To Slow Play or Not to Slow Play

Deciding whether you should slow play a hand is chiefly determined by a combinatory analysis of the size of the pot, the probability that your opponents will draw out on you and your opponents’ tendency to fold should you bet. One must weigh the value of all these factors to establish whether slow playing is correct.

On a Tuesday afternoon at the Bellagio, the $40-80 limit hold’em game contained the usual assortment of tourists and locals. A tourist sitting next to me opened the pot with a raise in middle position and flashed me his holding, the Q J. He knew of me from my columns and was trying to show me his poker prowess. Mr. Tourist was called by a local pro on the button, then got three-bet by the big blind. Both he and Mr. Button flat called. They took the flop off three-handed, $380 in the pot.

The flop hit Mr. Tourist squarely, the Q J 7 giving him top two pair. Surprisingly, Mr. Preflop Three-Bet checked and then even more surprisingly, Mr. Tourist knuckled right behind him. The button followed suit and the turn came off no charge.

It was the 8, adding both a flush and additional straight draws to the board. Mr. Preflop Three-Bet now fired $80. I held my breath waiting for Mr. Tourist to raise, but exhaled anyway when he flat called. I wondered “What the hell was going on in his mind?”. It seemed like he was trying to assume as much risk as possible, while earning as little as possible on this exceptional flop. Mr. Button called the additional $80 and the river came the 4.

Now Mr. BB checked and Mr. Tourist made his first wager. Mr. Button mucked and Mr. Big Blind paid him off. Mr. Tourist opened his hand, smiled and turned to me. He was proud as a puppy, looking for approval on how wonderfully he played his holding. “Nice hand,” I patronizingly stated to him, not looking to get into a conversation about the hand. He glowed with appreciation and stacked the chips.

To put it bluntly, I think he played the hand dreadfully. He violated all three of the first paragraph’s principles about when you should and shouldn’t slow play.
First, because of the three-bet preflop, the pot was large. When slow playing in large pots, the equity loss for the times a free card costs you the pot is much higher than if you slow played the same situation in a smaller pot. Conceptually, the negative value of any increased percentage of losing the pot must be more than made up by the increased equity of the bets you stand to gain by slow playing. All else being equal, in large pots that risk of equity-loss is a higher number than in small pots. This principle reduces the number of correct situations to slow play in large pots. I’m not saying you should never slow play in a large pot, but the situation must be just right. The risks must be minimal, the rewards great, or some kind of an equitable combination of the two!

Second, since the flop contained two high ranking sequential cards, Mr. Tourist’s two pair was very vulnerable. The chances that giving a free card would cost him the pot were much greater than if the flop had come Q-Q-J. In that case, if someone made a straight, it would create additional dead money for Mr. Tourist. And dead money is good money. But with the flop that came, any card not pairing the board higher than an eight could make someone a straight. And even if either opponent simply picked up a straight or flush draw on the turn, in a pot this large he would be getting the correct price on a single bet to draw. Anytime an opponent calls you while getting the right price to draw, your hand has lost equity. In poker, you shouldn’t give your opponents unnecessary opportunities to draw at you correctly.

Third, with the pot being large and the board being uniform, it’s highly likely that had Mr. Tourist played his hand fast he would have received significant action anyway. Slow playing in situations where your opponents would give you action anyway just costs you the value on the calls you missed. When you think your opponent has a big mitt, or will be unable to read the strength of your hand, the best way to play your monster hand is aggressively. Since Mr. BB had three-bet preflop, he would likely call a flop bet, and he might have even check-raised. More generally, playing aggressively allows your opponents to raise or play back at you. So slow playing often reduces your action level, particularly when your opponent(s) suspect you might be checking a monster.

Many players get caught up in playing their hands in a fancy manner, often doing it only as a means of impressing other players. Mike Caro calls it “Fancy Play Syndrome” also known as FPS (all psychological disorders are acronyms these days). Frequently, like Mr. Tourist did, they are making a mistake and costing themselves equity. Don’t get too caught up in trying to be cute too often.

I think part of the reason Mr. Tourist developed FPS is that he wanted to show off to me, as I was a poker author. I often see players change their strategy when someone is watching them, seeking to impress. It’s kind of a “Look, Dad, see how I tricked him. Aren’t you proud of me? Put that in your column!!”. Although, when you’re playing poker the object is to win money, not approval.

Mr. Tourist continued hitting lots of flops and cashed out several thousand winner. He even started giving lessons to the unfortunate souls around him, though his play and statements were as bad as his play of this hand.

The good news is that he is undoubtedly telling his friends what suckers these Vegas players are. And maybe they’ll all play their hands like he did! ♠

Roy Cooke played poker professionally for 16 years prior to becoming a successful Las Vegas Real Estate Broker/Salesman in 1989. Should you wish to any information about Real Estate matters-including purchase, sale or mortgage his office number is 702-396-6575 or Roy’s e-mail is [email protected]. His website is www.roycooke.com. You can also find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @RealRoyCooke.