Do Not Overuse Slow Playing In Texas Hold'em

What is slow-playing in Texas Holdem? Slow-playing is always defined as when you have a very big hand and you choose to check or call rather than bet or raise in order to induce future bets or call from your opponents. For example, if the flop brings you a full house, the first thing that you think about is to check. You want to hide the value of your hand and hope your opponent will catch something on the turn or river. However, slow-playing is the most overused trick in many poker players. Personally, I suggest only use slow-playing in limit Holdem when all of the following conditions are achieved:

1. Only use slow-playing in limit Holdem, and you must only use it on the flop. You only want to give up a small bet in favor of a large bet.

2. Your hand must be very strong. I suggest at least you flop a full house or higher. You do not want your opponent to catch a card that can complete a draw and be able to beat you.

3. The pot must be very small. If the pot is large, you should protect your hand because if many raises and re-raises in the pre-flop, your opponent are more likely to get a better hand than yours. Also, if the pot is large enough to cover their pot odds, you should bet because most of the people are not willing to fold their hands at this point anyway.

4. The free card you are giving must have a good chance of giving the second best hand to your opponent. For example, if you flop a full house and you know your opponent is in a straight draw or flush draw, you may want to consider slow-playing your hand and hope they will complete their second best hand (which they thought they are holing the best hand) on a later street.

5. Only use against a loose-aggressive player. Many tight and experienced players will suspect your hand if you are slow-playing.

6. Do not use slow-playing if your table image is aggressive. If you have been playing aggressive poker, you will not be giving anything away by betting out with a monster hand.

Please note that slow-playing is not the same as check-raising. Check-raising means that you are playing your hand softly with the intent of raising later on the current round, which you do not give your opponent a free card.

Personally, I do not recommend any new player to use slow-playing because slow-playing is not correct very often.