The Mistake of Slowplaying

I was recently told about a hand from a $200 buy-in World Series of Poker Circuit event that illustrates a key mistake that many amateur players make every time they flop a premium hand. With blinds at 500-1,000 with a 200 ante, a tight player limped from middle position out of his 40,000 effective stack. The cutoff and button both limped as well. The small blind folded and then our Hero woke up with 10♥ 10♠ in the big blind. He decided to raise to 4,000.
While I am fine with raising this decently strong hand for value, Hero should have made it a bit more, perhaps 6,000. When he reraises only 3,000 more, he is essentially telling his opponents, “my hand is so strong that I don’t care what you call with.” In reality, he should have raised larger because when he makes it 4,000 total, his opponents are not making much of an error by calling, due to their excellent pot odds. Of course, if your specific opponents are so weak and tight that they will limp hands like A-J and K-Q and then fold to a small raise, then this raise size is great. That said, I have not encountered players like that in years.
As expected, all the opponents called. The flop came K♠ 10♣ 10♦, giving Hero four-of-a-kind. That is lucky! Hero checked.
While I am fine with checking, I generally prefer making a small bet of 4,000 into the 18,300 pot, as you would do with much of your obviously premium range (due to your tiny preflop reraise). Notice that A-A, K-K, and A-K all don’t mind getting money in the pot, although checking with those could be acceptable because they are not too susceptible to being outdrawn. More importantly, Hero wants to get money in the pot against hands like top pairs, low pocket pairs, A-Q, A-J, and Q-J, all of which will likely give action to a small bet. By checking, those hands have the opportunity to get off the hook on the later betting rounds when they fail to improve.
The opponents all checked. The turn was the 6♣. Hero again checked.
At this point, Hero simply must start getting chips in the pot. While he probably isn’t against a king (because most players would bet top pair when checked to), he can now easily extract value from pocket pairs, bottom pairs, straight draws, and flush draws. By checking, he again lets all these hands off the hook.
The opponents all checked. The river was the K♦. Hero checked one more time.
I especially don’t like checking on the river because few players are capable of bluffing into three opponents, even when they have all showed multiple streets of weakness. Also, Hero can easily get called by ace high. If one of the players somehow has a king, they will almost certainly raise a river bet, allowing Hero to easily get all-in. By checking, Hero may induce a few bluffs but fails to get called by ace high, which should be a large portion of the opponents’ ranges.
Middle position checked and the cutoff bet 12,000 into the 18,300 pot. The button folded and Hero check-raised all-in. Middle position folded and the cutoff instantly called with K-Q for a full house.
Hero was thrilled that he won the pot and assumed he played it great, but in reality, he gave his opponent every possible chance to lose the minimum. If he did not river a full house, he may have found a big fold when check-raised all-in with his decent top pair. If the river completed the flush, he may have checked behind. If the turn or river was an ace, he may have only put one bet in the pot. If Hero played his hand “normally” and bet small on the flop and turn, and then pushed all-in on the river, he would have extracted more value on the earlier betting rounds and would have still gotten all-in by the river.
It is important that you always think about all the betting lines you could take with a hand, and then choose the one that is likely to lead to the best result. Don’t be blinded by your premium hands, thinking the only way you can get action is to slow play. In situations like this one, much of your value will come from getting small bets in on the early betting rounds against marginal hands that will be unlikely to invest money on the later betting rounds. ♠

Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT champion with more than $6 million in tournament winnings. Each week, he posts an educational blog and podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com, where you can get a FREE poker training video that details five things you must master if you want to win at tournament poker. You can also sign up for his FREE Excelling at No Limit Hold’em webinars at HoldemBook.com/signup.