(Note: for the sake of simplicity, all poker hands in this story will be given as dash-separated pairs of rank-and-suit, from lowest to highest (ace being considered low for this purpose, and the order of suits being club-diamond-heart-spades). For instance, the three of hearts, three of diamonds, ace of spades, five of clubs, and jack of spades would be "AS-3D-3H-5C-JS".)
Andy, Bill, Chet, and Dave sat down one Saturday evening to play poker, as they did once a month. They decided to start out with a few rounds of Spit in the Ocean, a draw variant where each player gets four cards, with a card face up in the middle.
Bill won the first hand easily with three of a kind--the queen of hearts was in the middle of the table, and he held 2C-9S-QC-QS. He looked around the table at the other hands before taking in his winnings, and saw:
"Huh," said Bill. The others looked confused at his hesitation. "Bill," Chet said, "the second best hand was two pair. Three queens blows us away, no question. Why're you stopping?"
Bill shrugged. "Just, you know. Interesting hands. Professionally speaking. Huh." The other three exchanged a look, but said nothing: Bill worked for the NSA, and saw patterns in pretty much everything. Who knew what he was seeing this time?
Andy won the second hand with a jack-high straight, the card in the middle of the table being the ten of clubs. Bill glanced around the table, and then looked at his cards: AC-4C-4S-5C. "That's not promising," he said.
"Well, of course not, trying to draw to the flush like that. You're lucky you even had the pair of--" Andy began, but Bill shook his head and cut him off. "Not what I meant," he said. "You three have normal hands, but somehow what I ended up with...ah, I'm reading things into it. Forget it."
But Bill went even paler when, at the end of the next hand, he put down AH-AS-6H-KC. "Tough luck," said Andy, who held the other two aces, king of diamonds, and ten of clubs. "With that king in the middle, your aces and kings did look good--how could you know mine were just that much better?" Bill, however, seemed to barely be listening. He tapped his cards and said, "I don't think I like where this is going."
The next hand Bill didn't even pick up his cards. When he saw the ace of spades in the middle of the table, he bet high, though somewhat mechanically, and he drew nothing. "Hey, feel free to give us your money," Dave said, drawing two and frowning.
It turned out that Chet had two pair, aces and tens, using the ace in the middle. He groaned, however, at seeing Dave's three kings. "Looks like I've got it," Dave grinned.
Bill shook his head. "Three aces," he said, and turned over the cards he hadn't looked at to reveal AC-AH-4S-8S.
Andy frowned. "Are you cheating?" he asked. They'd been playing together for two years, and Andy had dealt that hand, so it seemed unlikely, but the evidence....
"No," sighed Bill. "But there are patterns. Deal the cards. I may have to go soon."
Dave dealt. This time Bill did pick up his cards before Dave even had a chance to put one in the middle. He nodded and put them back on the table. "Ah-ha. Excuse me, gentlemen," he said, and headed for the bathroom.
What did he have? Your answer should be in the standard format used in this puzzle.