(Go here to see the normal buy in amount you’d need to play $1/2 No-limit Texas Holdem in a casino) Bad Beat Definition There is no set, definite definition of what exactly constitutes a bad beat in poker, but it’s generally accepted that a bad beat only occurs when a hand that is an overwhelming favorite loses to an inferior hand that gets. Ever since the early days of Texas holdem poker, players have attempted to analyze and organize the 169 possible two card starting hands found in the game. One traditional way of doing so involves running thousands upon thousands of simulations in which a particular holdem hand is played out against nine random opponent hands. Similar Threads for: Coolers in tournaments Texas Hold'em Poker: Thread: Replies: Last Post: Forum: High Roller Tournaments vs. Main Event Tournaments 0: August 16th, 2019 10:22 AM: Tournament Poker. Trademark Poker Poker Chip Set for Texas Holdem, Blackjack, Gambling with Carrying Case, Cards, Buttons and 500 Dice Style Casino Chips (11.5 Gram) 4.6 out of 5 stars 2,723 # 1 Best Seller in Poker Sets.

Intro to Biggest Online Poker Pot

There have been some pretty insane pots won online over the years. Generally, they are going to be aces versus kings and post flop coolers as most professional’s are not stacking off in deep stack cash game with weak hands. Would you invest hundreds of thousands with medium strength hands?
Let’s look at the one biggest online poker pots and give commentary.

Tom Dwan (Durrr) vs Urindanger – Pot of $723,941

This game was played on Full Tilt. One of the major poker sites, trusted and endorsed by GamStop. This hand would be less likely to be found on CasinoGap. A resource website for finding more enjoyable poker games, not on GamStop.

In a 6 handed game (as most of these high stakes games are), Urindanger opened to $3,000 from the cuttoff with Ac Ad, elmariachimacho flat called and Tom Dwan 3bet to $16,300 from the small blind with Kc Kd. Urindanger puts in a 4 bet to $45,000, elmariachimacho folds and Dwan calls.
Flop – 9h 5c 4h ($94,000)
Dwan checks, Urindanger bets $52,700 and Dwan check raises to $139,500. Urindanger moves all in for $314,971 and Dwan calls it off.
Turn brings 3d and river falls 6h leading to one of the biggest online poker pots at $723,941.

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Commentary

At face value this is just a cooler right? Aces against kings, no commentary required for the biggest online poker pot. I beg to differ; this is deep stacked cash games where an error can lead to you losing the value of a house. Let’s try and dissect it a little.

Before the Flop – Urindanger

This could have been the biggest online poker pot with it all going in before flop is dealt. However, they are playing over 350 big blinds effective here and neither player knows that the other is holding what they are. Keep in mind they are playing in games which are super aggressive. In urindangers spot he is trying to get as much in as he can without losing Dwan. He makes standard open, notices a squeeze from Dwan (which doesn’t need to be pocket kings) and makes the 4 bet on the smaller side. I like his sizing as he is in position and want to elicit a call from Dwan who will play the hand out of position. It also serves to increase the pot size and also gives Dwan more perceived fold equity and implied odds too. His sizing is less than 3 x the bet made by Dwan. It is also enough for elmariachimacho to get out the way.

Before the Flop – Tom Dwan

Tom is loving being able to squeeze here as it gives the element of doubt to his opponents. His sizing is ok as he is out of position and he has factored in the pre flop call from elmariachimacho. Once he has been 4 bet and action is on him, he has two options, flat call or get the 5 bet in and stack off. If he 5 bets, it is likely to $120 – $130K at which point he is committed to going all in. By flat calling, he keeps in potential bluffs from Urindanger and won’t lost him if he is 4 betting Jacks or Queens for some reason. I like his flat call a lot, particularly as he recognises that if he 5 bets and faces an all in, he knows he has to call and is likely up against pocket Aces.

Flop Play – Urindanger

Once this dry flop falls, Urindanger just has to try and get in one way or another. He knows Dwan has many overpairs in his range and doesn’t want a potential scare card on turn or river. The question is, how much can he bet to generate what he wants. His bet is fine, betting $52K, this could certainly be an AK that is trying hard to get a TT type hand to fold. In truth, I am not sure the sizing matters a great deal here other than if Dwan has a weak to medium hand like Ace high or pocket pair, a smaller bet allows Dwan the perception of fold equity and may increase his chances of a bluff. For this reason, I slightly prefer a smaller bet of around $38K-$40K.

Flop Play – Tom Dwan

I like Dwans check on the flop here. Betting won’t accomplish much as he may let his opponent off the hook if he was making a play. Checking is at least likely to get a c-bet out of his opponent. Once this flop comes, Dwan recognises he will be prepared to stack off. If Urindanger has pocket aces, good luck to him. After he checks and Urindanger bets, he has to decide whether to check raise and call all in, or slow play. He opts to check raise, which is fine. My personal preference is to flat call here and check call it down. It keeps in any potential weak hands or overpairs that Urindanger may otherwise fold. As it happens, it’s irrelevant but when you are playing for the long term, you need to ask these questions and consider whether your line is the most profitable.

