Their can be advantages and disadvantages to slow playing. It can be dangerous but it can also be powerful and knock out your opponent in a tournament or bust them is a cash game. First of all it starts with what kind of table your sitting at. The best tables to slow play are loose aggressive players. David skalanky advices that sometimes if someone limps before you, then you can call in middle position, at an aggressive table, and they have large stacks, because there is a high probability that someone will take that as weakness and raise the high pair preflop, or your high pair will be completely camouflaged if you hold AA and an A flops. Also beware of min-raises in early position, sometimes they are mixing up their play, but I notice allot of times, it is a lure bet to get more money in the pot, then bet big on the flop. If you check someone who is aggressive, he may like to take pots away from someone who seems weak, so checking is likely to induce a bet that you need (if you were slow playing). Now on the other hand slow playing the weak-tight player is a waste of time and dangerous. By giving him free cards,your allowing him a chance to make money from you, but you have no chance to make money from him, since he won't bet with a weak hand. (If you are slow playing a monster, this reasoning doesn't apply since he has no outs)
Also, you need to look at stack size when you slow play. Big and small stacks are the best targets, while medium stacks are the worst.
This is the exact opposite of what you would do if you were
bluffing, you would want to pick on the medium stacks, because of their fear of a shrinking stack. The best situations for bluffing are the worst for slow playing, and vice versa. Be careful slow playing before the flop though. For instance, you may choose to call rather than raise with your AQ suited, but what your doing is trying to vary your play, so your opponents can't detect your betting pattern. The same holds true with a hand like a pair of tens in early position when your first in the pot. you could raise five times the big blind, or three times the big blind, or you could just call, but the point of calling is not to draw more players in the pot but to disguise your hand so you can't be read easily. I only like to slow play aces kings and sometimes queens and several preconditions have to apply. I'm at a full table, I'm in early position, and no one has entered the pot yet before me, and the table has been generally loose aggressive with lots of pots raising and re-raising preflop, and finally, the loose and aggressive players being on my left. In this situation, I am seeking someone that acts behind me to raise preflop, and in early position, you have the best chance of that happening. If someone has called before me, a call on my part will dampen action, because two people have already shown strength. The right play after a raise or a call is just to raise with a high pair, and remember that a series of limper's is horrible for a high pair. In the end, you want to get heads up with a big of pot as possible. Slow playing after the flop is more common, and really, too common. Many players try to be tricky and trap and over use the slow play after the flop. my natural move is to bet my good hands for value. I might slow play against an aggressive player or a one or two opponents. slow play three people with a real monster, pretty close to the nuts. And just remember there is no need to slow play if your straight value bet is likely to be called. Good luck!
Lucky tokenz
--As long as we are lucky we attribute it to our smartness; our bad luck we give the gods credit for.--
Josh Billings