
I’m writing this on the flight home from Las Vegas, fresh off my third WSOP Main Event appearance. I’ve already shared the story of my miraculous run to a min-cash in the 2022 Main Event (see part one and part two), and I’d planned to apply those lessons this year for another deep run.
Over the next two articles, I’ll break down two of the most intense poker hands of my career—moments shaped as much by the prestige of the Main Event as by the decisions I had to make under pressure. First up: the hand where I folded pocket kings preflop.
Folding… Kings?!
This happened during Level 3 on Day 1. Earlier in the day, I was already all-in after a bizarre hand in Level 1. I was hoping for a more relaxed stretch, but instead, I found myself in a spot that poker players rarely encounter: folding kings preflop.
I had roughly the starting stack of 60,000 chips. Blinds were 300/500 with a 500 big blind ante. The hand began with a slight hiccup—a card dealt to the UTG player flew off the table and was returned as the burn card. The visibly frustrated UTG player, likely having lost an ace, folded.
Then the hijack raised to 1,200. The small blind—Seth, a friendly and solid player—3-bet to 4,300.
From the big blind, I looked down at pocket kings—and with the ace of hearts face up atop the deck, I was even more confident. I bumped the action to 11,200. The hijack folded. I expected to take the pot down right there.
But instead of folding, Seth instantly shoved all in, covering my stack. It was a snap-jam that put my tournament life on the line just a few levels in.
Thinking It Through
It was an unusual and tough spot. Day 1 players don’t typically make huge bluffs or take massive risks—especially with 120 big blinds. And Seth had shown no signs of erratic behavior.
So I started eliminating hands from his range:
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AK (Big Slick)? With a dead ace visible, jamming doesn’t make much sense. Most would take a second to think.
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QQ? Again, seems unlikely. The immediate shove didn’t line up with queens.
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JJ or worse? Way too optimistic at this level and stack depth.
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KK or AA? Those were the two most plausible hands. There were three remaining combos of aces, and only one of kings—mine.
Ultimately, it came down to this: if Seth had aces, I was crushed. If he had kings, we were chopping. There was no winning outcome. I still had 50,000 chips—100 big blinds—on a soft table. The edge here just didn’t feel worth the risk.
So, I did something I never imagined I’d do: I folded kings preflop.
Was I Right?
I tossed my kings face up into the muck—and Seth kindly turned over… the other two kings.
It was a chop pot that never was.
And even knowing that, I still believe the fold was correct. It wasn’t fear—it was logic. When you put your opponent on exactly two possible hands, and one of them has you drawing dead while the other is a chop, folding isn’t as wild as it seems.
Of course, the internet had thoughts. Since I was vlogging the event, I included the fold in my Day 1 video, which you can find on my YouTube channel. As expected, the comments were… mixed.
The What-Ifs
The hand got even more interesting afterward. The UTG player who had to muck the flying card? He groaned and claimed his second card was another ace. If that ace had stayed in play, the action could’ve been totally different—possibly a 5-bet pot between UTG, Seth, and me. And maybe two players would have folded kings preflop in the same hand.
Who knows how that would’ve played out?
Would You Have Folded?
I believe if you’re ever going to fold kings preflop, it’s on Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event. I’ve seen a few others do it this year too—including GazzyB, who had probably the easiest kings fold of all time.
And as wild as this hand was, the hand I’ll break down next week is even crazier—and for completely different reasons.
Stay tuned.