10-22-04, LearnTexasHoldem:
When To Slow Play
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I have a question about slow play. With what should a player slow play with? Are two pairs enough to slow play or should you wait for something like Full House?
Thanks!
Jeff
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1. How many players are in with you? Generally speaking, the more people in a hand opposing you, the less likely you want to slow play unless you have the nuts. Sometimes even the safest of flops can nail you if you aren't careful and play the hand right. You may even think that no card can come to beat you on the turn, but think again -- with a lot of players anything can happen.
This point ties in closely with the next one regarding the strength of your hand and the chance of being outdrawn on the following betting rounds.
2. How strong is your hand? What does the board look like? The point of playing cards is to win -- you want to take home the money and you want to make the most from your good hands. On your unbeatable hands, you can do whatever move you think you'll make the most chips. On your weak hands you'll have an easy choice in mucking. All the ones in the middle are where the real game is played.
You want to balance letting people in with weaker hands to make more money off of them with still winning the pot. Like point one said, your hand grows weaker with more people in. In limit holdem, if you slow play you usually pull the trigger on the turn card after the person already bet. In no limit holdem you can raise the turn or what longer if you are sure you're hand will hold up. In both cases your goal is to have the person commit enough chips to pay you off. How often I slow play depends a lot on whether or not I think I'll lose if I keep giving cards away for cheap.
For example, if I have 99 and the flop is T97 and I'm playing against a few people in no limit holdem, I'm not going to mess around and slow play. That is just asking for it. On the other hand if I have 99 and the flop is A94, then I'll be way more likely to slow play since the amount of draws that can kill my hand are few. You asked specifically about which hands you should slow play with and which you shouldn't. I can't answer that because it is very dependent on the situation you are in.
For example, even top pair with a good kicker against one opponent might be a spot where you slow play and raise on the turn but you wouldn't think of doing that if you were against a number of players. On the other hand against many opponents you might just call on the flop and then raise or check raise the turn if you flopped two pair, trips, or better.
So to finish up this point, be less likely to slow play against a lot of opponents if your hand is likely to get outdrawn. Likewise, against a number of opponents your hand will have to go up in strength to make slow playing a good option (like a nut flush would be one to slow play if lots of people were in).
3. What position are you in? Sometimes your only concern is to make more money in the hand. Let's say you have TT and the flop is 99T while a number of other players are in. You have no worries here so how you play the hand will just depend on which ever way makes you the most cash. If you are in the front, a check raise may or may not bet the best move.
It would work best if the person to your left would bet. On the other hand if you are in last position, you would ideally like the first player to bet and everyone call so you can also call and raise the turn. You might even just call and raise the river so other players could catch up a bit.
4. Who are you playing against? The last concern for slow playing is whom you are playing against. Things change some as you move up in limits. You'll need to pay more attention to mixing up your game. Slow playing doesn't work as well against good players because they will just fold when you raise. This is why in limit holdem games from about 20/40 on up the people will do a lot of raising preflop and on the flop. They want to get their money in while they can.
In no limit holdem, you'll sometimes run into a player who makes large bets on the river regardless of their holding. Or others may always commit themselves if they are raised. Against these types of players you should slow play more so you can juice them for everything they have. You may also run into players who will call you regardless of whether you raise early on or not. Against these players you shouldn't ever slow play, just raise and get the money in early and keep betting.
Lastly, I want to say that there is more than one reason to slow play hands. The most obvious slow play is one to make more money. The other reason is to bluff, semi-bluff or mix up your game so you can make more on later hands. A powerful move in limit holdem is to raise the turn card betting round when you have position -- even if you have a mediocre hand. Then depending on the river you can either bet or check. Do this to a player and show them a weak hand just once and I'll promise you more action then you could hope for in later hands.
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