The Eternal Slow Play Question

Ah yes, the inevitable question always arises “should I have slow played that hand to try and extract more chips?”  I am often asked about slow playing a hand in general.  Many players I know automatically slow play if they get AA or KK.  I also see a lot of slow playing online.  Sometimes in some of the smaller freeze out tournaments it seems like everyone is slow playing and are raising or pushing after the flop if it is not favorable so they feel they have to bet big to try and protect there hand from anymore scare cards.  Usually by then it’s too late!

As a general rule I do not advocate slow playing.  That is not to say it is not a useful strategy from time to time in certain situations.  I do not think slow playing AA or KK is a good idea as well.

Many times online I’ve seen a player just call with KK and an ace hits the flop and, wait for it … he/she bets the flop hard or re-raises a bet ?  In my opinion you should always be raising with any premium hands you get.  You might try to disguise the strength of your hand and always raise the same amount so as to leave the other players guessing a bit but just calling is not a good idea.  Why you might ask.  I’ve seen way to many hands like AA, KK or even QQ slow played and get beaten more often then not.  For example I was playing a 30 player freeze out about a week ago and it was early.  Player A had just called from middle position and player B called from the cutoff.  The button and small blind folded and the big blind called so it was 3 to see a flop of Q 7 5 with 2 spades.  Player A checks and player B bets the pot and the big blind folds.  Player A calls and the 10 of spades hits the turn.  Player A checks again and player B bets the pot again.  Player A waits about 15 of the allotted 20 seconds and calls.  A deuce(diamond) hits the river and player A checks for a third time and player B fires out another bet, this time about 1/3 of the pot.  Player A instantly moves all in and player B calls.  Player B had AA and player A had Ks 9s for the flush.  Player B trying to slow play his aces got slow played !!

It happens time and time again where one player is slow playing a big hand and after a not so favorable flop tries a big bet to protect his hand.  Too many weaker players on draws will call you down right to the river. 

Recently I hosted a freeze out no limit tournament with 7 friends from work.  There are a couple weak players but the rest (myself included) are fairly good players(I think, lol).  I made it to heads up and an interesting hand came up that dealt with this topic.  I was the small blind and had K 9.  The big blind had AA and we both were about even in chips.  I called preflop and he went all in.  I folded and he flipped his cards over and said “should I have slow played those?”

In this instance I would say yes.  If I were him I might have put a raise in preflop but small enough to entice the small blind (me) to call.  With a hand like K 9 I would have called because I thought I had a good hand heads up but a poor hand to an all in bet with chip stacks about the same.

Another instance where I would slow play is if you have flopped a monster hand, a full house or the nut flush.  You might luck out and have a weaker player who’s an aggressive better catch a bit of the flop and bet his weaker hand.  Call him down and raise him on the river. 

In summary there are not too many situations where I would slow play a hand.  There are situations where slow playing is useful but they are few and far between.  I think the risk is just too high.