What To Do In Texas Hold’em Poker: Should You Use Slow Play

When you hear the term slow playing in Texas Hold’em, it doesn’t mean playing the game slowly. It means to play your hand discretely. Basically, you’re not showing how strong your hand is. Actually, you’re doing this to show that your hand is weak so that your opponents will raise the pot. You can say that slow playing is the opposite of bluffing.

Now, before you use this hand, you should have already done the homework about the different kinds of poker games and found out about it. So how does slow play work? When should you use it?

Using slow play doesn’t take a rocket science degree. All you’re doing is trapping your opponent by presenting him/her with a hand that you say is weaker than you actually let on. Your opponent may feel as if they could take pot away from you when you use this hand.

When using the slow play method, you’re not being aggressive… rather you’re flat calling. This poker play method has real value and it’s really good against players who are aggressively loose. Sometimes you just have to trap if you’re going to win.

For example, flat calling can be seen as slow playing. You’re trying to get other players to build up the pot. Another example for slow playing is flopping a set and play deceptively. With plays like this, you’re in a pretty strong position and can draw out some value.

Now, timing is everything when it comes to slow playing. When you should play it depends on several things including:

Your Image At The Table – What’s your impression at the table? You should not start playing aggressive if you’ve been passive and vice versa. Behave as you have been even if you got a good hand. Let the aggressive players keep raising the pot. This is slow playing.

Your Opponents At The Table – If you notice your players are tight-passive players, then it could be difficult to get anything from them. Use the slow play to get out those extra dollars.

Flop – You can use slow play if you believe you can win the pot and you think no one else has hit anything. Slow play in this way can make a huge difference in the size of the pot. It’s the reason to do slow play when you’ve already flopped a set but turned it to a rainbow.

Recall – Play slow only during the time you believe you hold the cards. When you’re not sure if the hand you have will hold out, then it’s best to forget the play. You should always try to win something…even if the pot is small.