Slow-Playing

Some players will tell you never to slow-play a hand in no-limit hold'em, because the consequences of getting outdrawn are so serious when you have a good hand. I like to protect my good hands by betting and raising, yet sometimes I will not push a hand to its limit. One needs to vary his play on occasion, so as not to be too predictable. Even though you run the risk of getting outdrawn, you get something in return. Let's discuss a few reasons to slow-play, besides just being unpredictable.

1. You do not want to be reraised off a good hand by a player on a draw. I know a lot of players - perhaps a majority - who like to raise with top pair when there is a draw on the board. Their thinking is that they do not want to give a free card, in case their opponent is drawing. But, top pair is not a through-ticket for your whole stack when the money is deep. Here is an example: You hold the A K and raise the pot, getting a call from both blinds. The flop comes A J 8. The first player makes a pot-size bet; what should you do? I would be very nervous about playing for all of my money in this situation. I might be beat by aces up or a set, but I also have to worry about hands like the A Q and the 10 9, which are good enough to make a huge all-in reraise. In other words, I hate raising on the flop with the intention of coming off my hand if my opponent plays back at me. I hate even worse not coming off my hand when someone puts me all in or makes a huge reraise and all I have is one pair. I am around even money against one of these draws (a slight favorite against the 12-outer and a slight dog to the 15-outer). Two pair has me in bad shape, and a set has me nearly dead. On balance, I prefer to just call and take my chances, rather than raise when my hand has been extended to the limit. Of course, if there is no draw on the board, I will know that I am likely beat if my opponent reraises. But, I lose out by warning him that I have a good hand if he is marginal, as in the following reasoning:

2. You want to make money with your good hands. Let's pretend that instead of open-raising, I just limp in from under the gun with the A K. Again, the blinds call, the flop comes A J 8, the first player bets, the second one folds, and it is up to me. If I call here, I could have anything under the sun. There is a good chance my opponent will bet again on the turn, and I will call. If a blank comes on the river and he checks, I can bet for value. Look at my potential gain on this layout against top pair, whereas if I raise on the flop, he probably will fold any hand I can beat.

3. You can decide to represent whatever comes if your opponent shows weakness. I agree that this is a scary board for a made hand, but it is even scarier for my opponent, who is out of position. If you know your opponent's game and read him well, just calling is quite intimidating. Now he has to play poker, whereas if you had raised with your A-K, he would be hard-pressed to make a mistake. He will fold when he is beat and call or reraise when he is ahead.

4. You throw a monkey wrench into the game of a hyperaggressive player. The hyperaggressive player loves to face opponents who call when their hand is marginal but raise when their hand is good. That way, he can keep betting against a caller whenever there is a draw on the board and know that he is not facing a strong hand. Calling on the flop and folding on the turn against such a player fattens his bank account, because he interprets a call on such a board as a sign of weakness. With a good hand, you need to just call on occasion against a bulldozer, to show him that a call may be made with a wide range of hands, not just mediocre ones. Of course, you have the option of calling on the flop, turn, and river with a mediocre hand and playing your opponent for having a hand like a busted A-K, but this is risky business.

There are many situations in which it is not a good idea to slow-play. The biggest drawback to slow-playing is the fact that it gives your opponent a chance to outdraw you when he would have folded if you had raised. One of the more dangerous situations is when you have top pair or an overpair with intermediate cards, and an overcard can beat you if it pairs someone. You have the problem of hardly ever being sure which overcard will hurt you and which will be only a sham threat. Even when your opponent has raised preflop, and the most likely hand he holds is liable to be A-K, he may have a hand like A-Q or A-J suited, or even K-Q or K-J suited, if he is a frisky type of player. Consequently, it is a rare play for me to check a hand like a pair of jacks, tens, or nines, or a pair using a card of one of these ranks with an ace kicker. If I did check, it usually would be against a preflop raiser, with the intention of folding to a decent-size bet.

Another situation in which I do not like to slow-play is when I am out of position. Smooth-calling a bettor is a lot different than checking and calling. Your opponent has the option of taking a free card when you check-call the flop and then check again on the turn. If I gave this option to my opponent, it would be in a situation in which I was not too concerned about him drawing out. An example would be when I had called the preflop raiser when I held A-K, flopped top pair on a board where no likely draw was available, and faced a guy who was liable to run with the ball if given it. Of course, you can check-call the flop and still bet the turn, but when holding a quality hand, I would prefer to simply bet the flop and then decide what to do on the turn if called.

Bob Ciaffone has authored four poker books: Middle Limit Holdem Poker, Pot-limit and No-limit Poker, Improve Your Poker, and Omaha Poker. All can be ordered from Card Player. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons: e-mail [email protected]. His website is www.pokercoach.us, where you can get his rulebook, Robert's Rules of Poker, for free. Bob also has a website called www.fairlawsonpoker.org.