There’s no doubting that poker is a game of highs and
lows. Whereas most players would agree that
suffering a bad beat
can take players to the depths of poker, I’d suggest that
there are few better feelings than sitting around a table at
your
favorite poker site
with the stone cold nuts, knowing that you can’t lose the
hand.
It’s such a great position to be in, because the only thing you have to worry about is how many chips you can get your hands on. In this situation players generally have two options open to them: they can either bet out or they can slow play their hand.
Let’s have a quick look at each of these options and try to highlight how to make the correct choice.
What Is slow playing?
Slow playing your hand is the attempt to make yourself look weak when in actual fact you’re very strong. You can do this by simply calling a bet or just checking if a bet has not yet been made as opposed to raising.
The thought behind this is that if an opponent holding an average hand sees you acting in this way, he may well be willing to throw a few extra chips into the middle of the table in an attempt to steal the pot without needing to his hand.
This is ideal for you, as when you’ve got a monster you want as many chips in the middle of the table as possible without risking people throwing their hands away.
Let’s look an example of this. If you’re dealt an A 10 in the hole, you may be tempted to limp in just to see whether you catch anything on the flop.
Let’s say you hit it big when the flop comes down A A 10 giving you a very strong full house and the stone cold nuts.
In this kind of situation, you need to be aware of the fact that it’s unlikely your opponents will have caught any part of that flop at all. If you start betting out big, then the chances are that they will simply fold their hands leaving you with nothing more than the blinds to pick up.
Instead, why not try checking your hand? From an opponent’s point of view, you limped in before the flop and now you’re checking. That doesn’t show any strength at all. In fact, quite the opposite. It shows you’ve got absolutely nothing and you’re not willing to waste any more chips on this hand.
If one of your opponents also limped in with something like a K Q or perhaps a medium pair, it’s quite possible that he’s going to believe his hand is in the lead at the moment. In fact, if he’s on a straight draw, it’s probably worth a bet on his part to try and push a few players out of the hand. Either way, he’s probably going to throw some chips in to the pot, which is all good news for you as they’re all chips that you wouldn’t have won otherwise.
If you’re new to slow playing, it may well be a good idea to get the best online poker bonus possible to ensure that you’ve got a good bankroll with which to build up your skills!
When To Lead Out Or Change Gears
The example above shows slow playing working at its best. However, you need to be aware of the fact that slow playing when you don’t have the nuts can get you into a lot of trouble. Play these situations wrong and you are headed back to the cashier screen to make a poker deposit.
If you were to limp into a hand with a medium pair and then go on to complete a set on the flop, I’d definitely suggest a strong raise. Especially if there are suited or connecting cards on the flop.
Slow playing in this sort of scenario is effectively giving any opponents on draws a free card with which to make their straight/flush. In this sort of position, there’s no doubting that you have a very good hand but it could end up being worth nothing if the wrong card comes up on the turn or the flop.
In these sort of cases, you need to protect your position by betting out (i.e. raising the current pot).
Of course it’s possible that your opponent isn’t sitting on a draw and that a raise will simply chase him out of the pot but over the long run, I’d rather have it that way round rather than seeing myself outdrawn on a free card that need not have been dealt.
Besides, even if your opponent doesn’t end up getting the card that he needs, the overall size of the pot won’t be big enough to justify the risk.
In conclusion, slow playing can be very profitable but make sure you do it at the right time and stick to winning poker principles. As a rough rule of thumb, it’s not worth the risk unless you’re holding the nuts. Otherwise, bet out and protect your position.