[pritz]

I was watching tournament of champions for WSOP and i was just amazed at how these poeple can lay down high pocket cards. I think raymer goes all in with KK and Annie Duke had 10-10 and folded. How did she know to fold??? it doesnt make any sense to me. How canu put someone on KK or a higher pocket pair preflop?? Or is it not right to call an all in with pocket cards?

Another question, is it wise heads up to call an all in with KQ vs pockets, i had this situation happen to me, lost wit my KQ cuz no KQ came up, but did i do a smart move of calling an all in preflop?

[chris]

I wouldn't call an all-in with KQ. KQ is one of the most over rated hands.

Against any pocket pair JJ or less KQ is a coin flip. Against AA KK QQ AK or AQ KQ is a huge underdog. There really isn't any hands that calling an all-in with KQ that KQ is going to dominate (unless your playing against a moron.

I didn't see the hand you are talking about but a lot has to do with how the betting went before it got to Annie. If there was a raise before Raymer then Raymer pushes all-in Annie's pocket 10's don't look very good. Also with hands like pocket 10's you want to be the one that pushes the action not calling. When you call somebody else's bet all-in there is no chance that you are going to win the hand because the other player folded. But if you are the one pushing all-in you have a chance to win it because the other players folded.

[norshvind]

Just the reaction by Daniel Negreanu after Raymer said 'all-in' with his kings should tell you something. Negreanu knew he was probably beat by at least Duke but when another player will come back over the top of a raise and a re-raise? Unless the guy is a jackass(I have seen them though they are rare), the guy has a monster, usually KK or AA in that situation. I've laid down QQ and JJ a few times and I was right almost every single time to lay those down pre-flop.

[lork]

would you go all in with pocket 6's? Annie Duke knew he had to have something that was gonna beat her 10's. both made the right play. Raymer had her figured on a good hand and a simple reraise would not make her fold. Duke knew that she was beat and had only 2 outs to improve her hand which was still not a guarantee of winning.

[ballen]

Chris,so you are saying that it was a bad call on my part with KQ? what should i wait for if somoene goes all in like that? i kept telling myself that it was a fine call, and i couldnt lay down KQ, but i guess im wrong and kinda feel better about that. I guess everytime i play poker i make a mistake, but im glad i was told that one occured, cuz i dint know i made one

[petronder]

see you are looking at this all the wrong way. Don't decide which hand you should call an all in with. Unless they have very few chips you want to AVOID all ins. thats how you lose. IF you have 1500 in chips and they have 1400 you REALLY want to limit the hands you are going to call with.

[chris]

To Ballen,I wouldn't be calling all-ins with KQ. What I'm saying is that to call somebody elses all-in you need to have a very strong hand and KQ isn't the type of hand you want to be calling with.

[johnf]

The problem with KQ is that you are an underdog to almost any all-in hand. Even crap like A3 offsuit. It's a fairly strong hand heads up but early in a tournmant I would toss it to any raise, and especially to an all-in.

[teddyfist]

in answer to your first question, pros know all about there opposition before they star. they already know what there opposition will go all in with and what they wont go all in with...


a good example is on ukbetting.co.uk click poker.. then read simon "aces" trumpers storys from his wpt's to uk opens and irish opens..

remeber he was playing think it was dave nuygent in the speed champs, and he says something like, i knew when he went all in he had a good hand as he only goes with aa kk qq or ak aq suited.

and as for kq, it is as good as ak if oponets pair is lower.

i dont do all the percentage of winning.

i play my game and i win more often than i should by not folding when i should.