There's a Difference Between Slow-Playing, Under Repping, and Trapping
A lot of times people lose with these bigger
hands by slowplaying with them thinking that they're trapping. Meanwhile, all you're doing is actually just giving your opponent better Pot/Implied
odds to beat you.
Something to ask yourself when playing a monster hand: "What hands would I
bluff with here?"
If you can't think of any then you aren't
bluffing enough. Or if you can think of some hands you could possibly be bluffing with -- why not play your big hands the same as your bluff ?
Often times people slow play because they want to trap their opponents into doing all the betting. Also, they slow play because they're tired of people folding whenever they make a large raise. People wouldn't fold whenever you make a raise or large bet if they think there's a chance you're bluffing.
Example: 3 - betting
You see this a lot in live games, especially 1/2 or 1/3. Certain players do not 3 bet preflop without a premium hands. If I open from lojack with suited connectors or a low/middle pocket pair and someone in the CO who usually just calls decides to 3-bet me, I know they're strong, so I can let go of my weaker holdings. On top of that, I know that if I call with marginal holdings and smash the flop, I might be able to take their stack.
It isn't like I'm ever thinking -"Well they didn't 3-bet preflop or raise my bet on the flop, he must be calling me down with nothing to go for an insane bluff on the river"
However, if you have the potential to 3-bet light then your opponent doesn't know whether or not you have the goods. If I occasionally throw 3-bets into my range such as suited wheel aces or suited connectors this not only keeps my opponents guessing, but it also gives me an opportunity to get information about their hand strength without necessarily giving much information away. On top of that, if they do call with a strong hand, I still will have some
equity against them heading towards the flop.
So if you mix bluffs into your ranges, you don't need to slow play.
For example, I always open for 3BB (when I'm the first to enter the pot) from any position except the SB. My UTG range is fairly tight most of the time; some of the time though I mix in hands such as J9s or 9Ts. This way it keeps my range balanced. It's not so that every time I open a hand UTG that I have TT+ or AK.
I hope any of my ramblings helped someone. Let me know what you think. :icon_prof