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There are so many different situations in poker and one key
to winning is to know when/how to slow play your hand. What
does slow playing actually do for you? It makes your
opponents think that they have you beat. If you flopped a
monster you'll want to slow play so your opponent may catch
a hand to bet/call a decent amount. It also causes your
opponents to bluff more. Slow playing isn’t only a technique
to get the most out of your hand, but it can also be a way
to have your strong hand taken down by a weaker one if it is
not executed correctly.
Who to Slow Play Against
First of all, slow playing is a strategy that should be used
when facing either advanced or aggressive opponents. The
reason for this is that more advanced players are likely to
try and steal pots when they feel weakness, and aggressive
opponents like to buy many pots. The key is to trap your
opponent, which is when they make a bet or raise in hopes of
you folding.
You do not want to just give them free opportunities to see
another card. When you are facing very weak and
inexperienced opponents, it is usually
best to bet them out of the hand, as they will often just
check when they don’t have anything.
How to Slow Play
When people slow play they often think that it is best to
check to their opponent. This is not always the case because
you don’t want to give your opponent a free card. What you
want to do is make a mediocre bet, that is smaller than your
usual bet, to try to make them think that you are bluffing.
Nothing’s better than flopping a straight and getting
re-raised all in because your opponent felt you were
bluffing.
However, if you make that mediocre bet and your opponent
only calls it, then next turn you want to bet him out, and
if he happened to catch or has a feeling that you are
bluffing, then you may have caller, which should mean more
money for you. Now, there are the occasions that odds will
go against you and you will lose your hand. That’s why you
take a chance when slow playing in order get a bigger pot.
The Dangers of Slow Playing
Obviously slow playing isn’t 100% reliable. It’s a chance
that you have to take. If you never slow play, you won’t see
as many bad beats and for some people that’s what they want.
No one wants bad beats, but if you are willing to take a
risk you can really get paid off.
The biggest danger of slow playing is that you give your
opponent an opportunity to see a card cheaply. With that
card they may catch a draw or even a stronger hand than you.
If they get a straight or flush draw they may call a pretty
large bet from you and of course they will eventually hit
and win the hand. So there goes your whole idea of slow
playing to win a bigger pot. If you don’t want to take the
risk, bet your opponents out whenever you can.
Specific Situations
There are only a few occasions when you should check all the
way to the river. If you hold AK and you flop a full house,
slow playing is a good idea. If the flop is AAK, there's
only one ace left in the deck, along with two kings. This
makes it a long shot that your opponent has anything worth
playing. However, if you check and allow a few free cards,
your opponent can catch up.
For example, if your opponent had J10, and you bet, he will
probably fold. However, if you check and the turn is a Q,
you are going to win a very nice pot. Also, if your opponent
tries to steal at any point because of your checking, you
will extract more money from him.
Another situation would be if you had a high pocket pair.
You don’t want to slow play low pocket pairs even if the
flop consists of all under cards because there is a pretty
good chance that an over card will come up on the turn or
river. If you have a high pocket pair, specifically AA or KK,
you should slow play like you learned above.
There are so many situations when you should slow play and
there’s no way to talk about them all. But then again, there
are plenty of situations where you shouldn’t slow play. Make
sure you think about your odds before you slow play and
consider what your opponent may be holding. In almost every
occasion you don’t want to slow play if there are several
people in the hand, because the chances of one of them
catching something stronger than you is much higher. The
only exception would be if you catch a monster such as a
flush, a full house, or better.
Overall it is a great idea to slow play, as long as you pick
the right situations, the right opponents, and only do it on
occasion. By following this strategy, slow playing will
really help you build your stack if you do properly.
