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To Slow Play or Not?

March 25, 2008

Some poker players think slow playing is among the best strategies for winning a big pot, but that may not always be the case. If you have a really great hand, you probably want to keep slow play at a minimum.

“Slow playing” is a strategy in which you don’t do much, if any, then you are putting your opponent in the position where they have to either make the big bet or bluff.

But the trap many players, especially inexperienced ones, fall into is that they slow play when they have really good hands and will legitimately win the pot if they play smart. There are other reasons why you should consider slow playing and not the smartest move when you have a good hand.

Many experienced poker players will see through your strategy, especially if you do it consistently and will fold whenever you start to check. Also, the pots you will play for when you slow play a good hand won’t be as big as they could be if you go for it and start to compete.

That’s why you should go against the strategy of slow playing big hands and instead concentrate on getting the most money in the pot as you can. If you know you have two aces and are playing the best hand, you don’t want to try to get the others out of the game, you want to keep as many in it as you can and everyone contributing to the pot.

Be sure you don’t scare people off by playing smart. You want to bet like you have a decent hand, even if you have a monster one. That will keep your opponents. Everyone will think they have something (a small pair, the start of a straight) so they will be playing for the pot and by not knowing that you have a home run hand, they will play along.

If you are slow playing your big hand, you will get a lot of bad bets from others and keeping some people in the game that shouldn’t be there. If you slow play, then that allows someone the outside chance to catch a lucky break on the river and sink you.

Finally, since the accepted strategy is to slow play on a big hand, you will catch your opponents by surprise. You are going to play your monster hand just like you would any other, which means you stay in the game, stay in the pot and for the rest of the game - people are on their toes wondering what you are going to do.

Written by Tom · Filed Under Poker Strategy |  

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