This may not seem like much..

but I think this subtle little trick has earned me a lot of money.

Whenever I flop a nut hand or close to it I like to slow play. When it gets to the river after calling all bets I like to wait..wait..wait and when the buzzer sounds I will go all in. Yes, maybe your opponent(s) will fold, but surprisingly often it gets called, so I am convinced this is profitable play compared to just making a moderate raise in the long run.

If I make the all in immidiately this doensn't seem to work nearly as often..

I give every hand a momments deliberation and never act immediatly. I doubt that the waiting will help you get called more. Some hand histories would help AND also.. don't slow play, it'll kill you.

-'rilla

Then again if I hit top pair, make a bet, get called and then hit second pair on the turn I will often just check to show weakness against agressive players. Often they will respond with a big bet resulting in a bigger pot size. Against passive players I will have to gradually raise the pot myself to win as much as possible.

BTW: In the last 2 days I played 1000+ hands on the .5-1.0 NL tables, won 86% of my showdowns and made 540$ profits. So I doubt slow playing is killing me..

I will slowplay a boat or better - that's about it. Maybe the nut flush if there's no board pair. But I've been burned too many times by leaving people in who had draws to hands better than my set, straight, whatever.

I would slowplay a boat or better against a maniac. Against the average guy who calls too much and bets too little I would value bet it all the way. The pots has to be built.

TDM100: Nice to hear you are doing well. I still consider slowplaying to be a weak play in most cases. Still people seems to be using it almost routinely as fast as they flop a hand that's better than average. I even had guys who let me see the flop turn and river for free and then bets hard with a pocket pair of aces once I bought my nut flush/straight on the river. I thank the WPT for this. Not only that. I can't count the number of times someone gave me huge implied odds to draw out on them once they flopped two pair or even a set. They usually pay off as well since "they have such a monsterhand!!!!". Slow playing might be good under some given circumstances but most cases of slowplaying I see is really crappy play.

Also, many slowplayed pots ends up in really tiny pots since the opponent realizes he's beeing played and knows his top two aint no good. He's got no wish paying off on the river when the pot is only a couple of dimes. If he gets raised on the flop his two pair usually looks a lot better since he can improve to a boat. On the turn he might fold but hope is the last thing to abandon a crappy player, on the river he's commited. I don't say that there is never good to slowplay just that most times it's not right.

*Last edited by TylerK on Wed, 15 Dec 2004, 12:06pm; edited 1 time in total*

TDM100 is going to be posting "I tried to slowplay and got sucked out on at the river" stories soon, I can see it coming.

Edit: Also,

Bite you make really good points. I agree that most newer players slow play way too much. I only tend to slow play if I flopped a monster on a scary board, and want to do whatever it takes to keep people in the pot. (say for example AK on a flop of AKK.)

However I believe there are situations where slow playing even something as weak as two pair is the correct move. Say, heads up with really high blinds in a SnG. You are holding T5 on the button. SB completes, you check. Flop comes KT5. I've won many SnG's in a situation like this where SB has made top pair and moves all in on the turn because I just called his min bet on the flop.

In ring games or early in STT's, it is also not clear cut, but typically I think a good rule of thumb is to only slow play boats or better. Or possibly a flopped nut flush if there is no danger (ie, people are betting weak).

yes, slow playing is the incorrect thing to do in the vast majority of hands, but any good poker player should recognise situations/opponents when slow playing is the best play. It should be a part of your repetoir.

[i]I[/i] would slowplay once in a while, and would vary my play

this thread sucks

TDM makes a point that there are many posts when the aggressor gets slammed by someone slowplaying.

Thats because we dont post all our hands where our aggression paid off.

People post beats because they're upset, they dont post saying "Look, my AA won the last 8/10 pots."

Never, ever make the mistake of creating a demographic, or standard based on the hand histories we post here.

It is correct to be highly aggressive, it is very profitable, but on the boards, we don't see that.

It depends on the opponent
Against some opponents I'd like to slow play a set on the flop because I know they are very likely to judge that I don't have it if I check
If there is a draw, of course you bet
but if there is no straight or flush draw and you flopped a set you can definitely slow play, although fast playing might get you more money if you've been playing aggressively

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