The first thing we’d like to say in our final poker lesson is “Congratulations!” You’ve made it through 20 lessons and you’re well on your way to becoming a solid all-around player. Now, on to our final words of poker advice…

People often ask: what’s a perfect hand? You might be inclined to say that any hand that wins is a perfect poker hand. (And you wouldn’t be wrong.)

We’d like to define a perfect hand as a hand for which two competent players would be willing to risk it all, because they’ve each got a reason to believe that they’ve got the best of it.

This is what happened in a recent game between two members of our poker staff who, incidentally, are very close friends. Both players are tight-aggressives with many years of poker experience under their belts, and both players couldn’t necessarily conclude that the other had the best hand when they started betting.

When Player A finally made his play, there was only one hand that could beat his own, and Player B had it. However, Player B failed to re-raise Player A when he had the chance, because he feared a hand that Player A MIGHT have had, but didn’t.

Obviously, in a game this close, the outcome could go either way. And while skill has a lot to do with the way both players played, we want to stress that it was the hands that determined the eventual winner. Both players believed so strongly in the power of their hand that they were willing to risk it all. That’s why we say that it doesn’t really matter how a hand is played; the most important thing is the belief each player has in that hand. The chips were going into the pot regardless of any outside factors…

We hope you’ve enjoyed our poker lesson, and we wish you good luck in the world of online poker!