The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Sometimes, you don't want to reveal the strength of your hand by raising. On occasion (and I do mean just on occasion), it may be more profitable not to bet into a player but instead deploy a calling and checking strategy, before and after the flop. As a reminder about slow playing your cards, it is always dangerous. Giving your opponent free cards and cheap flops is usually never a good idea. When you pull off a successful slow play, you look like a genius. If you're outdrawn, you look very very stupid (and not to mention broke). There has to be certain criteria to slow play to be successful:

1.There can't be too may people in the pot. If there are six callers and you're looking down at pocket aces, it is too risky your hand will be outdrawn with players looking for flushes or straights or they may get really lucky and hit two pair. The greater the number of people, the less likely your slow play will work. Aim for one person to play against, two at the absolute maximum.
2. You're against a looser opponent. It might be hard to zero in on a particular person, but if a player you're in a hand with is known to check down to the river, what's the point? Your observations about how this person bets (Does he always lead out with a bet after the flop, or does he check? Does he bet out at pots hitting only middle pair or does he only play the nuts?) should help you decide if you shold slow play. Slow playing against an aggressive, loose player who bets into you will be more profitable than a tight player.
3. Your betting pattern. Have you just flat called a few hands prior to your slow play? Or have you always raised a pot before you entered it? Players may become suspicious of your intentions if you simply flat call after raising pot after pot and will simply throw their hand away. If you've been changing it up enough, the other players shouldn't be able to guess the strength of your hand with a simple call.

For arguments sake, let's say you're up against one player, you're the small blind and you flat call with your pocket Kings (one slow play). The big blind checks (you were hoping the big blind might have tried to raise in which case your slow play would have already worked, but it didn't happen here) and the flop comes Queen-King-Six with the Queen and Six both diamonds. You made your set! Do you risk losing with a flush or straight draw by not protecting your hand with a bet? Yes, but that's the gambling aspect of slow playing. You might decide that the texture of the flop is too risky and hence not slow play here. But what you're hoping is you opponent paired up the Queen and will bet or they interpreted your slow play check as a sign of weakness and they will try to steal the pot right there with a bet while they hold nothing. The idea is to have your opponent put the chips in the pot first for you to get paid off. We'll assume you do decide to slow play and so you check (second slow play).

Let's say your opponent now bets 1/2 the pot. Perfect! The fish has taken the bait. Don't call the bet too quickly; allow a few moments to pass before you call your bet. Make it look like you're wondering if your hand will hold up. You don't have to be DeNiro, just stare blankly at the table and then put your chips in. Let's say the next card is a deuce. You check (third slow play). Now here your opponent may try to make another move on you. Let's say he or she bets, you're sitting pretty now as they think you're weak or they're trying to chase you out of the pot. Flat call the bet as previously mentioned.
The river card is the Ace of clubs. Not really a scare card for you, but if you're opponent was holding Jack-Ten they'd have a straight, but the way the betting has gone it's unlikely. It was a good enough play for your opponent to try to win the pot after the flop with their outside straight draw if they held Jack-Ten, but after you called there was no point in betting into you on 4th street, as they could have simply gotten a free card after your check and hope to hit their straight on the river. This card can actually help you too, because if you're opponent holds an Ace they may think they now hold the best hand and will be confident to place bets.

So after the river card, assured you're holding the best hand, you may decide to bet out if this player likes to call down a hand. You don't want it to be too high though to scare them off. Maybe a 1/4 pot-sized bet will do it. Or you may try to check one more time and try to induce a bet from your opponent who may try to steal the pot. Based on your observations about this player, you should have an idea on what the best course of action is. For this example, I'll leave that decision up to you! :)