Coolers...get your coolers here!

One evening while it was raining in Albany I had the opportunity to play a little bit of online poker. I was just trying to kill some time before heading over to see the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight". I would really recommend that movie if you haven't seen it yet as it is one of the better movies I have seen in the last couple of years. Anyway, I digress. I was playing at the $.25/$.50 No Limit table when the following hand came up. For those of you that don't know my name at the Full Tilt tables is "Phantom Aces". As usual, I will try to interject my thoughts as the hand plays out:

Full Tilt Poker Game #7335581850: Table Huxley Cross - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:31:10 ET - 2008/07/22
Seat 1: FTP paramedic ($6.30)
Seat 2: Bockcara ($50)
Seat 3: bobontilt ($99.75)
Seat 4: Phantom Aces ($22.85)
Seat 5: Farodealer ($46.50)
Seat 6: riffraff999 ($34.85)
Seat 7: karway ($81.55)
Seat 8: major penalty ($50)
Seat 9: CORNpoo ($34.55)
Farodealer posts the small blind of $0.25
riffraff999 posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Phantom Aces [Ks Kd], I'm always happy to see this hand dealt to me. Now I just need another player and have to avoid the dreaded Ace on the flop!
karway folds
CORNpoo calls $0.50 - Hello other player!
FTP paramedic folds
Bockcara folds
bobontilt folds
Phantom Aces raises to $1.75 - you have to put in a raise with Kings, but I don't want CORNpoo to give up yet so I'll keep the raise small
Farodealer adds $3.75
Farodealer folds
riffraff999 folds
CORNpoo calls $1.25 - Sweet! Now, no Ace on that flop
*** FLOP *** [2s Kh 2c] - This is a GREAT flop! I've flopped the nut full house. In fact, There's almost no hand my opponent can have that the flop will have helped him, so I'm going to have to let him "catch up" by not betting and giving him a card that may help his hand.
CORNpoo checks
Phantom Aces checks
*** TURN *** [2s Kh 2c] [7d] - With that card, I'll still let him take any initiative here
CORNpoo checks
Phantom Aces checks - OK. I'm guessing that he doesn't have much. Let's give him one more free card.
*** RIVER *** [2s Kh 2c 7d] [Td] - I hope he bets SOMETHING here, or I'll have to do that.
CORNpoo bets $3.50 - Nice! Hopefully he hit something with the board! Time to raise!
Phantom Aces raises to $8.50
CORNpoo raises to $32.80, and is all in - Wow! This is an automatic call here.
Phantom Aces calls $12.60, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $11.70 returned to CORNpoo
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CORNpoo shows [2d 2h] four of a kind, Twos - Holy coolers, Batman! That really sucks. What are the chances of him flopping quads when I flop a full house?!?
Phantom Aces mucks
CORNpoo wins the pot ($44.15) with four of a kind, Twos
Phantom Aces is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $46.45 | Rake $2.30
Board: [2s Kh 2c 7d Td]
Seat 1: FTP paramedic didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Bockcara didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: bobontilt didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Phantom Aces (button) mucked [Ks Kd] - a full house, Kings full of Twos
Seat 5: Farodealer (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: riffraff999 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: karway didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: major penalty is sitting out
Seat 9: CORNpoo showed [2d 2h] and won ($44.15) with four of a kind, Twos

That, friends and readers, is about as much of a cooler as you'll ever see in poker. For those of you unfamiliar with poker jargon a "cooler" is when you hold a very strong hand, usually the 2nd best possible at the time all the money goes in, and your opponent has the one possible hand that can beat you.

Once this flop hit the board there was no way anything but getting all the money in was going to happen. My opponent was clearly going through the same thought process I was when that flop hit, it's just that his hand was the stone cold nuts! I actually had one of my friends ask me what I thought he had when he raised at the river. My only answer to him was, "Does it matter? I'm not folding to that remote of a possibility!" I'm not going to fold a Kings full full house in this situation. I'm just glad that the stakes at this table were so small when it happened because I'd have paid off anything at any level with the hand I held and the board that hit. For those of you that are curious the odds of flopping a full house when you hold a pocket pair are about 0.7% (about 136 to 1). The odds of flopping four of a kind, quads, when you hold a pocket pair are 0.25% (about 407 to 1). I don't know what the odds are of having both of those occur at the same time are, but it can't too high!

...Coolers, get your coolers here!! Only $22.85...