ante 30 NL (8 max) - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 24.7 BB
MP+1: 12.56 BB
CO: 69.46 BB
BTN: 64.51 BB
SB: 81.87 BB
BB: 113.46 BB
Hero (UTG): 36.91 BB
UTG+1: 27.2 BB

8 players post ante of 0.15 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.7 BB) Hero has K K

Hero raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, fold, CO calls 2 BB, BTN calls 2 BB, fold, BB calls 1 BB

Flop: (9.7 BB, 4 players) 9 A 6
BB checks, Hero checks, CO checks, BTN checks

Turn: (9.7 BB, 4 players) 4
BB checks, Hero checks, CO checks, BTN checks

River: (9.7 BB, 4 players) 3
BB checks, Hero checks, CO checks, BTN checks

Hand #3

This is the PS $11, 2K guaranteed. Villain was 24/19 over 37 hands

In hindsight I start to question my check OTT. But I have to admit that the 2nd Eight looks a bit scary with two callers OTF and a rainbow board + the possibilty of a set of 3s or 4s, hands both players would have called pre with. It feels like we're not very likely to extract value from a hand that beats us. So I want to avoid a CR and think I always have to call a bet this size OTT. But what about the river?

PokerStars - 30/60 Ante 7 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 51.82 BB
BB: 30.72 BB
Hero (UTG): 44.63 BB
UTG+1: 39.22 BB
MP: 74.03 BB
MP+1: 64.12 BB
CO: 93.8 BB
BTN: 51.4 BB

8 players post ante of 0.12 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.43 BB) Hero has K K

Hero raises to 2.2 BB, fold, fold, fold, CO calls 2.2 BB, fold, fold, BB calls 1.2 BB

Flop: (8.03 BB, 3 players) 8 3 4
BB checks, Hero bets 3 BB, CO calls 3 BB, BB calls 3 BB

Turn: (17.03 BB, 3 players) 8
BB checks, Hero checks, CO bets 9.37 BB, fold, Hero calls 9.37 BB

River: (35.77 BB, 2 players) T
Hero checks, CO bets 79.12 BB and is all-in, Hero ???

Hand 1: I play the same way as you. Occasionally we will be up against a flush draw but even crazy players don't usually shove 100 BBs with one. We also block spades.

Hand 2: Again, I play the same way as you. If you're in position on the turn you can bet. Bet any non heart river. But out of position with the FD completing it's fine to check here.

Hand 3: Again, don't see a mistake. Feels like an 8 or slowplayed set. His bet sizing clearly targets an overpair. With no inconsistencies in his story, safe to let it go.

Hand 1 if I think my opponents have a solid sense of value I might just drop the hand to the cold 3-bet. I can't imagine you're ahead as played-- there are a few spade hands but the only ones I can think of that might jam here are AsQs and 6s5s. Of course, it is early in late registration in an $11, so you can always just rebuy.

Hand 2 seems fine. Just doesn't seem like anything you beat would call on this board. (I think I agree with LifeNit that you might be able to get a small bet in on

Hand 3: Something I'm wondering and it might be worth asking the class, is whether to check the turn. On the one hand, I don't want to get check-raised either. On the other hand, not betting can kind of leave us in the dark, and we're in a multiway pot so the check-raise is unlikely to be light (and I'd think we could safely fold).

It really depends here on how good my opponent is and how capable of bluffing he is. This is a great line to take to try to get the money in with something like 33/44, but if he called pre with, say, 65s, this is also a spot where he can now blast you off the river since you have so little 8x in your UTG opening range.

That said, the fact that he's betting multiway on the turn makes me think it's less likely to be a bluff, since BB has a lot of 8x in their range to get to the turn this way. So folding is probably fine, unless this is some odd scenario where he bet a worse overpair on the turn and then decided to turn it into a bluff. I might bet turn anyway but then shut it down depending on what my opponents do and how confident I am in my reads on them.

non-heart rivers, but as the board runs out, I don't think anything worse is calling you.)

Somehow I edited my post to include something I had forgotten, and yet I missed that I just failed to complete an entire paragraph.

Yeah, that to me is exactly the problem with bet/folding. I like checking to see what develops.

Thx for great feedback!

This is what happened:

Hand #1:

I kind of sigh folded and still wonder what he really had. But it seems like the right play, even though further action on the table revealed a quite LAG behavior from villain.

Hand #2:

My kings held on showdown. Hands like this have a value for me. Like many other players I always tend to believe that when I raise with QQ/KK pre and an ace comes OTF villain must have it. But of course people call with many other hands than Ax. But I'm glad you agreed there's almost no value in betting here, even OTR.

Hand #3:

I called and sure villain had 33. Like you said villains range is dominating me, although an aggressive player surely could use this board for blasting me off the hand. But considering all information including stack depths it definately feels like a fold.

I believe there's some psychological aspects of interest also. We all know that result oriented thinking can cause bad decisions at the table. And when I think back I now remember I had been lucky over a decent streak of hands, running into very few sets with my overpairs and top pairs. I think this had an impact on my mind and helped me believe it might be a bluff.