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If you are sitting at home reading this article, chances are you’re just like me – you can’t get enough of online poker. Whether you’re in it for the thrill of the game or you’re trying to make a living, playing online offers several distinct advantages over the “live” game. The online game is a faster game, which essentially means more and potentially larger pots and more risks per hour than a standard B&M (brick and mortar) game. When you see a larger volume of hands, chances are that during each session you play, you are bound to see something that leaves you speechless, shaking your head, mystified, or (shudder at the thought) having to re-buy. In this column, each week we will take a look at a different hand that fits the previously mentioned criteria. My involvement in the hand notwithstanding, I will try to remain as impartial as possible, and for the hands that I didn’t win, I will keep my bitterness to a minimum. (At least, this is my intent)

What do you do when you have a really strong hand. I mean, a REALLY STRONG hand. The kind of hand, that barring some unforeseen natural disaster can not be beaten, no way, no how. Do you slow-play it and hope someone will bet or do you decide to bet and try to bring on some action and run the risk of everyone folding.? The perfect answer to this real dilemma is a bit of a complicated one. This is for several reasons. For one, just because a hand starts off as being strong doesn’t mean it will remain that way to the river, especially when there are multiple players involved. By continually checking and giving free cards, you are putting your hand at risk and potentially taking money away from yourself. Then again, if no one really has anything at all, even a small bet could be enough to make others fold. Obviously, this would minimize your winnings.

Keeping these things in mind, I’m about to tell you about an actual hand I saw at a $3/6 no-limit table recently. It was a relatively tame game, no maniacs, no overly aggressive bullies. Just a regular friendly game, if such a thing exists, of no-limit hold em. I was eating a sandwich so I was sitting out of this particular hand but I still watched the table because I’m still trying to gather information for when I get back into the game.

The player in seat three makes a small one-bet raise to $6, very odd because of the early position. Five players call including the small blind. The big blind and the rest of the players fold. I found it funny that so many players thought they had strong enough hands to see this flop but it happens sometimes. The flop comes down as Js 9s Jc. Curiously, the original raiser check (AK perhaps) and everyone else checks behind him. No one made a move at this pot which was sitting there with $45 in it. Quite strange. The turn comes out and it’s the Ah. Again, all 6 players check. I find this to be extremely strange as with 6 callers, someone had to have at least had an Ace. The river card comes and it’s the Ac! This puts a very obvious full house on the board. Someone has to have an Ace or Jack I think out loud.

Then the action comes. The original better makes a small bet of $12 and the next players raises to $24. Everyone else folds. Finally! Some action. I become quite intrigued by this. The original raiser re-raises to $48 and the other player goes all in for $250! When the original raiser quickly calls, I see the $600 pot and think its going to be split between the two of them holding Ace over Jacks full houses.
But when the cards flip over, the original raiser was sitting with pocket Jacks! That’s right, he flopped quads and slow-played it to the river and made some decent money for himself. Sure enough, the other player thought he was golden with his Ace high full house and upon losing this pot, he quickly and quietly left the table.

So how did the pre-flop raiser play this hand. Well, he definitely showed a lot of patience and in doing so, he was able to maximize his winnings since his post-flop hand was so unbeatable. However, boy was he lucky his opponent didn’t have pocket Aces. Then the slow-playing would have obviously backfired. But in this case, it was worth the risk and he was paid off handsomely for it. I finished my sandwich and sat at the table again. Someone has a nice little stack and I want it…

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