tagece
Legend
Platinum Level
The main reason you must not slow play AA or KK
I know this is obvious for some people, but I did it a lot when I started playing poker, so maybe this could be useful for the beginners.
Except in exceptional occasions when you are really sure that you will make a villain do a mistake with a trap, you must avoid slow playing AA or KK.
One can say “But if I bet too much everyone will fold”. Yes, it’s a risk. But you won the hand anyways, and you several times you will induce a player with a good hand to call or shove.
Or worst, “but with more players in the hand, I will win a huge pot with my monster hand.”
The problem with this line of thought is that if you have two or more players against you, your hand will not be a monster anymore.
Using the Cardschat Odds Calculator, you can see this very clear.
https://www.cardschat.com/poker-odds-calculator.php
Let’s say you are dealt with in the UTG. You make an aggressive raise and one player with calls or shoves, and everybody else folds. Even against a good hand like that, you have the best odds, with 67,42%
But if you decide to bet only 2 BBs, just to hide your hand, and this attract another player with , for instance? Now you have 51,95% of winning, virtually a coin flip. Not so confortable now…
And let's make it even worst. Let’s imagine that a maniac player in the BB decides to defend his blinds with . Now we have four players in the action, and your hand has only 42,75%, and now the chances are against you, and it's more possible that you will in fact lose the hand.
The right conclusion is that you can win good pots slow playing monster hands occasionally, but unless you have a really good plan to do it, this is a bad and unprofitable strategy in the long term.
I know this is obvious for some people, but I did it a lot when I started playing poker, so maybe this could be useful for the beginners.
Except in exceptional occasions when you are really sure that you will make a villain do a mistake with a trap, you must avoid slow playing AA or KK.
One can say “But if I bet too much everyone will fold”. Yes, it’s a risk. But you won the hand anyways, and you several times you will induce a player with a good hand to call or shove.
Or worst, “but with more players in the hand, I will win a huge pot with my monster hand.”
The problem with this line of thought is that if you have two or more players against you, your hand will not be a monster anymore.
Using the Cardschat Odds Calculator, you can see this very clear.
https://www.cardschat.com/poker-odds-calculator.php
Let’s say you are dealt with in the UTG. You make an aggressive raise and one player with calls or shoves, and everybody else folds. Even against a good hand like that, you have the best odds, with 67,42%
But if you decide to bet only 2 BBs, just to hide your hand, and this attract another player with , for instance? Now you have 51,95% of winning, virtually a coin flip. Not so confortable now…
And let's make it even worst. Let’s imagine that a maniac player in the BB decides to defend his blinds with . Now we have four players in the action, and your hand has only 42,75%, and now the chances are against you, and it's more possible that you will in fact lose the hand.
The right conclusion is that you can win good pots slow playing monster hands occasionally, but unless you have a really good plan to do it, this is a bad and unprofitable strategy in the long term.