How to play a monster?

There's certainly one thing just about every rookie understands to perfection: in poker, the better hand wins. It doesn't really matter to them that a good poker player can and will beat them on rags time and again, while they hold superior hands, the monster is like a Holly Grail to them, that they chase and dream about.

Yet, once a monster does land in the back yard, they hardly know what to do with it, and most of the time they let it go to waste. They either give out some very obvious tells that make everyone fold, or they simply fail to make the others post enough money into the pot.

Winning poker is about making the most of the good hands you get. If one player manages to win a certain amount of chips on his monsters, and if you manage to win more on those same hands, you're obviously the better player.

How exactly should rookies play their monsters then? Well, that depends a lot on what table image they've been displaying throughout the session.

You see, if you looked like a tight-passive player all day long to the others, betting into it like a maniac will certainly ring a couple of alarm bells. The same thing is valid vice-versa: if you've been acing like a maniac, keep acting so because chances are someone will try to keep you honest on that very hand (that's actually happened to me).

So, as a general guideline: act more or less the same way you have before, in order not to draw suspicion.

Any way you do it, you have two ways to play your monster: either slow or by betting. The bottom line in both cases is that you have to get your opponent(s) pot committed on the turn so you can draw them all-in on the river.

You should slow-play a monster when the others see you as a tight-passive fish. Play it the way they expect you to, especially if there's some maniac in front of you doing all the betting. Just keep on calling him, and let him regard you a fool. As soon as the turn comes though, re-raise him, and if he calls that you got him pot committed. The river is your chance to go all-in, which he will probably call too, chasing after the money he's already posted.

If you are known as an aggressive player, by any means, do not tighten up as soon as you're hit by a monster. (there are many aggressive players out there making this mistake)

Just deliver what they expect from you and bet into them. A solid player will almost immediately let you know what hand he has acting on your bet. Again, try to make your opponents pot-committed by the turn and only go all-in by the river. You may want to go all-in on the turn in case you already have a lot of money in the pot and there is a draw that can beat you.

Bottom line is: do not act out-of-the ordinary, and do try to pot-commit people on the turn.