Art of Slow Playing?

Everytime I slow play.. for some reason I lose.. maybe 3 times to 1 I lose..
So I raise everytime I get a monster card..Even with AA or KK

Can you really use slow playing as your lethal weapon in Poker?

Feel Free to post.. would really appreciate the feedbacks

Ok, there's a few major problems that are obvious in what you just said.

I really hate the idea of just taking someone's word for stuff without understanding it, so don't, but the following is correct, just figure out for yourself how to connect the dots to this.


1: Slow playing is rarely correct.
2: Against weak players (i.e. 5nl and 2nl online fish, or 200nl live fish) who you should be playing, who call too much, you should be value betting bigger and more often.
3: Against strong players usually value bet big hands anyway which you can do because you balance your range with bluffs.
4: Hands like AA and KK have far better equity when the money goes in on earlier streets than on the river. This does not mean overbetting. It means raising early.
5: When you have a monster of a hand, you want to play for stacks, this means you want to bet early. Big pots are built by increasing the pot size early. A bet on the flop is going to result in a far bigger pot than a checked flop and a same size bet on the turn.
6: When you slowplay, you effectively turn your cards face up when you inevitably have to raise since there is almost never any weak hands in your range, those weak hands that you need to be able to represent would have bluffed or folded several streets ago while you were calling.
7: Your numbers, 3 wins and 1 loss everytime you slow play, indicates that you're thinking too short term and are working off of small samples and more than likely are working off of samples that are in your head and the stats you've come up with are subjective. This type of thinking is an evil that will cost you lots of money, do not let it infect any part of your game.

well.. I was experimenting that time.. Wanted to get more chips.. So I figured to try the slow play.. but it didn't work.. I lost 3 times in a 1000$ tourney.. there were 200 players left .. 150 to go to make the money.. and i'm average stack.. but I think your post definitely helps .. thanks for the effort.. more power!

Here is what you need to know about slowplaying; If you FLOP quads, you should slow play 1 time in 10. All other times don't slowplay.

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that the above was for cash games.

Similar logic applies to tournaments though.

Listen to this man.

Here is the secret to slowplaying.....you don't!!! Better to win a small pot than lose a big one.

thanks for all the advices.. work a lot.. just won a 25$ prizepool tourney.. more power to you guys .. thanks appreciate all the info!

this is very true and you should listen to this lady!!!
you can slow play with extremly good hand with nice flop...
but still...you must be unbeatable in that hand to play it slowly...
and in most situations you don t play it!!!
like she said...better to win a small pot then lose a big one!!!!!

I'm not trying to pick on anyone here but the above is NOT the reason we don't slowplay. The reason we don't slowplay is because it's better to win a big pot than it is to win a small one. How do we build a big pot? We bet.

The sooner you realize that betting for protection is rarely a good enough reason to bet the better off you'll be. Bet for value and occasionally as a bluff. Contrary to popular thought, you do want them sticking around with garbage, just at the wrong price.

Wow.. From now on I won't slow play .. except if I flopped the nuts
thanks for the advices !appreciate it

An oversimplified but nonetheless worthwhile piece of common wisdom:
Small hand, small spot. Big hand, big pot.

Got the nuts? Bet.

If you've got the board crippled, maybe check the flop (but not the turn) but other than that just value bet.
Planning ahead how you're going to manipulate the pot size is really important. If you want to play a big pot, you have to build it which takes more than "I'm gonna trap this guy!" more like "if I bet x% of the pot on the flop, I can make a 1/2 pot bet on the turn and the pot will be big enough for a river shove", if you want to take it further start thinking about your standard pre-flop raise sizes and the pot sizes and SPRs they'll create.

What is your reason for slowplaying? For AA or KK, the only reasons I can think to slowplay are
1. There is a lag that loves to attack limpers or
2. You have been playing almost abc poker( little hand little pot i.e. limping with small pairs and suited connectors while raising big pocket pairs and big aces) and you want your opponents to start second guessing the hands they are putting you on(because now you can limp with weak and strong hands and hopefully already shown you can raise with strong and weak hands).

I just can't think of very many reasons to ever slow play. In fact, some of my most profitable wins were from some fool who slow-played a strong hand and let me draw into something big.

Basically the only time I'll even think about slow playing something is when I flop an absolute monster that really alienates my opponents. Like flopping quads or aces full or something. I MIGHT slowplay those. But probably not.

You see pros slow play because most of their game is deception and leveling and trickery. That's just not the case at micro stakes. Trying to be super-tricky with you average micro player is like trying to trick a zombie into not following you. No matter what you do, it's just going to keep chasing your brains.

My poker software only has three moves... check, call, raise.

I never check.

I never call.

I always raise.

