How to Play Pocket Kings (Many Players Get This Wrong)

Sneak peek from Lab 2.0, coming to Upswing Poker on September 8th. Register for early access here.

The world's best poker coach, Uri Peleg, walks you through numerous hand examples and shares key insights for playing Pocket Kings. He positions the question "how should you play pocket kings" as a philosophical one that touches deep into something beautiful about the game of poker.

View the written version of this episode here.

00:00 The Philosophy of Playing Pocket Kings

02:56 Reevaluating Hand Strength Post-Flop

05:46 Overview of Lab 2.0 and Learning Path

06:13 Pot Control with Marginal Boards

08:50 Maximizing Value Against Loose Opponents

09:50 Playing Strong Hands on Dynamic Boards

In this poker strategy podcast, world-class coach Uri Peleg takes you deep into the art of playing Pocket Kings — one of the most exciting yet misunderstood hands in No-Limit Hold’em. Pulled from Upswing Poker’s Lab 2.0 course, this episode blends philosophy, strategy, and real hand breakdowns to show why Kings, while a preflop powerhouse, require constant reevaluation once the flop hits. Uri explores scenarios against skilled opponents, revealing how the board texture, betting patterns, and player tendencies can transform a monster hand into a marginal bluff-catcher — or the nuts into a value-shoving machine.

Listeners will follow along as Uri navigates dream flops, dangerous turns, and tricky rivers, explaining when to push for big pots, when to pot-control, and when to get out of the way. You’ll hear hands where Kings crush opponents for massive stacks, as well as spots where restraint saves your tournament life or bankroll. Along the way, Uri drops mindset gems, reminding players to shed emotional attachment to “premium” hands and focus on situational value instead.

This poker strategy podcast also introduces you to the Lab 2.0 learning path, designed to meet players at their current skill level and guide them toward mastery through tailored lessons. Whether you’re a beginner hoping to avoid common pitfalls or an experienced grinder looking to sharpen your decision-making, this poker strategy podcast will arm you with both the technical skills and mental discipline to handle Kings — and countless other hands — with confidence. If you’re serious about improving your game, this poker strategy podcast is your ticket to turning knowledge into profit.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Mike:
Let's level up your poker skills with thesecond best starting hand in the game.
I'm about to kick it over toworld-class poker coach Uri Peleg,
who will teach you some keyconcepts for playing pocket Kings.
This is a video I pulled straightfrom the new Lab 2.0 course over on
upswingpoker.com.
I thought it was a great one and I reallywanted to share it with the Level Up

(00:21):
squad. A quick word of warning, he goesover several hand examples in this one.
I personally found it easy enough tofollow along when just listening to the
audio, but you can always checkout the video feed if needed.
Most podcast platforms supportthe video version of this podcast,
but we also have it over on YouTubejust in case. With that said,
let's hear from Uri.

Uri (00:42):
Hey guys, what's up?
This is going to be a videoabout How to Play Pocket Kings.
And the question of how to play pocketKings is actually a philosophical poker
question and it touches deep into what'sso beautiful about the game because
when you get dealt Kings,
your brain instantly gets floodedwith this feeling of happiness

(01:04):
and potential, and "I'mgoing to win money.
It's going to be a great hand..."Like, a good thing just happened.
But the way poker works is:
everything holds until the cards get deltout, right? That's how Hold'em works.
So just because you've gotKings, you might get a bad flop.
What do you do with Kingswith a bad flop? Well,

(01:27):
what do you do if you have a beautifulsinging voice and you're very talented
and you practice your entire life thatyou find yourself in a place where
everyone is deaf or singing is banned?
I'm sorry for getting so metaphorical,
but just because it's Kings doesn'tmean it's going to win a big pot.

(01:47):
Everything is dependent on everythingelse. So just like Five Six suited,
usually misses, sometimesyou flop a straight flush,
Kings more often than notis going to win the hand,
but fairly often it's not going to wanta big pot and it's not going to be a
very strong hand. So ahand like pocket Kings,
even though it is a premium handpreflop, once you see a flop,

(02:11):
the value changes betweenstill premium, still strong,
overpair,
super premium wheremaybe it's overpair on a
disconnected rainbow board or it'stop set or something like this,
or a medium strength hand if anAce comes or the board is too
connected.

