When to Slow Play in Poker

Slow playing in poker is another one of the many tools you will want to have in your arsenal to be a successful poker player. A good player knows when to slow play, and when not to. As with most things in poker, there is never a cut and dry scenario for any given situation. That is why it is important to recognize some different factors that will help you to decide on the best move, and whether or not you should slow play.

Many new players make the mistake of slow playing too often, or not enough, or in the wrong spots or positions. So we developed this article to help you recognize when you should and should not slow play based on:

• position
• board texture
• reads on opponents

Read through our article here: Slow Playing vs. Fast Playing

Then come back and let us know:

• What did you learn that stuck out to you the most?
• Do you have any other tips to share on slow-playing?

I never do slowplay, never! ... I have had too many bad experiences with slowplay, once I did slow play with poker on the flop and my opponent made royalflush on the river, I would only do it with an invincible hand like a royalflush, it is also very bad to do slow play when many players enter a hand, in the modality as omaha to do slowplay is a suicide

I slow play TPGK Or TPTK on a dry board or quads or FH's...anything else I bet because they either got something or do not. Unless they are signifgcantly aggro then I go for the turn check raise.

i usually slow play my flush draws, of course flush is a very strong hand but sometimes the 5th you need dont comes and you stay with a very poor hand at the end

after all, all the hands who need to be completed by a card like monster draws

Tammy said:

Slow playing in poker is another one of the many tools you will want to have in your arsenal to be a successful poker player. A good player knows when to slow play, and when not to. As with most things in poker, there is never a cut and dry scenario for any given situation. That is why it is important to recognize some different factors that will help you to decide on the best move, and whether or not you should slow play.

Many new players make the mistake of slow playing too often, or not enough, or in the wrong spots or positions. So we developed this article to help you recognize when you should and should not slow play based on:

• position
• board texture
• reads on opponents

Read through our article here: Slow Playing vs. Fast Playing

Then come back and let us know:

• What did you learn that stuck out to you the most?
• Do you have any other tips to share on slow-playing?

Click to expand...

Thanks Tammy
this great advice, often I just pick method without any rhyme or reason.. and its often a failure

It's easy to throw chips around,,,even easier to hold your chips so hard your hands bleed. Being aggressive is key,yes,,but you'll never reach the next level,without this in you're arsenal of plays in your game.

Most people/players are ticked when another slow plays , well like the article says , sometimes you have to ! AA is one hand that should be - for me it is . Everytime I decide to raise preflop sure as shootin , someone beats me with a really crappy hand ! Like 2 small prs ... so yes slow play is a smart strategy sometimes.

mackmasterss said:

I never do slowplay, never! ... I have had too many bad experiences with slowplay, once I did slow play with poker on the flop and my opponent made royalflush on the river, I would only do it with an invincible hand like a royalflush, it is also very bad to do slow play when many players enter a hand, in the modality as omaha to do slowplay is a suicide

Click to expand...

Then you need to read the article. Sometimes it's the smart play.

Good article! I do not use the slow game when several people participate in the game. Because there is a high risk to give opponents a chance to improve their hands and lose winnings! And I try to use the slow game when I have a very strong combination!

Slow drawing a good hand, such as pocket aces? ... Hmmmm.

Sometimes it makes sense, but depends on the composition of the players at the tables, and their opinions about the style of your game. If you usually have a solid playing style, raising only a very narrow part of the range of hands, then your preflop raise or push with AA will most likely steal the blind. Few would want to ring a raise from the silent "rock." It turns out that your premium hand, which is not so often at your disposal, practically does not bring you profit. This is especially noticeable in the tournament game, where you can not just be satisfied with a pair of blind, and should provoke your opponents on a full stack. Yes, of course there is a risk that the villains will cheaply call with a weak hand and get a stronger combination. But there are also good chances that the villain will receive one pair and will call with her before the river.

Such a game has a certain risk, but sometimes it is the only sure draw of a strong hand.

Thank you very much for another excellent strategy article, this helps us to improve our game on.
I think when you have a very strong hand on the flop, and the flop is very dry, I think you can make check and give a letter, and hope that the villain connect something to catch him.

I usually slow play monster hands like hands that is higer than 10s. Or suited hands like AK, AQ etc.

Any experienced player knows that behind a slow play there is an unbeatable hand. Therefore, it is important to identify the opponents profile, the selection of the best hands and the ability to convert your game into something more lucrative and less aggressive.

it is always difficult to know how to move at the right time. Thank you for this article that will help me manage my game better.

slow play

slow play is key to get someone bluffing and giving you a lot of chips thinking they have the better hand or just thinking they can bluff you since you have nothing.

I think the most important thing about slow play is knowing that you have the best hand and that whatever comes out you will still remain the top hand.

However that is easy level of slow play sometimes you have to do it trusting that the better hand is not going to come.

I think something key in slowplay is betting hard before flop to get a valuable pot and slow playing after.

This is an excellent article, I learned a lot of new things including:

The best time to apply a slow play is when your opponent has a very aggressive style of play and his word is your first. There is nothing more pleasant in poker when you are lucky enough to catch a set on the flop, and your aggressive opponent himself is the first on every street to bet. So he "feeds your monster."

This is probably the only case when I use Slow Play. I accept an aggressive player to flop and then re-raise on the turn. And if the opponent has at least the highest pair, then in most cases he becomes tied to the bank, since he has already invested a lot of money in it. And only then I go all-in on the river.

The turn is the right time to tie someone to the bank. If your opponent attacks the bank on the turn, simply double or triple his bet, and in most cases, he will go to the end on the river.

I slow play strong flopped hands on any type of board vs a very aggressive opponent. Slow playing dry boards with a strong top pair vs a tight player can win you extra money especially if your opponent doesn’t float and folds to c-bet when they miss the flop. Slow playing also works well on boards where you flop so much of the board that it makes it very hard for your opponent to continue.

slow play only when I want to turn a good hand into a bluff))) and very often it turns out

I guess, I do not slowplay so much. Especially not on preflop, when I have a good hand. But this is just for tourneys. Post-flop it is different, I would say. Maybe it is good to "wait" until your oponent makes the mistake.
But in short games, I mean hyper games or especially spin and go's it can make sense to slow play and trap your opponent somehow, when you have a read on him, like that he is willing to raise or push, when you are limping in.

Appreciate the advice:0) slow and fast play is good trickery for online poker I do a mix of them all:0) good luck out there

For myself a slam dunk slow play is against aggressive villian, for example we have aj+ ep.
A49 flop rainbow
X call x call
These textures with our range v loose aggressive.
I know its a small example but for myself most common when playing live

I'm almost always slow play. maybe it's not right, but that's my style of play. article of course useful, I learned several new details, which will apply in further. Thanks.

Slowplaying has it's place in poker, but it should be used in selective and proper situations.

There isn't a general fixed rule about when to slowplay. It depends on the situations. I would say that I can slowplay top sets on dry boards or anything from quads+. But again this isn't 100% fixed. Sometimes I will do my normal continuation bets.

Every strategy one day can be usefull. I like to slowplay with showdown value or with a super strong hand like aproximated to the nut against over agressive players, 2 pairs or third of a kind, I like lauch big bombs and reanalizing after each street.