The aim of slow-playing a hand is to entrap your opponent, so when you have a great hand in front of you, the temptation is to lure your opponent into a trap. Sometimes this can backfire.
Those over at CasinosOnline.com note how slow-playing allows you to act weaker than you are and to allow your opponent to catch up to your hand so that he or she makes a better hand, but one which is still not as good as yours. Sounds dangerous, doesn’t it?
Online poker is loose. Online poker is aggressive. Slow-playing loose aggressive players appears, on the surface, to be a worthwhile venture because of the possibility of big payouts.
Many players are influenced by the pros they see on TV slow-playing their opponents into submission. Online poker and live professional poker are a world apart and yes, it is true that many poker skills are interchangeable between both forms of the game.
It is also true that poker pros know a hell of a lot more about the game and how to use strategy to overcome their opponents. A live poker game containing the world’s elite players is going to play differently to a $10 MTT online.
Poker genius David Sklansky outlines in his book The Theory of Poker that in order to successfully slow-play a hand, any free card you give must have little chance of giving someone a better hand than you.
He goes on to say that the pot must not yet be very large and you must have a very strong hand. Why scare yourself and make your decisions harder than they should be by pushing for another card to be dealt? Most of the time, if you think about it, slow-playing and getting a bad beat is almost always down to greed and poor play.
For the most part, slow-playing online will get you in trouble and is not worth the hassle. Any sort of flush or straight drawing hand could be lurking out there, waiting to take down your pocket kings.
So, unless you hit the nuts (and even then, some players like to bet out when a check looks suspicious) be incredibly wary of slow-playing. Don’t get greedy; take down the pot before 37off-suit can bust your rockets.
