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Hold' em, Poker Clinic, Psychology, Ring games
Or to put it another way, you have a hand which you’re sure is the best but you don’t think you’ll get paid by betting, so you check to entice your opponent into betting. The idea is to set a trap for your opponent by either convincing him he has the best hand or by encouraging him to bluff when behind. Either way you’re looking to get him to put more money in the pot where he otherwise wouldn’t. Slow-playing can be a great way of trapping an opponent and is a vital part of your strategic armoury. And it’s also kind of fun.
There are, however, some dangers you need to be aware of when slow-playing. The first is that you may miss out on value, which is a great sin for any modern player. If you decide to check instead of bet and it’s a spot where your opponent would have called, you’ve missed out on those extra chips. You also invite the great catastrophe of turning a winning hand into a losing one by giving away a free card.
Weighing up the risks
Given these strengths and weaknesses, slow-playing should not be your standard thought in a hand. You should normally be playing aggressively, betting your hands for value and bluffing to force better hands to fold. In general you will be looking to slow-play in situations where you have the deck crippled and in situations where you can safely allow your opponents a free card to catch up.
When you have the deck crippled – for example, you hold Q-Q on a Q-6-6 flop – betting makes very little sense. Unless your opponent holds a 6, or an overpair he’s unlikely to give you chips, and it’s also very unlikely that allowing him a free card will result in you losing the hand. It’s likely that checking here will make you more money in the long run.
You can also slow-play when you’re pretty sure you have the best hand and may make more money by playing your hand deceptively. For example if you have A-K on an A-9-2 rainbow flop it’s extremely likely you’re ahead. You may make more money by checking here in an attempt to convince your opponent that you don’t hold an Ace. This comes with the health warning that you’re allowing a free shot at a set or two pair, but sometimes you’ve got to take a chance if you’re going to get paid off.