Limit Hold'em Dissecting the Slowplay
A slowplay is a poker tactic whereby a player plays a very strong hand weakly on an early betting round, with the hopes that this bit of deception will persuade his opponents to give him an inordinate amount of action on later betting rounds. If, for example, you flop quad 9’s in the big blind, and just call on the flop when the small blind bets out, you are said to be ‘slowplaying’ your hand.
For a slowplay to be correct, both of the following conditions usually need to be met. First and foremost, the probability needs to be high that the other players in the pot would fold if you bet (or raised, as the case may be). Second, the odds need to be pretty good that if you gave somebody a cheap look at the turn or river that they would go on to make a good second best hand.
Let’s look at these conditions. First, it should be clear that there’s no sense in giving somebody a free look at the next card if they would be willing to pay for that card. Example: You’re in a loose $3-$6 game, and get dealt pocket 4’s on the button. Five players limp in, you limp, the small blind raises and all call. Eight of you take the flop for two bets each. The flop comes K84, the small blind bets and four players call.
There is no point in slowplaying your set here. You should raise here, and if the small blind reraises you should go ahead and cap it. In a pot this huge your loose opponents are going to keep pursuing the pot until it’s obvious they have zero chance of winning. So why not charge them to keep playing right now, when they’re still filled with optimism? Waiting for the turn or (ugh!) the river to start raising with this hand is a very, very big mistake.
The second condition is that the next card needs to be one that could make someone a second best hand. If you have a big hand, but it’s vulnerable, the worst mistake you can make is to give someone a free chance to beat you that would have folded if you had bet (or raised). This is such a disaster that it’s worth taking chances to prevent it from happening. Example: You have pocket kings, and after a preflop raise the flop comes KT4. You are first to act, and there are three players left behind you to act.
The right play is to bet here. If someone behind you will fold a gutshot straight draw if you bet then you want them to fold that hand. Do NOT give them a free chance to beat you. Many players will slowplay their set of kings here, but that’s an enormous mistake. You have a big hand, but it’s far from invincible, and the last thing you want to do is give someone else the pot.
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