There are several razzle-dazzles in poker , the most common is perhaps the bluff, through which you pretend to have a stronger hand than in reality and to make your opponent dump his cards.
Of course there is a contra maneuver to this, during which one pretends to have a weak hand,while having a very strong hand (often a monsterhand), just not to scare the opponent away and to win a few more chips from him. This maneuver is called "slowplay".
Slowplay is is often used in the cases when the player has on of the so called "Monsterhands". For example if we are on the dealer's place and raise with a couple of nines. The big blind calls and in the flop there are 9-9-2 which is perfect for us because we have four nines. This hand has 99% winning chance and you must only try to win as much money as it's possible from the other players. The 9-9-2 flop is perfect for us but for our opponents this is in most of the cases not a good hand and if we place a large bet on the flop it is most likely that we banish them from that game without winning more money. This is a perfect situation for a slowplay. When we use the slowplay tactic we give our opponent the chance to feel that his hand is better to place and to call our later bets.
But how should we implement the slowplay , do we simulate weaknesses? Like in bluffing there are several options. First of all,for easier understanding, we will examine the different moves of the slowplay from different positions ; if you are sitting in position (and therefore the last one to act on the flop) or if you are sitting "out of position" (OOP) and have to act first on the flop.
Hint: In all the following situations we will assume that we have hit a very strong hand in the flop - a flush, straight, full house, four of a kind or also a top set (at harmless flops). Of course,the following examples can't be applied to every situation , but they provide a good insight into the world and the options of slowplay on the basis of our example with the four of a kind 9's .
1. Slowplay at the flop in position
So far so good we act on the assumption that we are in position with four of nines. Because we show aggressive behavior before the flop (see the example above) and now we have a real "monsterhand",we must think how to get as much money as possible in the pot without expelling the opponent from the hand. He will act first after the flop so he will check or bet.
1.1 Slowplay at the flop when the opponent is checking
If the opponent is checking against us (which will is likely to happen in the most cases during this flop and because we were aggressive before the flop ) we can either check as well or place a bet. Regardless of what we decide , the decision meets the objective to fool the opponent , to encourage him to place a bet and to give him the opportunity to make his hand stronger (of course we know in our example with the four of a kind 9's,that we have the best hand ). If we also check the flop like our opponent previously (check behind) we do not get more money at the pot and the turn is revealed.
Because we have shown a weakness at the flop with the check , our opponent will be misled to bet at the turn. He could either try to bluff now, or he has a weak pair and thinks that he has the best hand as of the moment, or he has met the turn and bets. In this case our slowplay would have already been successful, since we have received more money in the pot. But how do we play further, if the opponent makes a bet at the turn? If we raise here, the opponent will fold in most cases when he bluffs or when he has a small pair. Therefore you could continue with the slowplay and call his bet . Since we have again shown weakness with the call, this could work and the opponent will be will be encouraged to bet at the river, hoping that we will fold. If he does that, we can raise a bit at the river, hoping that the opponent will call again with one pair. In this example our slowplay will be successful. We have shown weakness at the flop and with it we gave up the aggression against the opponent , who has spent money at the turn and river like we wanted, so that we could win quite a big pot at the end of the hand.
Instead of a behind check at the flop, we could make a bet of course. It must be done in such a way, that we do not scare the opponent away from the hand. Nevertheless we can have a successful slowplay even if we make a small bet here. The size of the bet is the magic key. Small bets, thus bets under ½ pot size, mislead a lot of players to bluff here. They think that we have completely missed the flop(that is very probable on a nine-nine-two flop) and think that we want to thumb the pot with our small bet. If the opponent raises to our bet, we have achieved what we wanted, the opponent has spent money into the pot but we have the better hand. In this case it would be to recommend that we call to the raise of the opponent, so we motivate him to continue to bluff.
If the opponent calls our small bet at the flop and checks at the turn, we continue to place small bets. Since the opponent doesn't take the initiative or the aggression from us, he will hold a very weak hand like a small pair or ace-high and he will call up to the showdown. In this way we will not receive a lot of money in the pot, but it's better than nothing.
