Pocket kings are a hand that requires a lot of strategy to play correctly. The only starting hand that is more powerful is pocket aces, though some players, including some pros, are strong believers that A-K is just as good. Still, when you start off a round of Texas Hold ‘Em, there aren’t too many hands that you would rather see. Pre-flop, pocket kings are considered a dominant hand. It is correct to always raise or re-raise no matter where you are sitting at table. This is true of no-limit games, and always true of limit games.

The biggest general concern you have with pocket kings is having an ace land on the flop or during play. Should you worry about pocket aces? Generally, no, and here’s the reason. The chances of being dealt pocket kings are 1 in every 222 hands. That is the same odds that someone will receive pocket aces. They are great hands, but the chances of both being in the same round are really slim to nil. What happens if you fold your kings only to find that pocket queens or pocket jacks end up winning the pot? You won’t feel good about that decision then. The odds of your pocket kings winning against any two cards (other than pocket aces) is 70%! This means that if you play it out ten times, on average you will win against that hand seven times.

The general odds are that one of every three boards (this is all five cards—including the flop, fourth street, and the river) will have an ace appear. That ace is the bane of a pocket kings existence, because several of the strongest hands someone will play you all involve an ace (A-K, A-Q, A-J, A-10), as well as suited ace-something, or bad players will even play A-4 or A-5, which suddenly could be better than your kings if that board hits badly. So how do you play pocket kings? There is only one basic rule, then there are some general guidelines. Like any type of poker game, the players involved in the game and playing styles have a lot to do with how you should react.

The Rule: Pre-flop you should raise and re-raise. In a no-limit game if a short stack goes all in you should actually raise over that to discourage others from calling. Always raise and re-raise pre-flop with the kings. Your chances for winning the hand are so good that you want to put in as much as possible.

Next time, we’ll look at the guidlines for playing your pocket kings!

Tags: Pokerrooms, Poker School, Texas Hold'em Strategy

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 26th, 2006 at 1:18 pm and is filed under Pokerrooms, Poker School, Texas Hold'em Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.