So I try to pot raise most of my top range, and ocassionally bluffraise with my suited connectors. What keeps happening to me is that I raise or 3bet with JJ or QQ and a few times KK. For a flop to be completely hostile.

So i raise Qd Qs, get flatted and the flop comes Ah Kh Js. What can I even do here? I call the continuation bets till I get to one that I find too expensive, then i fold sometimes they give up, sometimes they continue till showdown.

The one I hate dealing with the most is when I got Kh Kd
and the flop comes As Js 9h or something similar where there is an Ace, and another broadway card, and a potential flush draw. Do I make my opponent pay for the draw? Do I checkdown and hope I get a good card?

Unless my opponent has crazy numbers I fold, but even when he has crazy numbers, Any Ace would beat me. Even ATs or A9s. Besides two pair combos

How do you guys deal with these situations?

Fold pre

Go to the beginner hands or micro-small stakes.

kings are nuthin but ace magnets bro , every dang ole time man.

Use your one-time for a T

depends

So you have QQ and the flop comes AJx and you are not sure what to do. Let’s say you have QJ and the flop comes AJx. What do you do now?

The two spots are obviously not the same because QQ is a stronger hand both in absolute and relative terms but they are similar enough that you shouldn’t approach them totally differently.

Someone wise once told me, "The other guy might be more afraid of the ace than you are."

Say you 3 bet out of SB with QQ and CO calls. On a flop like A92 I'll check flop, check turn, and value bet river. If he bets into me, I'll call once or maybe twice depending on sizing and fold to a triple barrel.

However i protect my pairs by also checking all my aces worse than AQ. I'll check AJ and lower (although betting A9s). I can call 3 streets with a hand like AJ or AT if my opponent wants to get aggressive with me and this protects my weaker hands like QQ. He may check down instead of bluffing multiple streets after I call a bet because he knows I have hands that will call 3 streets in my range

If you raise or #B pre, and get called, what is your range, and what is villain's range? How does that flop hit each of your ranges?

With QQ on a AKJhh board, I will often cbet pot sized. I have a lot of big aces in my range, and a pot sized bet is consistent with a made hand charging a big hand against a draw. I likely won't double or triple barrel if villain calls, as there are a lot of nuttish hands in his range. If he raises, I am apt to fold, but that is read dependant. A lot of players will raise or shove with a flush\gutshot draw here.

You have to remember that they don't know what you have either, and your range is a little bit stronger than theirs if you raised and they just called.

Welcome to the forum. As you can see you'll get some wise crack posts mixed in with the good stuff!!

'Every' Flop is about 30% to have an A or K in it ... welcome to poker. There's difference between playing 'cards' and playing 'poker' and it's been mentioned here already. Don't get caught up in what your cards are too much. Remember that your opponent can't see your cards any more than you have been fearful of their holding.

The more you play the more comfortable (not easier) these spots will become. Image, stack size and history with the opponent all play a factor into how to proceed. There's no right or wrong approach.

Also .. your opponent can't c-bet, only you can as the PF raiser. Either they are Donking (leading) into you or are just simply taking advantage of you checking from OOP (out of position) ... or maybe they just have the best hand and are betting for value. Play the hand, play under control ... not every premium hand garners you a double up. GL

On a strict combo basis, there are 44 cards neither an ace of king so the chance a flop contains at least one of the 8 aces or kings without making any assumptions on player holdings is

1-C(44,3)/C(52,3) = 40%

However, because there is a flop and you don't have an ace or king, the chance one or more players have an ace or king is higher than what the above combo math says, so the 40% value is probably a bit high.

If you assume heads up with villain likely having an ace or king , the probability reduces to about 38%. With more players seeing the flop the probability will be somewhat lower but I doubt it will get to 30%.

Where did the 30% value come from?

Must be I was thinking roughly 30% to hit a pair with AK in hole.

Story checks .. You can expect an Ace or King on the Flop about 40% of the time you hold QQ. So you need to become 'used to' this situation and how you go about your betting. GL

Upswing basic lab strat helped me a alot with these spots.. for the live and online levels I play it seems to work fine...
KK,QQ,JJ,1010, with over cards on flop all function as a marginal made hand which we will want to check. We can call 1 bet maybe 2 depending on if we have a read that villian will always double barrel once flop checks through. We balance this out by checking with our give up hands so that opponents cant figure out whether we are giving up, or are willing to call bets with decent show down value.


I mostly play these spots as bluffcatchers . It can actually be very profitable because some villians will just blast away with air when you check back flop.
Also if your checked to again on the turn you should feel good enough about your hand to value bet and get value from smaller pairs or draws that villian plays passively.

Hey great post