Poker Coaching: Rivering Two Pair

You are 10-handed in a $500 freezeout tournament. The blinds are at 300-600 with a 600 big blind ante. Everyone folds around to you in the hijack seat. You have 45,000 in chips and look down at K♥ Q♥.

Question 1: Do you fold, call, raise to 1,200, or raise to 1,500?
Answer: You always want to raise with your best hands when you are folded to, perhaps unless you are in the small blind. Raising to anywhere from 1,200 to 1,500 is fine, with a slight preference for 1,200. Limping is almost never the right play before the flop when you are first to put money in the pot.

You raise to 1,200. The cutoff, an aggressive player, three-bets to 4,200. You have an excellent hand to call against a three-bet, so you call. The flop comes A♠ Q♦ 5♠ and you check to the preflop three-bettor. Your opponent makes a small continuation bet of 800 into a pot of 9,900.

Question 2: Do you fold, call, or raise to 2,400?
Answer: Against a tiny bet, you have to stick around with an incredibly wide range due to your amazing pot odds. Any sort of pair or draw qualifies. Do not make the mistake of folding hands even as weak as J-10 or 4-3 in this spot.
While you could have the best hand, raising is not ideal because you lose far more than necessary when you happen to be against an ace.

You call and the pot is now 11,500. The turn is the 8♣. You check and your opponent checks behind. The river is the K♦, drastically improving you to two pair.

Question 3: Do you check, bet 7,000, or bet 14,000?
Answer: This is not a time to get fancy by checking. You need to bet in order to get money in the pot. It is too easy for your opponent to check back with a marginal made hand, such as a queen or even a king. These are the hands you want to get value from.
You want to use a bet size that gets you the most value possible while keeping your opponent’s range as wide as possible. Your opponent will probably call 14,000 with an ace, but they won’t with a king or queen, so go for the smaller bet of 7,000. 

You decide to bet 7,000. Your opponent makes the call with A♥ 3♣, top pair no kicker. You win a chunky 25,500 chip pot with two pair. ♠