Slow Playing in Poker
ISSUE #7 - Slow playing to maximise value
So here I am at the 2004 World Series of Poker. Binion’s Horseshoe
has been taken over by new owners... at long last. That is not the
most obvious change that greeted me though. America has gone Poker
mad, mad, mad. An astonishing 343 have just paid an amazing $25,000
to play the main event at the Bellagio. And yesterday I walked into
Binion’s satellite area and couldn’t believe my eyes.
Last year there would have been maybe 3 or 4 tables running. This
year there were 23 or 24 tables buzzing with excitement. Hordes
and hordes of new players. God bless America, god bless the WPT
on the discovery channel, and god bless Chris Moneymaker. This is
Poker heaven!
I managed to win a seat for the $2000 No Limit Hold’em event
in a one table satellite. I got lucky when I slow played pocket
Kings catching both blinds who both flopped top pair. As an added
bonus, I was given a poker lesson by a very attractive young lady
with a large bosom. She explained how dangerous it was not to raise
with Kings before the flop. Bless her ! Anyway I tripled thru and
managed to outlast the rest to gain a seat in the NLH event for
a paltry $230.
It can be very annoying playing when you play tournament poker
and you have waited two hours to pick up a hand. You finally look
down at a pair of Kings, raise 3 times the Big Blind and everyone
passes. Doh! … So what is the correct thing to do?
In the majority of cases the correct thing is exactly that. If
you raise 3 times the Big Blind with AJ in mid to late position,
then you must raise 3 times the Big Blind with your Kings (regardless
of position). That way your eagle eyed opponents wont be able to
tell what cards you play. If everyone passes, it’s not the
end of the world. At least you didn’t lose with them.
In the satellite I mentioned above, I picked up the Kings in first
position in a 9 handed aggressive one table satellite. I figured
if I flat called, someone in a later position would raise, and then
I could re-raise and get all my chips in the middle before the flop.
A cunning plan… that didn’t work. Everyone passed around
to the blinds who smooth called. The flop came Jack high and they
both decided they liked it. So it was just a matter of crossing
my fingers and hoping neither had two pair.
In Limit Hold’em there is rarely any justification in slow
playing big hands, especially in the lower limit games. If you have
a pair a Kings I would recommend that you raise at every opportunity.
The obvious reason is to make the pot as big as possible, so you
win as much as possible. Another good reason though, is that you
are better off playing against 1 or 2 opponents with your Kings
than against the whole table. Less players will call 2 bets, and
hopefully you won't lose the pot to anyone playing 5,6 of hearts.
Post flop, the song remains the same. If it shows 3,7,J and your
opponent bets, then raise him. Don’t get cute. If for example
he has 10,J or J,K, and the next card comes an Ace. Although it
doesn’t help either of you, it freezes the betting because
it scares you both. And the pot that you win is that little bit
smaller…
So as usual, I am being as contradictory as ever. But most of the
time, it doesn’t pay to be too clever.
Dave
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