KK in first level of WSOP Main Event and someone shoves - What do you do?
I actually know someone that busted the main in the first level with KK vs AA all in preflop. Always scratched my head wondering how that could have happened so deep.
If you raise KK and someone shoves in the first or second level are you calling? Also if you raise KK, and get reraised, are you calling to keep the pot small or reraising? Interested in hearing everyone's thoughts.
8 Replies
You start 300BB deep and I think that's far too much to stack off with in a tournament where you expect the field to skew tight/conservative. If you think you have an edge in this field, you don't need to take huge gamble spots on day one. Anything more than a pre-flop 4-bet feels like you are turning your hand into a bluff. My inclination would be to play pot control and try to get to showdown instead of looking for the 600BB confrontation in level one. Plenty of time and chips to grind people into dust over the next few days.
Only in the Main as there really is no other MTT similar in structure and only a single bullet. 3!/call and go from there. You cannot cash or even lock up a cash on Day 1. Survival is the name of the game on Day 1 & 2.
Heres a better question. What equity threshold would you require to risk your Main Event level 1.
IDK if you guys remember this story from the ME 5 years ago.
Basically he shoved blind and showed Q5o before the BB acted. BB had 66, called and busted. Is a 70/30 edge a slam dunk call here, I would imagine that it has to be. But what about if you had AJs and got shown Q5o, nows its down to 2:1.
I mean, what is it worth to have 2x the chips of your entire table from hand 1.
Because I be tormenting some people lol.
This depends on the raises up to the point of the jam.
At Rivers casino in Schenectady NY I raised with KK UTG and it folded to BB who jammed with 120 bb's. I tanked and folded (with over 120 bb's left) because I just thought it likely BB had AA. BB could have had AK though. I showed my KK and BB showed his AA.
If I were in the main and opened KK in EP and somebody raised in position I might re-raise if they had been raising wide but I likely just call because I am an older white guy so my range will be perceived as tight. But if I raise in the CO and the BTN raises and the guy is young/GTO/solveresque then I will 4-bet about 3.5x his 3-bet. So I make it 600 Villain makes it 1800 I make it around 6600 and Villain jams what do I do? I probably fold.
But I have only folded KK twice preflop in my life. The other time I got it wrong at the Borgota $1,000,000 guarantee $550 tourney and the 4-bet BB jammer (OK he didn't jam but he bet half his stack so it was a pseudo jam) had QQ and the UTG opener called and had AKs (I had 3-bet) ...
I heard in a Main event a guy raised another guy jammed and then another guy (or the original raiser) had AA and called and ended up losing to KK and got knocked out.
I was playing in the $1,200 at the Golden Nugget the other day and a youngish GTO/Solver guy raised to 1,200 in MP (blinds were 200/400), I had KK in the SB and I made it 4,800 Villain made it 21,200 and I jammed for about 60,000 (Villain had me covered) because I did not want to play KK OOP in a huge pot where I would fold to an A on the flop and Villain could have JJ/QQ or really any PP. I figured I likely had a 70% to 80% edge and didn't want villain to check back if they missed. if Villain had AA there would likely be no A on the flop anyway and I would have to call the shove vs AA. I was also willing to just go home because I was feeling sickish (sore throat slight congestion). Villain actually folded.
I played many years ago in Foxwoods in like a $120 turboesque tourney and I had KK on the first hand. UTG raised I 3-bet UTG+1, UTG 4-bet like half his stack so I just jammed and he had AA. At that time there were no re-buys allowed so that was a quick tourney.
One time at Parx in a Big Staxx I got knocked out and 1st hand back in I got AA. I raised, KK 3-bet, I 4-bet jammed and he called. K on the flop.
One time at Planet Hollywood before covid in a multiday tourney early on (like 200/400 blinds) a woman raised OTB I had KK in the BB and I 3-bet 4x and she jammed I called and she had TT. That actually surprised me (I thought she would have more AA than AK or QQ) .
I will try to find it but a few tears ago there was an exit poll of the first 100 players out of the main event and over half were kk v aa.
I fold since you start 300BB deep with 2 hour levels.
This year on day 2 of the WSOP Main event a young white guy raised preflop UTG to 2000 (I guess we were at 500/1000 or 400/800) an older white guy (he and I were the only older white guys at the table) raised to 4500. He had just won a big pot with AA. Folds to me in the SB and I look down at KK. I raise to 16,500. UTG folds. Old white guy makes it 36,500. I had about 67,000 chips at the start of the hand and was covered and for whatever reason I was convinced that the old white guy did not have AA on consecutive hands. So I jammed. Boy was I wrong (and lucky)...
