Fast and Furious, or Slow and Devious?

It’s limit hold’em. You’ve flopped a hand and are looking to acquire the best value. Do you play it fast or assume the risks of playing it slow, hoping to win a bigger pot? Obtaining the highest value is a function of multiple variables: The main ones are the strength of your hand, the size of the pot, the texture of the flop, and the tendencies of your opponents. How accurately you assess these situations and apply the correct strategy will hugely influence your poker results.

The stronger your hand, or more accurately, the lower the propensity of your opponents to be able to draw out on it, combined with the greater equity on the additional bets you will gain by slow playing, the more inclined you should be to utilize trap plays. That is because free or “cheap” cards given to your opponents are less likely to cripple your hand and the overall equity from any bets gained from trapping plays must exceed the equity lost when giving the free or cheap cards costs you the pot.

That point emphasizes the importance of also considering the pot size: the larger the pot, the greater the loss. More simply, the lower the percentage chance your hand can be drawn out on and the smaller the pot, the more value you should give to acquiring bets over “protecting” the pot. By “protecting the pot” I mean playing your hand in a manner to eliminate opponents. That said, there is still more to consider in the “to slow play or not to slow play” equation.

The more vulnerable your hand and the larger the pot, the more you should play your hand in a manner to increase your probability of winning the pot. In those cases the equity on any bets gained is less than if your opponents were drawing slim-to-dead and your cost when you lose the pot is greater.

Board texture is another component. Flopping top set on a 10 9 8 board is very different from flopping top set on a Q 7 2 board. On the first board, you’ll probably get action from a very wide range of hands, while with the second, not many hands can legitimately give you action. But the first board is much more dangerous. I’ve used extreme examples to make a point. Most flops fall in between these illustrations, and your decisions are much trickier.

Conceptually, when considering slow playing, estimate the range of hands your opponent(s) might have, how vulnerable your hand is to that range, how your opponent(s) will play that range, and what strategy will give you the most equity for your hand, while incorporating any assumptions of risks you may take. Examples of risk assumptions are losing the pot, giving a free card, blowing out an opponent who is drawing dead, but who would call additional bets against a different strategy.

The 10 9 8 board is a flop you generally want to play fast. You’ll trap many draws and give your opponents an opportunity to gamble with you on them, and the larger pot will often trap other opponents for high equity bets for you. In such situations, if you have one opponent drawing against your set with a naked jack, it’s better to have more opponents on the identical draw. If one hits his out, so does the other. You still lose, but if you win, you’ll win more bets without any increased risks of loss.

Additionally, when playing these draw-heavy flops, it’s important not to make trap plays out of position with the intent of check-raising the turn against opponents who know/utilize the “free card play” of raising the flop with position and checking behind you when you check the turn. It’s generally better to reraise the flop and fire the turn or lead the turn out of position if the flop is capped. That way, you’ll deny any opponent the value of the “free card play.”

Likewise, your opponent’s tendencies are also a major factor. There is no point in slow playing against an opponent(s) that will call you anyway or slow play against an opponent(s) who will read through a slow play and play his hand accordingly. That said, you might want to play a weak hand identical to a slow play in a situation where your opponent will read you for a slow play and then you can bluff on a later street. That way he’ll read you for a huge hand and fold a wider portion of his range after he reads you for a huge hand. When analyzing the situation try to analyze how the hand will play out based on various actions you might take. Who will likely raise? Who can be easily trapped? Who will be calling all bets? The questions are endless.

Another situation often misplayed is how to play when you have a big draw. Many players get into postflop raising wars with monster draws and blow out opponents who would increase both their current and implied price on their draw. You may be a favorite on a 53-to-47 draw and be getting positive equity, but getting 3-to-1 on $40 gives you greater equity than getting even money on $100 as a slight favorite. Once again, analyzing and planning how the hand will play will pay you dividends in the equity you’ll collect from the draw.

Another similar component of how a hand will play is analyzing how to either eliminate opposition or induce them into the pot. Leading into likely raisers, thereby forcing other opposition into calling two bets cold has a chilling effect on most players’ desire to call. Conversely checking to an auto-bettor tends to trap opponents into the pot. Consider how you want the hand to play. How can you get your best equity? Process these thoughts every hand, not just the hands you play, but all hands played. Over time your feel for these types of situations will get better, improving your judgments.

And when you make better decisions than your opponents, their chips are coming your way! ♠

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 Twitter @RealRoyCooke