Slowplaying Big Hands in Poker
The Benefits & Pitfalls Of Slowplaying Big Hands In Poker
A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon a poker video where Chris Ferguson talks about slowplaying in poker (you can click here to watch the video).
Since I havent written anything about slowplaying big hands in poker, I though this might be the right moment to do it.
What Exactly Is Slowplaying?
If you are just starting out with (online) poker and getting to know this amazing game, chances are you are not yet familiar with term »slowplaying«.
Slowplay can be described as playing your monster hands (such as pocket Aces, Kings, Queens or Jacks pre-flop) in a very slow or passive way. By writing slow or passive, I refer to situations where you call (or check) with your hand, instead of betting (or raising).
Here’s an example:
You wake up with pocket Aces in the UTG+1 table position (two spots left from Big Blind or three spots left from Small Blind).
There’s only one person behind the table that gets to act before you (player on the UTG or Under The Gun position). The UTG player folds, and instead of raising, you decide to only call with your pocket Aces.
Now lets see how slowplaying pocket Aces from UTG+1 can benefit or hurt your stack at the poker tables:
The Benefits Of Slowplaying…
There are certain benefits that you can get out of slowplaying big hands (either pre-flop, or on the flop). Otherwise, noone would do it, right? Right!
But what are these benefits? Why are so many experienced, as well as inexperienced players, slow play their hands?
Well, the answer is simple: To maximize your profits.
For the sake of understanding the benefits of slowplaying in more details, lets get back to the example hand that I describe above:
At this moment, you are the only limper in the pot. There are still 7 players to act behind you (you are playing on full ring 9-player table). At this point, anything can happen. And it does:
The player that acts right behind you limps as well, and the player behind him puts in a raise of 6 Big Blinds (standard raise of 4 Big Blinds + 1 Big Blind for each limper = 6 x BB). Everyone else folds, except players on Small and Big Blind positions.
They both call a raise of 6xBB. At this point, there are already 20 Big Blinds in the pot.
The turn to act comes back to you. You decide to shove your whole stack in the middle of the pot and just close the deal straight away. After your allin move, everybody folds and you pickup the pot – without giving your opponents a chance to improve their hand on the flop, turn or river.
The main benefit from slowplaying here was the fact that a couple of your opponents put the money into the pot (in fact, 3 of them paid 6 Big Blinds), but never got to see the flop.
In case you raised from your position (UTG+1), players behind you could easily call you, paid the same amount of money (or less) and actually got to see the flop. Chances are they would out flop you as well, and therefore bust your pocket Aces with ease.
The Pitfalls of Slowplaying…
Now lets get back to the beginning of the example hand:
After you limp with your pocket Aces from UTG+1, there are 4 players behind you who limp as well. Since nobody raised, there is no way for you to put in another raise in the pot. Instead, all players (including you) get to see the flop.
The flop comes J 10 3. Both players before you (Small & Big Blind) check, and you decide to bet the pot. Player right behind you folds, while player behind him just calls you. Both players from blinds position fold as well.
The 4 comes on the turn. Thinking that you still have the best hand, you put in another pot bet. At this point, the pot is already quite big.
The remaining player (which by the way has position on you, meaning he acts behind you) decides to raise your pot bet. Since you are very optimistic in the strength of your hand, you shove it all-in immediately after his raise.
He insta-calls your allin and shows you pocket three’s. He obviously has you beat with a set of 3s. The river comes another J(ack), and your opponents picks up your whole stack.
This basically means that by slowplaying your monster hand, you let other players see the flop very cheaply.
The player with pocket 3s, who limped behind you, flopped the set for the total price of 1 Big Blind. Since you were not able to throw your hand away (only very experienced and skilled players are able to fold a strong hand like pocket Aces, when they feel like they are beat), he busted you without risking the majority of his stack.
The bottom line is: Do not slowplay your big hands, until you are experienced enough to read your opponents like open books.
For instance, slowplaying pocket aces in a table where all the players are passive (meaning they only raise when they have nuts) is not a good idea. You will only give them a cheap chance to outflop you.
On the other hand, slowplaying from early position in a table with extremely agressive players (preferably maniacs), is much better. Why?
Well, chances are that maniacs will read your limp (or even raise) as a weakness and will act accordingly. In other words, they will raise or reraise you. Once they do that, it will be much easier for you to become pot commited pre-flop, while holding the best possible hand (be it AA or KK).
Get More Tips On Slowplaying Big Hands From Chris Ferguson
With that said, I invite you to learn even more about slowplaying by watching the video from Chris Ferguson.
Once you do that, you will see that slowplaying can take different forms and shapes. The example above is just one of the possible ways of slowplaying strong hands.
Hope you learned something about when and why to slowplay from this article.
Wish you good luck at the poker tables (be it on Full Tilt Poker or anywhere else), and dont forget to leave your response in the comments below!
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