KK 200bb deep

villain is 9/9 TAG with a 15.4% 3bet but only over 60 hands. my plan was to 3b/fold preflop because i couldnt see him shipping anything but aces. while i understand that this doesn't mean he necessarily DOES shoves aces, i somehow convinced myself on the flop that he smooths with QQ+ and has to stack off with all of it given the flop texture and bloated pot. (i combo of KK i chop with, 6 each of QQ and AA). two questions:

is 3bet/folding>smoothing OOP pre?
can i ever not get in on this flop?

i honestly feel like i could not have dodged losing a stack here. but that said, i was very confident in losing my stack when we got it in on the flop. thoughts?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($9.93)
SB ($10)
BB ($13.42)
UTG ($5)
UTG+1 ($4.50)
Hero (MP1) ($9.97)
MP2 ($3.50)
CO ($2.74)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with K, K
2 folds, Hero bets $0.20, 2 folds, Button raises to $1.20, 2 folds, Hero raises to $3.40, Button calls $2.20

Flop: ($6.87) 10, 9, 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $4.55, Button raises to $6.53 (All-In), Hero calls $1.98

Turn: ($19.93) A (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($19.93) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $19.93 | Rake: $0.95

WOW beacuse we were so deep i did not notice how unusually large his 3b was. now i feel worse about it

He flips AK. Deal with it. But really i tend to notice poeple who do big 3 bets are scared and don't have aa. And does he really have TT or 99 here? I doubt it.
Just to be feaking im going to guess he had ACKS

Calling pre-flop is okay. Stacking off is probably fine too. Once you 4-bet and get to this flop you have to get it in.

I think I prefer calling preflop here. As played I wouldn't bet so large on the flop. Give him a chance to spazz out over your cbet.

I would also be very suspicious of his 3-bet sizing. Why would he do that with AA???

Can you guys please explain why it is OK to flat villain's 3-bet preflop OOP? I thought doing that was generally bad, why is it OK here?

Let me try: we 4-bet either
- for value (worse hands call). This is doubtful.
- as a "bluff" (better hands fold). No way.

But there is no way we fold KK. So that only leaves calling.

Is this correct thinking?

What hands are going to 3bet but call a 4bet here? AK, JJ, QQ, maaaaaaaaaaaaybe TT cause this is 5NL. AA or KK is shoving preflop I think. On this flop you're still ahead of almost his entire range. Also flatting the 3bet preflop widens his range making you ahead of even more hands. I think the 4bet is better though just because you are OOP. On this flop you're getting it in no matter what.

Also the better question is, what if the board comes A high, do you still shove?

Originally Posted by daviddem

Can you guys please explain why it is OK to flat villain's 3-bet preflop OOP? I thought doing that was generally bad, why is it OK here?

It's okay to flat KK when he won't get in anything but KK+ or whatever. Flatting 3bets OOP is IN GENERAL not a great stategy but this refers to marginal hands in particular where you are likely playing hit-to-win (i.e. small pairs, SC's, weak broadways). We have a pretty strong hand here though that can continue on a very high % of flops which makes flatting okay, and probably preferable in this situation.