Cripple
An extremely rare occurrence in a game of poker, a cripple is the name given to a set of cards that no other player on the table can dream of meeting or matching. When a player is said to have such a hand, s/he is said to have crippled the deck.
While the player’s hand may not be unbeatable in all cases, there is an extremely high possibility that beating that hand is not something that would happen easily. As an example, if a player were to have A-K as a hand, and the flop turns up with A-A-K, then the player has crippled the deck with her/his hand which is practically unbeatable.
Other players tend to fold away when such a possibility comes up as the hand is, in all likelihood, exceptionally strong. Having a crippling hand may not be such a good thing for the player with the hand as well. However, this is only because s/he may not win too much money with a hand like that with others folding up quickly.
The ideal way to play, when holding a crippling hand, is to play slowly and if possible, allow the other players to make the raises while waiting until the last round, i.e. after the river, to take over the betting lead.
A cripple is a great hand to have however as a player, one must know how to exploit it perfectly because although there might not be a loss in sight, there might be a problem in raising the amount that would be won.
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