1.2 Slowplay at the flop if the opponent bets
We are still at the flop, we have our monster hand and our opponent must act first. He acts and makes a bet. Many players tend to bet on such "dry" flops like nine- nine-two OOP, only to see how the opponent will react to this. Of course the opponent could have gathered a pair, but in the most cases this bet is only a bluff. Again we have two options. We either raise the bet of the opponent or we just call it. If we raise, the opponent will fold in most cases, since he won't have a good hand. Therefore you can continue with the slowplay and raise only at the flop. On the contrary, we only call his bet again, hoping that he will continue bluffing on the turn and placing money in the flop. Depending on what the opponent makes at the turn, we will continue playing according to the above mentioned options.
2.Slowplay at the flop out of position
When you stay OOP you are the first to act. In general one plays better in position than out of position, but even so we can also organize our slowplay from this position. Again we have two options. We either bet or we just check.
As described in 1.1 - when we want to lure a bet, we have to make a small one in order not to scare the opponent. Depending on the player's type, I will advise you to make a bet on flop OOP. If we always check, the opponent will start thinking that we only want to bluff him with a check-raise and will often check behind. In that case we must once again check at the turn in order to finally have the opponent placing a bet. Although we showed immense weakness, this does not have to happen always. Therefore it is often rather appropriate to make a small bet at the flop. On the other hand this small bet looks very weak again and the opponent could also think,that we are only placing a continuation bet on such a flop (nine-nine-two). That's why the chances that the opponent will raise or at least call are pretty good. If he raises we will leave him the aggression at the turn as already discussed, that is to check,hoping that he will place one more bet. If he does this, we have to remain passive and keep on calling. At the river however we should make a bet, because it's possible that the opponent before us checks and it will come to a very cheap showdown , if he decides to fold his hand.
3.Chances of success
Here we have to make something clear: as always when playing poker it's all about the basic concepts, which are in fact easily convertible, however they don't function always . This is because you can't always predict the actions of the opponent and consider other aspects such as type of opponent or player image, which are included in the game of poker. Therefore it could also occur that the slowplay doesn't work and the opponent gives up his hand. This is annoying, if you had a monster hand , however has not paid off; nevertheless this is part of the poker game and it's absolutely normal. As well as other poker courses, the slowplay also requires game experience , which the player will certainly automatically develop after a couple of games.
4. When do we slowplay a hand?
Same as bluffing, we should not overplay the slowplay and use it only when certain factors are present. These should be listed one more time consecutively:
You are 100% sure that you are holding a winning hand
The opponent is quite active, so that moves like bluffs are expected from him
You should not be worried about playing against many opponents
The risk,that the opponent will hit the winning hand, is not that high.
5. When to be careful during a slowplay?
Slowplay might be nice and good, however it's also a bit risky. So it is nice and good, if you have hit a straight at the flop. Then the player most likely has the best hand, however only on the flop. If there are two spades at the flop that can be dangerous, because someone could hold a flushdraw. Although you have the best hand at the flop , this can change very fast if the opponent hits a flush at the turn or the river . Therefore it's very important that you don't pay attention only to your current best hand, but also to the question,if it will remain the best hand until the end of the ongoing game.
In our example with the straight road and the flushdraw of the opponent it is absolutely not sure if the player will win this hand. Therefore in this case a slowplay would be more than inappropriate, because through a slowplay we give the opponent the opportunity to improve his hand very cheaply and comfortably and in such a way,that he beats our hand.
Therefore it is very important that the player protects his hand,so that the opponent has no chance of getting the winning hand. Through slowplay we do not protect our hand,By Slowplay the player doesn't protect his hand,but quite the opposite.
Protecting your own hand is very important, especially when there are several opponents involved, because every player has a bigger chance to improve his hand.
6. Conclusion
In addition to the bluffing,the slowplay is another good way of fooling your opponent and to win more money from him. Nevertheless you should be partially careful and consider what, how and against whom is to be played. We wish you good luck!