Also, none of those buttons say slowplay ^_^.

well true.. it's micro.. so never slow play unless I flop a big big hand..like a quads .. thanks for the ideas..but I got crippled a couple of times because of slowplaying and not slow playing..

For example.. today i just lost to a chip leader at a tourney..
My hand was AA..
His hand was Q 10 He bet all in pre-flop.. I called
Flop was 5 2 10
Turn was 10
River was K

I mean AA vs Q 10 ? are you kidding me?

Well its poker, you're always gonna be winning some hands and losing some hands. If you never slowplaying you never lose by slowplaying... you're going to win more hands by not slowplaying than by doing it... slowplaying rarely ever works out well.

You can slowplay less than the nuts even in the micros, but you have to know your opponents to do it.

since when did CC players start to give out advices on when you should slow-play or not without more information of the table?

When you hit absolute nuts and have a table full of maniacs and a big stack, just let them donk along and keep on calling then all-in on the river for maximum effect when they're pot commited.

On a nit table, you might wanna let them buy a card for a cheap price or even for free, hoping he would hit and have faith in his weaker hand resulting in more money.

If you have a very small stack according to the table, all-in anyway as at least someone of the bigger stacks will probably call you.
If you have a loose image on the table bet anyway, and if you have a tight one take it more easily.
During bubble stage in a tourney slow play or you're getting nothing etc...

Again, as everything in poker, it depends on the situation you're in. I agree in general with WVH as increasing the pot earlier on will allow you to increase it even more on later streets, but that's not how you should always proceed...Assess your situation then decide how you can milk as much as possible out of it (assuming you have the absolute nuts of course). GL at the tables...

Here's a couple of prerequisites for a slowplay:

- You are in late position
- There has been action pre-flop
- You are up against 3 players or less
- You have the stone cold nuts or at least, a hand that beats you is very unlikely (hence why we need action pre-flop)
- Your hand is well-concealed
- At least one opponent should have reason to believe he has the best hand

So an example would be: you are on the button with 9h3h, someone limps, you raise (steal attempt), SB calls, BB reraises, limper cold calls, you call (odds), SB calls.

Flop comes 9d 3c 3d

Now you can expect action from overpairs, diamond flush draws, A9, 43s
Here you can sit back, let the pot build and the players commit to it, then finally shove on the river (if no one has done so by then).

I don't think I have to tell you how rare such a situation is.

PPl Slow Play me all the time ...Oh wait there not Slow Playing me, It's me betting into them, and they have the nuts and I usually have AIR ....

Look Slow Play like everyone has stated does nothing but keep the pot small, and thus defeats your goal of stacking ppl....

Here's an example Lets say your on an Overlly Aggressive table with Idiots raising every pot, and then C-Betting Irregardless of the flop, and then Usually Pushing/Raising/Check-Raising AI (All-In) Irregardless of the Turn...One can make the Arguement that in this Said case it would be beneficial for one to Slow play....Yet the Slow Playing a monster Preflop (AA) really depends on your Position During the Preflop Stages of betting (Middle of the pact), Last (BB)...It also depends on How many callers you get....Look lets say your in the BB, and UTG raises w/e to 4x the BB, and you got AA, and 5 ppl call early stages of an MTT, I would not Slow Play in this Situation...Now the Same Situation once again but against 1 Player I still would not Slow play, why because Like others have mentioned prior "YOU WANT TO BUILD POTS ", so there-fore no slow play preflop correct?

Now example number 2 would be lets say your on a tight table, and you get 1 extremely tight player raising into you, and you hold AA (Preflop), (Now this is just my reasoning behind this move, and others plz feel free to add on/disagree with it ok )....Now lets assume you can Polaraize your Villains ranges from 10+JJ+QQ+KK+AA+AK+AQs+AKo+AQo, ok....Now knowing this is what "We" believe he may have/ may not have (But pretty sure he/she does in fact have one of these hands)...Then a raise would be good preflop, but say the flop comes all low cards, then we really don't want to actually bet out into the said preflop Raiser because they may have/ may not have Missed the Flop, and there-fore we would win a small pot, correct? So in this example I'd be willing to let my Opponet Raise me on the flop, and then I'd prolly either depending on the Read, C-R/C-C/C-push, hope this helps....

Happens all the time in micro stakes. They have 2 cards 10 or higher so they think they'll win for sure. There's nothing you can do about that so don't let it change your game. Slow playing is the wrong move in most cases(has that been said yet??)

Slow playing is very situational specific. Consider your villain's tendancies, their range, and the showdown of your hand. I have slowplayed one hand in the past year. Goes something like this.

Villain covers, is chip leader at the table, we're nearing the bubble of a $200+30+5 buy-in tournament, and he's just barreling to induce folds because everybody wants to make the bubble with as many chips as possible.

