Just because an online poker player turns professional doesn’t mean that he escapes the frustration of every other player when it comes to tricky hands.
Even poker pros will spend an entire career trying to learn how to play certain hands successfully and many will go to their grave without the answer. That is, of course, one of the most fascinating aspects of poker is that it really does take “an hour to learn and a lifetime to master.”
A pair of queens, for example, is a seemingly decent hand. And that right there is the problem, much like an ace-king pocket hand, a pair of ladies can lead to trouble because it is a hand that is based on potential. While not the strongest pair that a player can draw, a pair of queens can be potentially profitable, particularly if that third lady is snagged. But the dangers are plenty as well.
A king-queen pocket hand is even trickier because of its vast potential. In some ways a king-queen hand might be even more dangerous than a pair of queens because of that potential. Too many times players have come up empty because the flop, turn and river end up empty.
Obviously cards that go into sequence or a pocket of the same suit also leads to even bigger potential pitfalls, as does a hand of four cards of the same suit after the flop. Even poker pros get caught up in chasing that elusive fifth and clinching card.
Hands of potential are potentially deadly to a bankroll and poker
pros know to exercise caution over aggression and hesitate to “bet
the come” on that potential.