What size kicker to go broke with in HU play

[Lovell77]

Lets say it's the first hand, so no reads and blinds are small. You raise on button with Kx, opponent calls and flop comes K 4 6. Opponent bets into you, you raise and opponent moves all in. I would generally call this with K8+. Just wondered if you think this is a bit too loose/tight, and what do you generally call with KT+, K2+?

The example's a bit vague, (bet sizes, board texture etc), just trying to get a rough idea. Also if you substitute the K for an ace do you find it makes a difference. I'm starting to think A-rag is way too overated HU (call a raise with any ace etc). In the early stages I wouldn't call a raise with K2, Q3, etc, although I always call with A2, A3, etc, does anyone actually fold A-rag to a raise.

[brian94709]

Why would you raise the flop with K8? Dont you lose value from hands with 4s and 6s, and go broke against better kings?

[thechainsaw]

I would not be comfortable without KJ or better, depending on M and your actual bets of course

[Goldmund]

Going all-in w top-pair mediocre kicker against an unkown opponent in the early fase of a HU-sng is a bad idea. I would start thinking about going all-in with KQ, maybe KJ, but the stacks are still pretty big for an all-in with a possibly/likely beaten toppair hand.

People play a lot more ragged Aces than ragged Kings, so I think you run a bigger risk of running into 2-pair if you encounter serious resistance on an Ace-high flop and you have an ace yourself. If villain raises pre, bets the flop and reraises your flop-raise, you can be pretty sure a ragged Ace is beaten. Again, id start thinking about going to the wire with AJ, or ATs with a backdoor flush working, which effectively gives you one extra out. Goldmund

[Pondus]

What stakes are you playing? Who raised (if any) pre-flop? Re-raising flop with a weak K seems like a bad play. Calling an all in with K8-KT would be a horrible play.

I play $52.50+

[acidca]

going broke here is terrible. if the board was a little more coordinated then it might be ok.

[roommate]

the lowest kicker that can win against another kicker is (of course) a five. I therefore recommend you NEVER go broke with one lower than that... this includes 4, 3, and 2 (ace is high don't forget). So that leaves a kicker of 5 through A as possibilities to win... the "average" kicker will be 9.5... so you ought to be higher than that... the standard deviation of the possible "winning" kickers is 3.027. It follows that there is a 13% chance of someone having an ace or king kicker. Coupled with your desired winrate (lets assume 65%) leads me to conclude that if you hold a Jack kicker your opponent will have a lower kicker 68% of the time.

Therefore, I suggest you NEVER EVER EVER go broke with less than a JACK kicker... or it will be impossible to acheive a 65% winrate.

~rob

[Winenose]

It depends on his flop bet. The smaller it is (down to half pot), the higher is probability that he's valuebetting two pair. Altho at lower stakes almost everyone slowplays two pair. I would probably call the push with AK, depending on his timing, etc.

Overbet I would interpret as trying to end the hand there and then, meaning K with lower kicker. If he pushes my raise, I'd call with KT+. The pot would be rather large at that point anyway.

[brian94709]

why raise flop

[Lovell77]

Thanks for the replies, the K 6 4 board wasn't an actual hand, just first thing that came to mind, i've generally been putting my money in with 8+, so i guess I need to raise my standards.