When slowplaying is a bad idea

To put it quite bluntly and simply, strong hands should almost never be slowplayed. If you are bluffing hands without showdown value and betting your top-pair-top-kicker type hands, where is the sense in shutting down when you flop a monster? (Hands without showdown value are unlikely to beat another hand once all the cards have been dealt. Therefore, the only way to win the hand is by bluffing.)

Missing out on value

Straights, two pairs, low flushes and even sets are still very vulnerable hands on many boards and should be bet to avoid giving other players free cards to make stronger hands. But, being drawn out on is not the main problem with slowplaying. By disguising the strength of your hand you are missing a very important opportunity to bet in order to build a big pot and get all your chips in the middle by the river. There are is range of hands with which many players will call bets but will not bet out themselves.

Sample Hand

Let’s look at a very simple but effective example of a scenario where a mistake is often made. You are sitting at a six-max table. You make a raise in mid position with (Qs Qd) and a fairly good player called Steve comes along on the big blind. You flop top set (Qc 9h 3h). Steve checks and you check behind to disguise the strength of your hand. The turn comes (Jh), providing numerous straight and flush options. Steve leads out for 2/3 of the pot and you decide to call, hoping that the river pairs the board. The river is an 8h.

You both check and flip over your cards. Steve shows 3d 3c for bottom set and you win the hand.

Poker Hand Analysis

You have evidently missed out on a huge amount of value in this set-over-set scenario. Steve was apparently looking to check raise your bet on the flop. If you had made a pot-sized bet the flop, the hand would have turned out differently. Most likely you both would have ended up all-in on the flop after a few re-raises. However, the unfortunate scare cards on the turn and river slowed down the action causing you to win a small pot instead of an entire stack.

The next article will look at a scenario where slowplaying is a good idea.

Tags: avoid being slowplayed, goo

Comments are closed.