Far too often, players play big hands slower than they need to be played. I see over-slow playing happen all the time in live games and online free poker tournaments. I’ll admit that I also make the mistake of trying too hard to trap opponents when a more straightforward manoeuvre would probably work best.
In my opinion it is pretty risky to play big hands slowly. First of all, you are pretty likely to be outdrawn by the other players, and more importantly slow playing is actually, in most cases, much less lucrative than playing a hand faster.
Better Betting
If you want to build a big pot with a big hand like a set, you need to be betting. You need to raise pre-flop, bet on the flop, bet on the turn, and fire your last bullet on the river. In other words, you want to gradually get all-in.
You may think you’ll scare away opponents with continuous betting, but this won’t be the case if they hold a reasonably strong hand. Big pots happen when a big hand runs into an even bigger hand. If your opponent folds before you get all your chips in the middle, it simply wasn’t meant to be.
What you don’t want to do is scare your opponents away with ridiculously large bets or raises. Nobody will call you if you bet $800 into an $80 pot. Nobody will call you if you raise it up to $1000 after an opening bet of $40. You want to keep your bets and raises small.
A good idea is to give this approach a go when playing free online poker and free poker tournaments. This way you can gain experience in this type of play without losing real money.
You want to convince your opponent that he or she may possess a strong enough hand to stay in the game. You want your opponent to make mistakes.
Keep your fellow players pot committed. Avoid betting big and announcing to the table that you have the best hand.
There is also a downside to not betting and just checking. Obviously, you can get outdrawn on. That’s a common concern.
However, checking also fails to build up the pot. You may eventually get your opponent to bet at you, but you he or she may just check behind-and thus, you’ll be losing some profit from winning one less bet.
Exceptions to the rule
There will be occasions when it is best to slow play. For example, it’s a smart move to slow play when you flop a royal flush, a straight flush, quads, a full house, the nut flush, or the nut straight. Those are very strong hands. There’s little chance to you’ll be beat. You want to give your opponent every chance possible to bet his second best hand.
When playing against aggressive or loose players then its worth playing slow, as they are likely to bet as players check. Make the most of their aggressive play.
Yet, in most cases, you do want to bet out or raise. You want to build big pots slowly by betting every chance that you get. As I say practice playing free poker games and free poker tournaments sites where you can get a feel for what will work and what won’t. That way when you get into a higher stakes cash situation you’ll play it right and hopefully scoop it up!
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February 27, 2010
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