I have KJo from MP, haven't played a hand in a few orbits, and decide to go for a super out of position steal, mostly playing my table image as tight, as I haven't played in orbits.
I raise to 3 BBs, and I'd be happy to take down the blinds and antes.
Loose Aggro villain calls from the button(-ish, his exact position was probably more like CO, but it was so long ago, all I remember is he was seated 3-4 seats to my left and had position on me, so my raise might have been from UTG+2)

Flop comes JJK. I'm only beat by KK at this venue, and just about everything else is drawing dead. KK would have most likely 3-bet me preflop at this level, to try and get me to stack off with an inferior hand. I check, villain bets super tiny amount, which is odd, I figure him for the lest J or maybe a big K. I start Meryl Streepin' it up. I cock my head sideways, as if "am I walking into a trap?" After much deliberation, I call.

The turn comes a 7. I think for a few seconds, then check. Villain bets a more appropriate amount this time, approximately half the pot. I pretend I'm trying to ponder his range, and at this point in time commit to the Johnny Chan. I call.

The river hits a big sexy Q. Now I'm beat by two hands, KK, and QQ, both of which I would have expected a 3-bet from this style of play. I think for a few seconds, then check again. Villain stacks up an assortment of chips that I'm pretty sure is more than my stack. "How much, dealer?" I ask. He tells me. Yup, got me covered. In a burst of adrenaline, I call, flip over my cards, and tell the dealer to send the pot.

What villain actually held will forever be a mystery to me. I'm sure the other cards in the muck know, but not me. Not that I really cared.

(FWIW, I took that player out at the final table the following night. Was a good player with a stack, but too predictable. When he was short stack he just waited for the first coinflip hand he could get and jammed. I can't blame him. That's a solid play.)

That was back on March first. I haven't played a lot of poker since then, maybe 2-3k hands. But that was the last time I slowplayed.

So in the interest of making this post even longer, here's a quick checklist:
1. How many villains are in the pot? This is important. Slowplaying against a lot of villains is a bad idea in general, unless you flop a monster, and the board is dry.
2. What are my villain's tendancies? Also important. If your villains are likely to check their draws and second pairs, then you're not likely to get any money in when you're ahead. When your villains bet any pair, or any draw from position, it might be time to drop the hammer w/ TpTk or so, or an overpaiir.
3. What is the showdown value of my hand unimproved? This is a big one. A lot of players decide to slowplay hands like AA or KK. Consider the following: Preflop, AA are 75-80% to win against the hands most likely to beat them. Postflop, against two pair, you have only 5 outs on the turn and 8 on the river to bring you to a hand better than two pair, so you've gone from being huge favorite to a 27% underdog or so. If you have A9s on a rainbow board of A94, okay, I can see the slow play, which brings me to my next point.
4. What is the board texture? In the interest of keeping pots small, you may desire to slowplay weaker hands on dry boards. And by weaker, I mean overpair, TpTk and overpairs, hands that don't have a lot of showdown value unimproved. Consider this pot control and not slow-playing. Slow-playing should only be done when you're so far ahead in the hand that you have little to worry about. AND, you think somebody's going to bet into you. And it won't kill you if the don't.


In summary, it's a very simple play, but very seldom is it the best play. Even in my example, all I ended up winning was my stack x2+ and some table respect for facing the dragon and emerging unscathed. Had I played it differently, he still probably would have payed me off with the case J, but I don't know that.

i use to play slow but i am speeding up myself after knowing some tricks from you guys

wow guys.. interesting opinions.. I like most of them.. this will definitely boost up my knowledge on slow playing.. but for instance.. I have a loose image in the table? will slow playing still work?

If you have a loose image on the table then don't slow play at all ....The reason behind this is simply put because your loose, and they wont believe you have a monster hand and there-fore that's when you just do exactly what you've been doing thus far

Haven't read the thread but I thought the OP may like to check out this thread about slowplaying sets. There's some good stuff in there. Sets and the raise vs slowplay debate

If you don't bet, they can't call.
If you don't bet, they can't call.
If you don't bet, they can't call.
If you don't bet, they can't call.
If you don't bet, they can't call.
If you don't bet, they can't call.
If you don't bet, they can't call.
If you don't bet, they can't call.
If you don't bet, they can't call.

^^^^^^
lol!

This is never guarenteed, I flopped a FH 2x last month and thought it would be cute to slowplay, it wasn't when I let them bet out and I just called till the river and ended up letting them draw to a bigger one.
Like Hillbilly said, only if you flop quads, then only 1 in 10 times. lol

very good informational question bro thx for asking it..some of us wanted too but never did lol....I slow play and i lose 8 out of 10 times ..but the 2 times I win is well worth it lol...

Well said.

Except I think the font should have been bigger.

I forgot to go maximum size, red, underlined, italics and bold AND CAPS FOR THE LAST LINE.

Too true, never let them chase a bigger hand without making them pay for the privilege