Checking, Not Betting, With a Monster Hand in Poker

A Monster hand in poker is rare. It means our hand has a very high chance of winning. Lots of times we bet on it. But sometimes, we also go easy on the just check or call before we bet.

Is it possible to have a monster hand in poker and yet be so unable to do aggressive bets right away? The answer is yes. So we must know how to play this situation properly so we can have the potential of a monster hand in poker working in our favor.

For instance, we have a 4 of a kind and the flop reads 882. The monster hand we have is pocket 8s. Two opponents check to us. What do we do? In this case, instead of betting, we merely check our strong hand. But this is not slow playing our monster hand in poker. What we're really after is for opponents to sort of cope with our play.

Since the flop derivatives of two 8s were not of any use to the opponents we aim for a turn card to appear---or who knows? A river card might even turn up here. We also hope to see someone at the table getting what some players might think a monster hand in poker.

Let's say the turn card turns out to be a picture card, then it works for us. With this, it's possible that a player came up with a top pair and looking forward to a good play and win. Remember that apart from the above situation, we should not slow play a monster hand in poker. Another example is, say, we have a hand AQ.

With AQ but a bad positioning, let's say we decide to place a raise and increase the pot to some 1,500 poker chips. The button player called our monster hand in poker, and the player is known to play sharp.

On the flop, the cards read: QQ3. So here, we've flopped an ace kicker, and a set, too. From a bad positioning we're first to move in the game, and this would call for slow playing, as other players might see it fit. Most players would slow play this poker situation, no matter the monster hand in poker.

But if we opt to check or call, we should be careful and make sure that we're not slow playing. See that the process immediately leads to a bet that would make our monster hand in poker profitable.