Know When and When Not to Slow Play (Including Examples)

Hey losers, I know I have already written an article about the basics of slow playing strategy in holdem (which you should read if you’re new to the site and new to poker, so you at least have a clue what I’m talking about here). If you’re familiar with slow playing, but you are not using it to effectively win more money with your hands, then you suck at poker and need to read the rest of this article.

You may know about this strategy, but knowing when to slow play and when not to slow play can be the difference between using a good strategy properly, and screwing it all up and winning less money than  you could have.

The idea behind slow playing, where you play a strong hand in a manner that indicates that it is not so strong, is a useful strategy, but one that is often abused and misused by losers like you. The key is to know when you have a hand that is so strong that other players will attempt to improve their hand by calling, only to lose out in the end. It is only to be used when you have a hand that will almost never be beaten. It is also not very useful when  your opponents are already willing to call your bets or raises regardless.

Here are some example hands that you can consider, so you will have a better idea on when to slow play, and when to be more aggressive.

1) Your Hand: Q♥ J♥

Situation: 5 players see the Flop for 1 raise

Flop: Q♣ J♣ J♠

This is a great flop for you obviously, giving you a Full House. More importantly, it’s just the type of flop that people will be drawing to. They might be holding two clubs, so will go for the Flush draw. Or they might have a Straight draw with something like AK, K9, T9, T8, etc. They might even have the fourth J, and will go for a triple. This is a best case scenario for you – many draws will give someone a good hand, but not good enough to beat your straight (since you know nobody can get quad Q’s or J’s, and hitting quads on the Turn and River, well someone just got really lucky and deserves to win the pot). If you raise here or wait until the Turn, your opponents will be wary of your hand, thinking you might have a Q with a high kicker. So in this case Slow Playing is a great idea, because it will allow someone else to draw a good-but-not-good-enough hand, and they may even be the one raising you at that point.

2) Your Hand: Q♥ J♥

Situation: You raise in middle position, only Big Blind calls

Flop: Q♣ J♣ J♠

Here you have the same monster Flop, giving you a Full House. This time you are going Heads Up with the BB. So do you slow play him, hoping to allow him to catch up? In this case though, not betting may set off some flags in the BB’s mind. He will be very wary of being slow played by a monster hand, and will likely just re-check you unless they happened to get a good draw. So this is where knowing your opponents comes in handy. If the opponent is not a very observant player, a check may get some bets from them if they go looking for something on the Turn or River.

3) Your Hand: J♣ 10♣

Situation: You are in the Big Blind, and call an open-raise

Flop: 9♠ 8♥ 7♣

Now you have the nut straight, and will need to determine the style of the player who raised pre-Flop. If he’s willing to call all the way to the River with a hand like A-K, you may want to check-raise on the Flop. If he is the type who will play hard witha  hand like A-10, then you should bet and raise each time. If he’s a tighter player who would fold to aggressive play, then you might want to check and call his bets instead. If an A or K shows up, a check-raise will get more money out of him if he has a pair. This is why it is very important to know the style of player you are going up against. I’ll be talking more about that later on, so be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed or my newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.

4) Your Hand: 5♥ 5♣

Situation: You limp in and the Blinds check and call

Flop: A♣ 5♦ 5♠

You have drawn quads, which has almost no chance of losing. With the Ace out there, you will find quite a few people willing to call or even raise. In this case, slow playing will more likely reduce the amount you win. Because if you bet, and everyone folds, they likely didn’t find anything on the Flop anyway, and you won’t find much action from anyone with anything other than an Ace here.

 

5) Your Hand: 5♥ 5♣

Situation: You limp in and the Blinds check and call

Flop: J♣ 5♦ 5♠

If a J drops in this situation however, slow playing is a good strategy to use. If a player has that Ace, he will not likely call a bet with that J out there, since he will likely assume you have a pair of J’s. But if you show weakness and check to him, he might just fall for it and play on.

6) Your Hand: A♠ A♣

Flop: A♦ 2♠ 3♥

With Pocket Rockets, you most likely will have raised before the Flop, so it would be pretty awkward not to call on the Flop here. In this case, it would be a better idea to bet, hoping that someone else has the last Ace or is going for a Straight draw with a 4 or 5. For Slow Playing to work here, one of your opponents would need to catch a high pair on the Turn. But any reasonably aware player will be cautious of that Ace on the board.

7) Your Hand: A♣ K♠

Situation: You are in early position, and raise pre-Flop, and get called by a couple good players

Flop: A♠ 8♥ 4♣

Situation: You bet here, and get called by one player

Turn: 4♦

With that Turn, you might want to change gears, and start slow playing with your well-kicked Top Pair. Since your opponent did not re-raise your bet on the Flop, they are likely holding a decent but beatable hand like A-9 or A-J. If you check, he might be convinced that you have a big pocket pair, but were afraid of the A. Now would be a good time to check, and then check-raise on the River. This is the right time to Slow Play, because you know you’re up against a good player who will respect your play, but will be willing to try to get the upper hand if they can. You do not want to do this against a loose player who will have called your pre-Flop raise with a shitty hand, because they will most likely not bet against your check. It also won’t work against a super tight player who will not bet with his weaker pair of A’s, even after being checked to.

As you can see, it’s extremely important to not only be aware of your hand, but you must have an idea of the type of player you are up against. Slow play strategy works, but it depends severely on the situation, and that situation itself will change depending on your opponents. So be sure to observe  your opponents, and know who the tight players are, who the loose ones are, and keep an eye on their passiveness and aggressiveness. I’ll talk more about that later, so be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed or my newsletter, or follow me on Twitter. Or just keep coming back if you like, I don’t mind :)

Poker Strategy: Slow Playing

Merry Christmas, losers! If you think I will be taking today off, you would be wrong. I need to get this blog filled up with information, so I have to write something at least once a day. I’ll be talking about all sorts of general advice and strategies every day, so make sure you subscribe to my newsletter to the right, or my RSS feed.

On this fine Christmas day, I’ll be talking about slow playing a.k.a. sandbagging or trapping, a sure way to piss off fellow losers at the table when you catch them off guard with this technique.

The easiest way to think of slow play is basically that it’s the opposite of basic bluffing. In a bluff, you will have the makings of a shitty hand, but keep raising in an attempt to get your opponents to fold.

With slow play, you will have a very good hand, but instead of making big raises, you check or call, and let your opponents do the raising. This way, you can lure the entire table into the pot with what they think is a winning hand (or better yet, a bluff).

If you have several opponents behind you. you can trap them with an overcall this way too; normally when the river gives you a good hand, you will probably raise, forcing others into a tough spot (and in most cases, they will fold). If you’re playing slow with a good hand though, you will check and call until the very end, and in many cases the players behind you will call or even raise, when they would have otherwise folded.

This strategy works best when you are already a moderate player, and eventually you will be able to play a fine line of bluffs and slow plays. If you are bluffing a lot, players will already be more willing to call your usual bets and raises. However, if you try to trap them too much with slow plays, they will be less willing to fall for your bluffs.

Learn that fine line, learn how your opponents react, and go win some money!