Something that people often ask me is if it is possible to avoid coolers inpoker. Is there some magic way of sensing when you are facing a big setup hand?
How do the pros get away in these situations and not lose all of their chips? Iam going to answer all of these questions in this article.

What is a Cooler in Poker?

First off though, let’s talk about what exactly is a cooler in poker.
Cooler Definition:
A cooler is when you have a really strong hand in poker, such as a flush or a full house, but your opponent happens to have an even better hand. It is therefore almost impossible to fold and you are very likely to lose all of your money.
It is basically a trap where the person with the second best hand is convinced they have the best hand. And they are in shock when their opponent turns over the one or two hands that could possibly beat them.
Many people call these hands “setups” as well because it is almost like the handhas been created for you to lose all your money.
Love it or hate it though, coolers are, and always will be, an integral part of the game of poker. It doesn't matter if you are the best low stakes poker player in the world, you will still lose to coolers.In other words, the person with the pocket KK almost never folds and therefore they lose all their chips 80% of the time.

Why Do Coolers Matter in Poker?

Now, the main reason why coolers or setup hands matter so much in poker isbecause not only are you likely to lose a lot of money, but they can also putyou on tilt.
I have discussed the disastrous affects of tilt many times before on this blogand my top ways to fix it.
But suffice it so say, if you get enough cooler hands in a row in a short periodof time, almost anybody (even pros), are prone to going on tilt.

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And once you go on tilt, most people start playing very poorly, deviatingmassively from their strategy, making all sorts of terrible bluffs and bad calls.
Now if this sounds like you. Don’t worry, because we’ve all been there. Any poker player who tells you that they don't tilt is either lying or hasn't played enough hands yet.
And so since coolers are undeniably a major trigger of tilt for most people, that is exactly why I wrotethis article.

How Can We Avoid Coolers in Poker?

So how can we avoid coolers in the first place in poker so that we never have toget into this disastrous state of tilt?
Well, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there really is no surefireway of knowing when you are facing a cooler in poker.
Now sure, you can learn to hand read better like I talk about in my free poker cheat sheet. And this will help you potentially sniff out a few of these coolers and perhapsmake a really good fold sometimes.

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Example of a Big Cooler Hand in Poker

So let’s look at an example of a big cooler hand in poker now and ask ourselves, is thereany way to avoid it or to make a big fold?
Here is a cooler hand that was recently sent to me:

In this hand we are playing a 5cent/10cent blind 6-max cash game and this hand wasplayed on the iPoker network.
We have pocket 7♦7♠ in the small blind and there has been a limp from earlyposition and a small raise from middle position.
Once again, this is an excellent card for our hand because it gives us a fullhouse.
So I love the decision here to bet around half pot and continue forcing a likelyweaker player to come along for the ride with almost certainly a worse hand.
And since we have a full house, there are actually many hands in this player’srange which are drawing completely dead (no outs) or have very low equity.
Such As:

• Flush draws
• Straight draw
• Tx hands
• Over-pairs

So we go to the river and it comes with the:
9♣

Texas Holdem Vegas World

Is There Any Way to Fold Versus a Big Cooler Like This?

So with all that street by street analysis out of the way, is there any way thatwe could have gotten away at some point in this hand?
Could we have somehow saved less? Maybe only lost 50% of our chips?
Honestly, the answer to all of these questions is no, no and no.
This is one of those spots in poker where all of the money is going to go in themiddle, no matter what.
It doesn’t matter how “good” you are. It doesn’t matter if you can read theirsoul like Phil Ivey.
There is no poker player on earth who is going to be folding here. You justdon’t fold full houses in Texas Hold’em!
And that really is the main point of this hand.
With huge coolers like this, the only thing you really need to ask yourself isif the roles were reversed (we have the T7 and they have the 77), do they foldto us?
You already know the answer to that question. No, of course they don't.
And that makes big cooler hands like this essentially a neutral EV (expectedvalue) wash in the end.
Since the roles will be reversed at some point in the future, you are reallyonly trading the chips back and forth in big cooler hands like this.
In the long run all of these cooler hands and setup hands will eventually eventhemselves out.
And since they aren’t folding to you when you have the best hand either, itwon’t make any real difference to your bottom line in the long run.

Don’t Let Setup Hands Put You on Tilt

Look, I know how hard these cooler setup hands can be to take in the heat of themoment. It is easy to get frustrated very quickly by your short term bad luck.
But if you can learn to take a broader perspective on these cooler hands andrealize that they basically all even out in the end, then you can learn to simplyshrug them off more easily.