We played our annual holiday poker game in Madison, Wis. -- a pot limit hold 'em game with $5-$5 blinds, a $1,000 buy-in and $500 rebuys.

A few hours into the game, the following hand came up:

Tim Belstner called $5, Pizza Jimmy called $5, I called $5 with 10-9, Mark ''Poker Ho'' Kroon called $5, Brett Weum called $5 and Green made it $35 to go. Then Belstner called $35, Jimmy called $35, I called $35, Ho called $35 and Weum called the $35 and raised it up $245 more. Green called $245, Jimmy called $245, I called $245 and Ho called $245.

The flop was Qd-Jh-4d, and everyone checked to Weum, who moved all-in for his last $395. Green called, I called with my open ended straight draw and Ho called. The turn card was the 10s, Green checked, I checked and Ho bet $900. Green folded, and I called. The last card was the 8c, I immediately moved all-in for my last $1,240 and Ho folded. I was awarded the nearly $5,000 pot with my queen high straight. Weum showed down pocket kings and Ho showed trip fours.

Let's talk about this hand for a moment.

I love the way Weum played his hand; he just called $5 hoping that Green would raise and allow Weum to trap everyone in the middle for $35 apiece. Then Weum ''closed the trap'' by making a pot-sized reraise. This $245 reraise would have allowed Weum -- under most circumstances -- to win the pot right then and there.

On the flop Weum's all-in move was natural, my call was natural as I now had an open-ended straight draw, and Ho's call with trip fours was OK. I would have loved to see Ho make some sort of raise on the flop, of perhaps $500 to $800. Then Ho could further protect his hand by moving all-in after the 10s came off. Of course, Ho was waiting for one safe card to hit before he made his move.

On the turn I would love to see Ho bet a lot more. I mean why bet only $900 when there was already $3,000 in the pot? In fact, if he bet $2,000, then I would have folded for sure and Ho would have won the pot. As to my $900 call on the turn, I like it. In fact, I was on the verge of folding my hand, but it suddenly hit me that Ho didn't have a straight.

You see, I couldn't put Ho on A-K (I know he would have reraised it himself before the flop with A-K), and it was hard to imagine that he had K-9. Thus, I called the bet feeling that Ho had two pair, perhaps queens and 10s or jacks and 10s, but not a straight. I felt that I needed an eight or a king to win the pot, and that there were eight of them left.

In the end, I made a huge mistake by not only betting quickly (a sign of strength), but also by betting everything I had left (another sign of strength). I should have taken my time and bet about $500 or so.