FAQ: Should I Slowplay?

[Cry Me A River]

The short answer is: If you have to ask this question then, "No!"

New players and bad players love to slowplay and they slowplay way, way too much. Slowplaying is a very specialized weapon that needs to be used only in specific circumstances. Otherwise you're just costing yourself money when you run out of streets and fail to extract as much as you should have. Or even worse, you let your opponents out-draw you cheaply.

When in doubt DO NOT SLOWPLAY! Betting when you have a big hand is never a bad play.

This table will determine how appropriate slowplaying is in any given spot. Just add up the score below and this will tell you if you should slowplay the flop. The higher the score, the less inclined you should be to slowplay. Situations where slowplaying the turn or river is a good idea are much more rare. You want to start getting it in there on the turn almost always. If you have any question about slowplaying the flop, you should probably never slowplay the turn and river.

Score
=======
10+ Do not slowplay ever.
5-9 Borderline. Remember to always err on the side of playing it fast but this may be a reasonable spot to slowplay.
<5 Ok, you can slowplay if you want to.


Preflop
+10 3bet
+05 You raised preflop and you usually cbet
+05 You called a raise
+02 You raised preflop and you often do not cbet
+01 Limped pot

Flop Texture
Use ALL that are applicable:
+08 There is an Ace on the flop
+05 Flop has three sequential cards (i.e.; 678)
+03 There is a King on the flop
+05 Flop has flush draw
+02 Flop has connectors (i.e.; 78)
-02 Flop is paired
-02 Flop is low (all cards < 8)
-02 Flop is monotone

Flop Action
+05 Checked to you and you are last to act
+05 Bet from a passive player
+05 Bet with call(s), +01 for every call
-02 No action yet
-02 Bet from an aggressive or TAG player
-03 Bet from an aggressive or TAG player who is in a steal position
-03 Cbet from an aggressive or TAG player
-05 Bet and reraise

Your position
+05 Last to act
+01 In the middle
-02 First to act

Protecting Your Hand
Use ALL that are applicable:
+12 You have a non-nut flush
+07 You have a straight
+07 You have the nut flush
You have 2pair, set or straight and:
+15 Flop is monotone
+15 Flop has three sequential cards (i.e.; 678)
+10 Flop has flush draw
+05 Flop has connectors (i.e.; 78)
+02 Flop has gap connectors (i.e.; 68)

Players In The Hand
+10 Three or more other players in the hand
+02 Two other players in the hand
-02 Head's up

Effective Stack Sizes
+05 Deep stacked
-05 Short stacked

Villains
Score for every villain in hand:
+05 Calling Station (loose/passive)
+03 Loose/Aggressive
+01 Tight/Aggressive
-01 Tight/Passive
-02 Nitty
-10 Will call with a wide range of hands if you push river and you are going to push river

Your Image
+05 Loose/Aggressive
+03 Tight/Aggressive
-02 Tight/Passive
-02 Nitty
-05 Calling Station (loose/passive)

[LearningCurve]

NH, CMAR! On those rare few occasions when I've flopped the nuts I've never been too sure exactly how to proceed. This will assuredly help with the next time.

[D.L.M.]

stop it dude seriously im going it soon will be ev for me to kill you.

[coordi]

[ QUOTE ]
stop it dude seriously im going it soon will be ev for me to kill you.

[/ QUOTE ]

haha QFT

nh btw

[Kos13]

You are awesome at life.

[toymach776]

What is this "slowplay" that you speak of?

[ship_it_trebek]

[ QUOTE ]
You are awesome at life.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Cry Me A River]

[ QUOTE ]
What is this "slowplay" that you speak of?

[/ QUOTE ]

I like the cut of your jib, son!

[BotOnTilt]

Good points CMAR! I really like these posts of yours recently. Please add it to the stickies so that I can find it again, because this certainly needs to be read more than once. I have severely cut down on slow playing after getting so much flak on one hand earlier, but I would like to know more of the reasoning behind this:

"+07 You have the nut flush"

I always like to check or call my nut flush since I feel I get a lot more value from a non-4th flush river when I don't bet a turned flush. I know a paired board might lose the hand, but where I play if the villain has a hand he will usually bet big on the river and call a raise since I didn't act on the flush card.

[Cry Me A River]

The thing is, if you have a flush the only other hands you're going to play a big pot with are sets or lower flushes. On very rare occasions maybe a straight or 2pair.

Against lower flushes you should have little problem getting it all-in there unless he's a complete nit. So no need to slowplay. Against a set, the last thing you want to do is give him odds to draw to a FH. 2pair has less chance of hitting a full house but you still don't want to let him get there for free. Particularly when sets/2pairs will often pay you money up front.

You'll play small and medium sized pots against top pair and overpair type hands. Sometimes they'll get big against aggro players but pretty much everyone plays weak-tight against potential flushes so that's pretty rare. The problem with slowplaying in these situations is that a 4-flush will almost always completely kill your action.

The nut flush doesn't get as much of a modifier as a non-nut flush because it's not as vulnerable to being out-drawn. However, any flush is a vulnerable hand. Particularly in big pots where it's likely to be up against a set.

If you're getting paid off on rivers by slowplaying your flushes and you can put him on a hand like TP that you're not worried about being outdrawn with then slowplaying is a viable strategy, and that's why I included this:

-10 Will call with a wide range of hands if you push river and you are going to push river

Keep in mind though checkraising or raising the river is really only going to work against aggressive players. Against passive players or players who can read hands and/or have seen you play this way before you're just going to miss out on extracting maximum value.