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SpecialtyManaging second-best hands
TellStares at the ace on the flop for three full seconds
Threat LevelEmotionally volatile before the flop
Kings feel powerful until the board starts making other plans.
Pocket kings look beautiful before the flop.
The best hand most players will ever be dealt.
Second only to aces, which you never have when you want them.
Then the flop arrives.
Sometimes the ace arrives with it.
Or the set appears somewhere across the table.
Or someone with a hand that should have been folded two streets ago stays in long enough to become a genius by the river.
That is the life cycle of pocket kings:
Excitement.
Concern.
A brief period of mathematical denial.
Pain.
The grief passes.
Usually.
ATMNOPIN Rating:
- Pre-flop Beauty: Maximum
- Post-ace-flop Beauty: Significantly reduced
- Set-under-set Survival Rate: Not great
- Recovery: One session minimum