Message Board : $1-$2 NL Hold 'Em Live Game

I'm holding my own with all of my $100 buy-in…pretty loose game. I'm dealt K K in middle position. Two players in front of me limp in for $4 min bet. I make it $12. Two players after me and two behind me all call the $12 ( $60 in the pot )

Flop comes out 9-4-4 rainbow. Two players check to me, I push my $85 all-in. Everyone folds, one guy behind me (who checked) calls my bet with roughly same chip stack. He turns over 4-6 offsuit, two lumps of coal hit the turn and river, he politely rakes the pot.

I give him the stink eye and say “You call $12 with 4-6 offsuit ?!?!” He says “You bet $12 with Kings ?!? A couple other players snicker, I get up and leave (politely I think).

Statement: I have no problem dropping $100 in that situation, but wonder if that was a dumb play

Question #1: Did he infer my $12 pre-flop was too much or not enough ?

Question 2: Do you think I made the correct play, or was there a better way to play my kings ?

I would have played the hand differently in two ways:

1. I would have raised more preflop. Not because $12 with $100 stacks isn't “enough” to make the hand profitable… it is. But I think you can squeeze more money out of the hand by raising bigger. I probably would have made it $20 to go. The guy with 6-4 offsuit probably still would have called, and that's just fine. The vast majority of the time you just got $8 more out of him, while the occasional times he outflops you you end up losing the same amount. Win more when you win, lose the same when you lose. That means more profit long-term.

2. I would have bet less on the flop. That's a fairly good flop for your hand, but you want people to be able to pay you off with lesser hands. You want anyone with a 9 or a smaller pocket pair to go to the felt with you. They may do that even in the face of your all-in push, but I probably would have bet about $20 or $25 into the $60 pot. You don't need to protect your hand because the chance of getting outdrawn is small. I'd try to take the weaker pairs for a ride by betting $20 now, maybe $30 on the turn, and then the rest on the river. Know how they sell worthless crap on TV by splitting it into 3 low payments of just $19.99? Well, you can sell a crap deal to anyone with a 9 by putting them on the installment plan also.

Either way, you're going broke to the guy that flopped trips. No way to avoid that at all.