When Kings Meet Conquerors at Bellagio

The final two tables of the $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament at the Bellagio Five-Star World Poker Classic were moved onto the stage at the front of the Fontana Lounge so that the spectators could get a fishbowl view of the action. I knew most of the 18 players left from the starting field of 347, so I was mentally prepared to play with them.

Allen Kessler was in the big blind when I was in the small blind. He's a good tournament player, but he plays very tight and his chips had dwindled to about $100,000. After everybody passed to me, I limped in with 7-3 offsuit. Allen raised $20,000. "I know he's raising me with an ace because I limped," I was thinking, "so I'll go back over him and make him lay it down, since he's such a tight player." So, I went over the top for the rest of his chips and he beat me into the pot! He had A-J, a stronger ace than I had given him credit for. Still, I was surprised that he called me all in, because he wouldn't ordinarily do it with that hand. My 7-3 wasn't looking too good - until the flop came with a 7, followed by a 3 on the turn. I got lucky, and Allen went broke.

About 20 minutes later, my key hand came along. Everybody at our table had been a bit active, playing a lot of pots. In this hand, the first player limped in and Nick Hanna made it $50,000 to go. Everybody else folded to me in the small blind. I looked down at K-K. How should I play them? "I've gotta act first after the flop, so I want to protect these kings," I thought. "I don't want any kind of an ace to be out there to cause any trouble for me."
So, I moved all in.

As it turned out, I didn't have to worry about anybody hitting an ace on the flop - as Nick had pocket aces! I had about $60,000 more than he had, so I had a dab of chips left after the hand. Then, a few hands later, I lost a pot with A-Q when I didn't flop to it, putting me down to around $40,000. With 15 players still in action and the blinds at $3,000-$6,000, I had only about six or seven times the big blind in chips - and the blinds would be increased again within a few hands. It was getting a little pricey to play poker, so I figured it was time to play a hand, particularly if I could find one to play from late position.

Sure enough, I found something I could play. Everybody had passed to me on the button when I looked down at A-7 offsuit. My thinking was that I needed to move with any ace in that spot, so I pushed in. Mel Weiner called, and his pocket tens sent me home with $16,575 in my pocket for 15th place.

Analyzing the Kings Versus Aces Key Hand
Of course, my whole tournament revolved around that one hand in which I had the kings against pocket aces. I talked over my play of the hand with a couple of players, although I knew that going all in was the play to make. I couldn't just call the raise to $50,000 and let somebody who had an A-J or A-10 flop an ace, because I'd be a goner if that happened. Obviously, Nick had enough chips that if I was going to raise, I had to move him in, because he was going to call $50,000 or $60,000 more if he had a decent ace. I knew that Nick played nothing but decent hands, but there's a lot of room in the deck for pairs lower than kings - and only one pair higher!

In reviewing my play of the kings, Bob Feduniak asked me this question: "I've heard people say that if you have two kings before the flop and an opponent has two aces, you're pretty much destined to lose all of your chips, or certainly most of them, unless you get very lucky. True? Or, can you lay down two kings before the flop in anything but a contrived situation that an author might set up for you to ponder?"

Of course, there are different ways to play pocket kings, I answered. Suppose that I had just called the $50,000. What might've happened? The flop came 9 high, so in this situation, I was going to lose anyway. In another tournament I played in the Bellagio series, I raised from early position with pocket kings, was called by three opponents, and the small blind reraised. In that situation, I just flat-called rather than reraise, because it was earlier in the tournament and I wanted to see if an ace came before I committed too many chips that early. The flop came 9-6-6. Everybody checked to me and I bet $2,500. One player called. On the turn, another 6 came, so I made sixes full of kings. Unfortunately, my opponent had pocket aces and beat me with a better full house. But that's not the point: This example just illustrates another way that you can play pocket kings. You shouldn't play them the same way every time; you should judge your play by the situation.

Interestingly, both times I had kings, someone else had aces and the flop came 9 high. But, as you've heard me say many times, "That's poker!"

T.J. Cloutier is the co-author with Tom McEvoy of Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold'em. His newest book, How to Win the Championship, has just been released.