(02:32):
So we want to differentiate and letgo of our preconceived notion of
what Kings has the potential to doand see what it can actually do.
And the key to playing Kings is totake that and really deeply in it's a
principle and a thought that will helpyou in poker in general in a lot of spots
is constantly reevaluating howmuch is your hand worth given the

(02:54):
board and the action, etcetera, et cetera. So yeah,
we're going to take a look ata few different situations.
These are not specifically filteredand just take a look at what
can happen with Kings. So here's one hand.
These are all played between verygood players. So cutoff raises,
we three bet with Kings, cutoff calls.

(03:17):
We get a Four Four Queen two-toneboard. In this situation,
amazing board for Kings. Whenyou re-raise your opponent,
he's less likely to havelow cards after calling,
but also just a Four misses him alot. So we're not losing to very much.
We very often are ahead.
We want to get tons of money in and wedecide to start out with a check because

(03:39):
we're out of position, andwhen you're out of position,
you need to be a bit tricky sometimes.
You can't just only check weak handsand only bet strong hands. So we check,
our opponent bets small, and we'relike, "okay, let's go for it.
Let's check-raise. We have Kings".He calls. Turn is Six of clubs.
There is now a flush.Kings is a lot less strong.

(04:00):
Now if we put in a stack with Kings,we probably would not be far ahead,
but it's still ahead, right?
Our opponent could still have a lowerpair with clubs or just a Queen.
So we bet small.
Our opponent makes a small raiseand now we have to instantly
reevaluate. Because, like we said,King's beautiful hand preflop,
we're way ahead. Great flop,we're way ahead. Dangerous turn.

(04:25):
And suddenly our opponent wakesup and he's telling a story about,
"I have King's beat".I'm raising like this.
I probably have something likea flush. And now our beautiful,
beautiful Kings ran into asituation where it's now playing
defense. It's a bluff-catcher,it's not such a great hand.
So we would call because we can improveto a flush or we can improve to a boat

(04:47):
with two Kings. And it's not a big raise,
but in your head theevaluation has to shift,
the excitement has to drop. We'renow playing in the real world.
Kings is not that special giventhe action and the runout.
So we call. River Ace of diamonds.
I think the Ace of diamonds makeswhat was already evident on the turn

(05:10):
even more visiblebecause even on the turn,
our opponent would not have beenraising us with just a Queen.
So the fact that there is anAce there, it drives home...
The value of your Kings is justbeating bluffs at this point.
So while on the turn we couldimprove, now it's just beating bluffs.
We now lose to bluffs that had an Ace.But how many people bluff with an Ace?

(05:34):
So it didn't change much, itjust makes it more self-evident.
So we check,
our opponent checks back and we lose toFour Five suited and we find out we were
actually beat on the flop. Believe it.
Mike:
You are watching a video that was pulledfrom the brand New Lab 2.0 course over
on upswingpoker.com. The world'sbest poker coach, Uri Peleg,

(05:54):
has spent the better part of the lastyear creating a clear learning path to
poker mastery. No matter where you'recurrently at in your poker journey,
Lab 2.0 will help you take yourskills to the next level and beyond.
If you're serious about improving yourNo-Limit Hold'em game, go check it out.
Now let's get back to Uri.
Cutoff raises. We get dealt premium Kings, we re-raise, he calls,

(06:17):
Ten Ten Nine two-toneboard. So, we lose to trips,
but we are fairly well aheadwith Kings and unless our
opponent shows us he hastrips through his actions,
we're going to start building a potwith Kings. So we make a small bet,
he calls and we get theturn Ace. In this situation,

(06:39):
how do you play Kings? Well, the onlyreason there's a dissonance there,
and the only reason there's a questionis the emotional charge Kings has and the
fact that we expect to win withKings. Because if I asked you,
how do you play with something likepocket Eights here? You would say check.
How do you play with something like, Idon't know, Jack Nine? You'd say check.

