Poker Slowplay is Costly
Poker
Jan 30, 2000, 14:56
By Gary Carson http://www.gaminglinks.com
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When I first started playing poker in cardrooms, an old man in a Reno stud game gave me some advice. After one hand I played, he said,. "The problem with slowplaying the nuts is that there might be somebody else slowplaying a hand they only think is the nuts."
He was right. Most players slowplay too much, and it can cost them dearly at times. A slowplay is just a deceptive play where you play a strong hand weakly. The idea is to allow someone else to get a cheap draw to a second best hand. But, there are many ways a slowplay can go wrong.
One way is the case the old man in Reno was talking about. That's when you don't need to let someone draw cheaply to get a second best hand. It's when they already have one, but they don't know it's second best and are slowplaying themselves. This situation can cost you a lot of missed bets.
Another way slowplay can cost you money is when your hand isn't really as good as you think, and a free card can give someone a better hand, not a second best hand. This is, of course, the worst possible outcome from a slowplay, costing you both extra bets and the entire pot.
An example of both these mistakes occurred recently when I was playing in a no-limit hold'em tournament on the irc poker channels. Irc poker is not played for money -- it's purely a game for matchsticks, of funny-money. But, it tends to be taken seriously by the players -- bragging rights are on the line. It's fun, also.
In a game I played recently, I held an ace and seven of hearts. Two other players were ahead of me and they both checked on the flop, giving me a free card. They checked again on the turn.
Now, on the turn, the board looked like this
6h 5s 2d 3s
I'd managed to pick up a gut-shot straight draw and had the ace overcard. It wasn't much of a hand, but when everyone else has already checked twice, I'm thinking it may well be the best hand.
So, I made a bet of about $300 into a $280 pot (the 280 was from preflop betting). Both my opponents called. That was surprising to me, a little unsettling. I was actually sorry I'd bet. Until the river came, that is. A four fell, giving me a straight. Again, they both checked, and busted out of the tournament when both called my very large bet.
What did these two players have? One had flopped a top pair, he was holding a king and a ten. The other had pocket fives, flopping a set. The pocket fives made terrible mistakes in this hand. He slowplayed on the flop when another player was also slowplaying the second best hand. Then, he slowplayed again on the flop when I'd picked up a weak draw to beat him. If he'd made any kind of bet on either of those betting rounds, I would have folded and he would have gotten a call from the player with the top pair. His slowplay cost him a large pot, and the tournament.
There are times when slowplay is the right thing. But, not as many times as most players seem to think. If you've got any doubt whether slowplay is the right move -- you should probably just bet.
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