The monster hand in poker. What a rush of adrenaline when we get it. Not too often though.

It is always nice for a player to get four of a kind, a full house or even a flush or a straight on the flop of course.

Indeed in the situation where you hold A5s and the flop comes AA5, the edge of each additional bet in the pot is almost 100%. Therefore it is crucial to maximize the size of the pot. On the other hand it is more complex to manage a small straight or flush at the flop. In this case, you have a very good hand, but it is still very vulnerable.

If you have quads or a full house at the flop, you want to maximize the size of the pot. Accordingly, you should call instead of raising if there are still two or three players behind you. However, you can play more aggressively if you were the pre flop raiser. On the contrary when you are the button and there are several callers already, it is essential to raise as the many callers will usually have sufficient pot odds to call.

If you get a flush at the flop, it is very good but all flushes are not equal. For example it is very different on a flop of K85 of hearts to have a hand like AT of hearts or T7 of hearts. Thus if you have the nuts flush, you have no other option but to slow play hoping that a heart appears at the turn. On the contrary if you do not have the ace, it would be a mistake and you have to play aggressively at the flop and even more at the turn where it is possible to make the chasers fold their draws.

It is difficult to know the best strategy if you flop a straight. Holding AKs, there is nothing to worry about with a flop of QJT rainbow and slow playing it is essential except when facing a maniac. Conversely, holding K9 with a flop QJT, slow playing would be a mistake. With a vulnerable hand, you must seek to reduce your opponents’ pot odds. Rarely slow play your straights, especially on a two-tone flop with two opponents or more. This is the weakest of the monster hands and you must bet and raise aggressively to protect it.

Good Luck to you and your monsters. Use a PokerStars bonus code 2012 if you want to play at the poker room with the largest game selection of the largest online poker tournaments on the Internet.