(07:01):
Now, Kings is a bit better than thosehands, but it's not that much better.
So it can either check or betsmall. Those are the options.
And if it faces a lot of action,you're going to have a tough decision.
And the fact that your hand has twoKings is not going to be too relevant
anymore. So here we choose to betsmall, kind of pot controlling,

(07:23):
we're really hoping not to get raised orfor our opponent to call and for him to
check back the river.
Any more money than this going inand we're definitely in trouble.
But our opponent folds. This isthe good scenario for Kings here,
which just shows you how weak Kings isthat you bet so small and you really hope
he folds. Now we're blind versus blind.We raise Kings and we get called.

(07:47):
Board comes Ace Six Six rainbow. Soimmediately we're losing to an Ace,
we're losing to a Six,
very unexciting situation with Kings andwe immediately reevaluate and we say,
"I have a hand that wants a smallishpot. It doesn't really need protection,
so I'm going to make small bets or justtry to check it down and that's it".

(08:09):
So here we check, our opponent betssmall. We're going to call Kings.
We check the Jack turn, he checks back.
We get the Four river.Now we either bet small,
hope he calls with a Jack, or wecan check, let him sometimes bluff.
We decide to check, he checks back withpocket Threes and we win a small pot,
which is really the ideal situationwith Kings on this kind of board.

(08:33):
The small pot is the sweet spotonce you get a bad board like this.
And that's what we would beaiming for. Now, just to wrap up,
because Kings doessometimes win some big ones,
I will show you guys a handwhere we actually win with Kings.
So here we open with Kings.Three bet, cold four bet.

(08:54):
Loose players, so we decide to gofor a five bet with Kings... Again,
some people we mighteven get out of the way,
but these are fairly looseplayers. We get a great board,
Queen Five Five two-tone. Ofcourse we are losing to a Five.
Our opponent could have something likeAce Five suited or Four Five suited.
We are losing to pocket Queens.We're losing to slow played Aces,

(09:19):
but so much money is in, we can'treally worry about that too much.
He checks to us, we bet small. He calls.Turn is Six of spades, two flush draws.
He checks, we bet, he calls.
River Seven of diamonds.
Six and Seven don't matter toomuch given the preflop action.
So we go all-in and our opponentcalls us with pocket Tens.

(09:41):
And you'll note in this hand our opponentgave us no reason to think he has us
beat at any point andwe play appropriately.
Here we re-raise with Kings. We geta Queen Three Five two-tone board,
so we are losing to some hands,but definitely we're well ahead.
Our opponent leads out andwe decide to raise. He calls.

(10:03):
Turn King of diamonds. So wehave top set, very dynamic board.
Throw in another bet which getscalled. River Jack of club.
So we now lose if he had Ace Ten witha flush draw or Ten Nine with a flush
draw. But certainly well ahead, we goall-in and get an unfortunate fold.
But yeah, we're going to have somehands like these with Kings as well.

(10:23):
These are the easy ones to play. Hopefullythis helps you with a tougher ones.
Mike:
That was a sneak peek into one of theearly sections of the new Lab 2.0 course
over on upswingpoker.com. Thesection is called Level 2 Quick Wins.
It covers how to play pocket Kings,Ace King, top pair weak kicker,
low pocket pairs, and what to dowhen hands don't go as planned.

(10:45):
Those are relatively beginner friendlytopics because it's so early in the
course.
But the cool thing about Lab 2.0 is itmeets you where you're currently at.
You're going to start byta King a personality quiz,
takes about thirty seconds to complete,and then based on your answers,
you're going to get dropped into theappropriate point in the Lab 2.0 learning
path. From there,

(11:06):
you're going to continuously improveyour skills on your way to poker mastery.
Lab 2.0 comes out this upcomingMonday on upswingpoker.com.
Uri and the rest of the team are extremelyproud of what they put together and
are excited for you tocheck it out. Take care.