I covered the idea of bluffing. Now I will cover the idea of the opposite, slow-playing.A slow play or a trap is a poker play that is meant to deceive your opponent into thinking you are weak when you really have a monster hand.
Note this is much harder to do than bluffing, however this has much less risk involved since you should already be ahead of your opponent.
This is why it's much harder to execute than a bluff. You must convince your opponent that you have a range of hands much lower than the hand you really have. Just the meer fact that you are calling bets, checking and continuing to pay to see more cards is going to immediately pin you on a range of at least mediocre hands.
Slow playing has another bad side effect. Slow playing can give your opponents cheap flops, turns and rivers that can end up defeating your good hand.
As you can see, slow playing is very dangerous and should only be used sparingly. There really is only a couple of situations when it is acceptable to slow play your big hand.
When you know your opponent has a big hand too(or thinks he does). When you know your opponent is playing a big hand, but not as big of a hand as yours, you can slow play him. A good poker player will slow down when faced with resistance with even top pair and top kicker. If a good player smells weakness and has this hand, they are often betting heavily to protect their hand. This is a good opportunity to let them continue to bet into you heavily without giving back any resistance until the end.
When your opponent bluffs a lot. This is a great play against bluffers and over aggressive opponents. This is why I mentioned in the previous article that you should never bluff your entire stack, because if you already are known for bluffing a lot, people will try and trap you for your entire stack.
When you know that you will not extract anymore from your opponents by betting. This is those situations where you know your opponent is weak and will probably fold to any bet. It's a risky situation, and often it is a good decision is to just claim the pot right there and not give your opponent any chance of winning. If you feel you can safely maximize your earnings by slow playing and allowing your opponent to see cards, then it's a perfectly fine decision, but you are running a calculated risk.
My Suggestions? I suggest a strategy with very few slow plays. I prefer a table image of aggression, with more bluffs, maybe once an orbit or every other orbit (every time the button makes a complete pass around the table). When you have your big hands and bet them strong, your opponents will not know if you are bluffing or not, if they try and call you down, you will win a lot of money. If they don't call you down, then you will win a lot of bluffed pots. It's a win win situation where you keep your opponents guessing. Only slow play when you feel you can convince someone you are drawing and induce a bluff or if you feel your opponent is so weak they won't call any bets even the minimum.
When you know your opponent has a big hand too(or thinks he does). When you know your opponent is playing a big hand, but not as big of a hand as yours, you can slow play him. A good poker player will slow down when faced with resistance with even top pair and top kicker. If a good player smells weakness and has this hand, they are often betting heavily to protect their hand. This is a good opportunity to let them continue to bet into you heavily without giving back any resistance until the end.
When your opponent bluffs a lot. This is a great play against bluffers and over aggressive opponents. This is why I mentioned in the previous article that you should never bluff your entire stack, because if you already are known for bluffing a lot, people will try and trap you for your entire stack.
When you know that you will not extract anymore from your opponents by betting. This is those situations where you know your opponent is weak and will probably fold to any bet. It's a risky situation, and often it is a good decision is to just claim the pot right there and not give your opponent any chance of winning. If you feel you can safely maximize your earnings by slow playing and allowing your opponent to see cards, then it's a perfectly fine decision, but you are running a calculated risk.
My Suggestions? I suggest a strategy with very few slow plays. I prefer a table image of aggression, with more bluffs, maybe once an orbit or every other orbit (every time the button makes a complete pass around the table). When you have your big hands and bet them strong, your opponents will not know if you are bluffing or not, if they try and call you down, you will win a lot of money. If they don't call you down, then you will win a lot of bluffed pots. It's a win win situation where you keep your opponents guessing. Only slow play when you feel you can convince someone you are drawing and induce a bluff or if you feel your opponent is so weak they won't call any bets even the minimum.
No comments:
Post a Comment