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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)

In today’s hand of the week, I will tell you about a hand I was involved in during a recent $2/$4 game with 7 players. I was on the button and I had pocket 10’s. Before I acted, 4 players called the big blind. Looking to narrow the field, I raised to $20 and everyone but the big blind folded. This surprised me because this particular player was pretty conservative and it was uncharacteristic to play such a hand in such poor position.

So with only the two of us in the pot, the flop comes down as the Jh-Qd-5c. Not exactly the greatest flop as there were 2 overcards on the board. So I quickly began thinking to myself and asking myself questions that all players should when thinking about flop texture. What kind of player am I up against? He has been playing fairly tight all night so he likely called with something decent. I’m thinking he either had a smaller pocket pair or AK. I really did not at all believe this particular flop made his hand. He checked and after some consideration, I made a half pot sized bet on $20. He thought for a moment and called.

The turn card was the 10h. This could be seen as a good card for me on one hand. At the same time, if my opponent has AK like I suspect, he now has a straight and though I have some outs, I really can’t stand too much of a bet. He acts first and decides to check again. I remember several occasions during the evening that when this player made his hand, he routinely checked quickly and after a player bet, he would check-raise a huge amount. Remembering this tendency, I decided to check as well as see if my hand improves.

Lo and behold, the river comes down and it’s the 10s! Can you believe it? I was in total amazement. I could not be beaten. As I waited for my opponent to act, I began thinking about how to extract the most value from this powerhouse of a hand of mine. Incredibly, that decision was made for it. Apparently, as I suspected, he did have a hand but unfortunately for him, he slowplayed it and was about to be given a rude awakening. The crazy thing is that he just bet $150 into an $80 pot. I immediately raised him to $300 putting him all-in and he called. His pocket cards? AK. He made his straight on the turn and thought slowplaying was his best move. Maybe the slowplay wasn’t horrible as he was surely looking to check-raise me. Be his river play was just terrible. Betting so much into a relatively small pot was one mistake and then compounding it be calling e huge re-raise, without even hesitating. I’m not sure what hand he put me on but what a bad play on his part. Again, I’m not out here trying to teach my opponents how to play. This is for your benefit, the readers so when you’re out there, you don’t make some of these same tactical errors. My only true regret from this hand was not being there to see his facial expression when he saw I had quad 10’s!

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