Bloggers / Matthew Pitt / 15 April 2009 / Leave a comment

Whilst every poker player worth their salt should have an arsenal of tricks and plays to display at the table, they should also be aware when not to use these tricks and when using them is so wrong it is not even funny. The slow-play is one such move that can go easily wrong in certain circumstances.

"By slow-playing we are trying to make profit by not betting or raising so by making the play against someone who never bets and will take every free card you offer them you are simply begging to be outdrawn"

Slow-playing is not taking extra time to take your turn, it refers to checking and calling instead of betting and raising when you have a strong hand. The slow-play works by making your opponent think your hand is much weaker than it is so they wrongly value bet weaker hands than yours or even bluff into you with nothing.

However, there are certain situations I would not advocate slow-playing in. The first is when you flop the non-nut flush, especially when in a multi-way pot. For example, you flop a small flush after calling a raise in position with 9d8d on a board reading Qd3d6d and decide to simply check. The turn brings a fourth diamond and the pre-flop raiser leads out, now you are in a real predicament as he could easily have the Ace or King of diamonds here.

Another example of a poor time to slow-play is against passive players. By slow-playing we are trying to make profit by not betting or raising so by making the play against someone who never bets and will take every free card you offer them you are simply begging to be outdrawn.

Similar to flopping non-nut flushes is failing to protect your hand on draw-heavy boards. If we flop a set of sixes on a board that reads J6Q and elect, wrongly, to slow-play we give a huge array of hands chance to beat us on the turn. By not betting we will give 77, 88, 99, TT, T8, T9, QJ, K9, KT, AT and AK the chance to outdraw us, a large number of possible hands.

One of the most common mistakes is slow-playing when you are the short stack in a tournament. You have sat nursing you minuscule stack, containing just five big blinds, for the past half hour when you eventually find a pair of kings in the hole and think this would be the ideal situation to add a decent amount of chips to your stack.

Instead of pushing all-in you slow-play your hand by calling pre-flop then getting your money in on the flop, only to find you have three callers, one with two pair, another with a flush draw and out you go again with a premium pair. In this situation just shove your stack in and hope for a call from weaker hands. Even if everyone folds you will still win the blinds and antes and add to your stack significantly, which is better than busting out.

I think that just about covers the most common poor scenarios for slow-playing your hand, try not to fall into the trap by thinking not only of your own hand strength but the possible holdings of and playing styles of your opponents.

Related Entries

Slowplaying - Marcus Bateman
Playing Draws Fast - Matthew Pitt
The Dangers of Slow Playing - Vicky Coren

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