The Pitfalls of Slow-Playing

Slow-playing is seemingly one of the most tempting no-limit hold'em strategies. Flop a huge hand, and, in the immortal words of Elmer Fudd, "Be vewy, vewy quiet." It fits with the image of poker as a game of deception; little do your opponents know that you're waiting in the weeds, ready to strike with the nuts.

The reality of slow-playing, however, is not as attractive. First, it undersells your hand. What good is flopping a monster if you don't win much money from it? Second, while you might be deceptive when you're betting small, once you do break out the big bet, you'll be much more readable than if you had just come on strong all along. Small bet, small bet, big bet is a telltale pattern for a slow-play. Big bet, big bet, big bet, and I won't know if you're strong, if you're bluffing, or if you're just crazy.

Slow-playing has its place, certainly, but many slow-plays are ill-considered. With that in mind, let's examine a hand that a reader posted on my message board:

It was a 50¢-$1 game in which most of the players had around $100 stacks, except for the big blind, who had only $20.
One player limped to our hero on the button, who limped with the 7 6. The small blind completed, and the big blind checked.

The flop came 7 6 5, giving our hero top two pair on a very coordinated board. The small blind bet $2 into the $4 pot, the big blind called, the limper called, and our hero called.

The turn was the 7, completing a possible flush draw but giving our hero the nut full house. The small blind bet $4 into the $12 pot, the big blind called, and the limper minimum-raised to $8. Our hero called the $8, the small blind called, and then the big blind moved all in for $9 more. The limper called the $9 raise, and it was hero's action.



I would have played the hand very differently, raising a few times before this point.

The limper had a full stack, and our hero had a suited connector on the button. I would have raised this hand preflop. Suited connectors don't make good hands often, but they flop draws, so they make good semibluffing hands. When you have the button and a suited connector, generally speaking, you'll make the most from it in a medium-sized pot against one or two players. You want to use the leverage of position and the remaining stacks to steal more than your share of pots. Limping in, trying to make a hand, is not as good a way to play, because it simply won't make a hand often enough to show a big profit.

Among the exceptions to raising preflop is if the player who already has entered the pot is exceptionally loose and wild. But if he's a "normal" player who folds often to flop and turn continuation-bets, a raise to about $4 or $5, I think, will offer the best overall results.

After limping in, our hero was in a small, fourhanded pot. The flop gave him top two pair on a very coordinated board. It might seem like a vulnerable situation, but against typical players, this hand is in fairly good shape. Our hero had position. Many of the hands that would play against our hero were draws -- a pair and a straight draw, a flush draw, and so forth -- and top two pair likely had an equity edge against those hands. The pot was still small, so our hero could put in a raise without yet committing to his hand. I'd make it somewhere in the $12-$15 range and see what happens.

It's not a sure bet, of course. One or two players could call, a bad card could come on the turn, and our hero could be in a precarious situation. But I think our hero can rely on his position to help him. He might be able to check a bad turn card and induce a river bluff.

We know that our hero called. An excellent (perhaps perfect) card came off on the turn. Our hero now had the top full house, and would lose only to a straight flush. He needed to raise, raise, raise! There's no reason to mess around with flat-calling tiny bets and minimum-raises. Our hero had a great hand, and there was a bet, a call, and a raise in front of him. He could have been up against a 7, a made straight, or a flush, and could have gotten good value from any of those hands. He should have just tried to get the money in. The way that he played it is bad for three reasons:

1. If no one reraises the turn, the pot will be artificially small, and our hero will have just one betting round remaining to get value for his hand. If he's up against another big hand and he raises the turn, he'll likely stack his opponent. He's far less likely to stack another big hand if he waits for the river.

2. If someone has the A, he's likely to pay for it on the turn, but he won't pay anything if he misses on the river (which he'll do roughly 80 percent of the time). If someone has made trips, a straight, or a flush and a fourth spade comes on the river, our hero will lose action from those made hands.

3. If someone reraises the turn (as actually happened), and our hero can reraise again, his strange call, reraise action will tip the huge strength of his hand. If I held a flush on this board and saw someone call the small bet and then make a big reraise when it came back to him, I'd be on high alert for a full house; whereas, if the player raised immediately, I would give him credit for a wider range of hands, including trips, straights, and smaller flushes. I might get stacked by the straightforward action, but get away from my hand against the suspicious call, reraise action.

So, on our hero's first action on the turn, I'd have made a very solid raise, maybe to $30 or $40.

Consider the overall plan for the hand. Our hero called (rather than raised) preflop, looking to flop a big hand and get paid. The flop was good, but he was cautious. The turn was perfect, and he still played it slowly. Our hero is playing the suited connector to flop big, but when he does flop big, he doesn't get value. If he never raises his hand, how is he going to make his speculative preflop call pay off in the long run?

No-limit hold'em is about leveraging position, using semibluffs to take pots away from your opponents, and getting value for your big hands. Each of these factors requires well-timed aggression. If you limp a lot, you're going to lose a lot of $1 hands. When you slow, slow, slow-play, you end up not making enough on your good hands to compensate for that steady $1 drip.

Ed is a featured coach at StoxPoker.com. Also check out his online poker advice column, NotedPokerAuthority.com. He has authored four books on poker, most recently, Professional No-Limit Hold'em: Volume 1.