A mistake often seen in new players (I used to make this mistake myself for sure) is over slowplaying.

You should note that slowplaying is a deviation from normal strategy since when you have a big hand you want to win a big pot and the easiest way to build a big pot is by making the biggest bet you feel your opponents can call.

In order to slowplay you need the following type of situations:

1. Your hand has great strength relative to the board and it is very unlikely an opponent has more than 2-3 outs to outdraw you:

Eg:
AK on an A88r flop is slowplayable. If your opponent isn't beating you already there is not a single hand which can outdraw you with more than 3 cards on the turn so flat calling a bet here is likely to result in collecting further bets from a hand like 99-KK or Ax which may fold if you raise on the flop but call a bet on the turn or river.

Even 88 on an A89 with 2 hearts flop is usually a terrible spot for a slowplay. Alot of hands can have flush/straight draws to outdraw you here.

OR

2. The turn/river is likely to improve your opponents hand without him outdrawing you.

E.g.
You call a raise from a tight opponent to play a heads up pot with 88. The flop is 822. Your opponent bets. Here you can flat call since there is a possibility he has AK/AQ in which case there are 6 turn cards which can lead to him putting further money into the pot with a hand he would now fold. Again slowplaying is fine here since if he does have an overpair he has just 2 outs to outdraw you.

AND:

Your opponents are aggressive and preferably known bluffers

If a guy is a passive calling station there is never any merit in slowplaying since even if he is sat there with top pair he is far more likely to call a bet then he is to make one. There is nothing worse than slowplaying the nut flush until the river, the board pairs and then your bet gets flat called by the 2nd nut flush.

AND

The Board should not be one with many draws present

There are 3 problems with slowplaying and allowing a draw to complete.

1. Your opponent may have been on it and has now outdraw you.
2. If your opponet has a draw he will only pay off bets on flop and turn when he has cards to come. He can't call a river bet with T high.
3. Your opponent may have had a decent second best hand but draw kills your action. E.g Ak may get all in vs your 88 on an A89flop with 2 hearts but when the 7 hearts falls on the turn he loses interest in the pot.

Very good. We need more of these posts on the forums from the more experienced players.

I agree with everything you said. Slowplaying excessively was something I was very guilty of, which my hand posts will probably prove. Seriously guys, at low stakes, slowplaying = bad.

I swear if the average player at these stakes would understand this it would be a whole different game.

Originally Posted by WotaWaster

Probably lucky for you they don't hey KrE8r? $$$$$$$$$$

Hellz yeah.