I hate being slowplayed, especially when it ends my tournament life, leaves me perilously short-stacked or robs me of practically all my cash chips! Want to piss me off or put me on tilt... this is a very good way to do it! Be warned, just make sure you have me all-in to succeed as I play a very good shortstack game as proved in yesterday's €100+15 FO in Clonsilla Inn! (report to follow soon...)
Definition of slowplaying: when you hold the nuts, check-call another player's bet to the end with no re-raise/bet to show your hand strength, then trapping then with a re-raise/putting them all-in once you know they are totally pot committed...
Doing it once in a tournament, in order to mix your styles after betting big and winning with strong hand, is a good method to complicate reads on your play and acceptable to a degree. Or if you are a shortie in need a double up to survive. Doing it against a short stack player is not. Doing it against a ultra-TAG rock is not... And doing it again and again is most definitely not. Slowrolling the nuts is worse.
Overuse of the slowplay/slowrolling technique a la Paul S style, is just stupid; you get tagged as a slowplayer and lose valuable chances to earn chips this article explains exactly why...
I rarely ever slowplay, I never slowroll (which is worse IMO) I prefer to get my money in good with my best hand and race it against the chancers. When I do slowplay, I usually reserve it for players I really detest i.e. people who slowroll/slowplay others; or in playing safe against giant-stacked luckboxes running ultra-hot at the table or ultra-loose LAGs.
All week I've been running into slowplayers... Vegas Night team event was full of them, constantly limping in with AAs KKs, QQs, AKs, and check-calling when they hit! All my exit hands hammered me out by slowrolled/slowplayed nuts. In the Westbury last Tuesday, Ginger guy calls my pre-flop raise hits his flop good, flat calls me to river then re-raises to put me all-in, recognising the signs as he already did the same earlier three times - with no desire to be his 4th victim I folded with 60% of my stack on that table. Looked really weak but felt what I had left was ample to rebuild on... but sadly that opportunity never came.
In the DPN Satt for the Triple Header main event, Tweety traps me on the river with his A8 on a K8A7J Board with me holding KJs! Calling my raises all the way to the river! Then gloated about it for the rest of the night... Grrr! Later met the other two players, at the DPN 100FO game, (they ended up 3 headed with him) and discovered he slowplayed them just as bad too... LOL! Watch out Tweety - we have you tagged same as Paul S now!
Or in a recent cash game: player on the button, last to act, checks down with the 2nd best nut flush on an Ace flush board, then calls your shove on the river when you have a slightly lower flush claiming to be 'afraid' of the top nut flush when challenged! Why call my raise if you were so 'afraid' then!?
Even yesterday in the game, I got rendered shortstacked by slowplayed, not once but TWICE! Still managed to hang on to 3rd place... just about(!)
Andy Smith (a fellow deaf player) has a great tactic he uses at IDP games. He doesn't bluff, he never slowplays. When he hits his flop well, be it top pair top kicker; trips; two pair; any flush; straight... with no possible better straight, flush or otherwise to beat him, he shoves. He's happy to take down the pot there and then; he is clever enough just to 'show' weaker holdings like 2nd best pair, top pair or bottom 2 pair - to encourage callers later in the game. That's the reason he's always on the final table, who is going to take on his mighty stack without the absolute nuts - apart from the odd donks of course! Its his way of rooting out the slowplayers. They fold, they don't want to tangle with that stack as they can't be sure what he's shoving with!
I don't mind players like Bomber Nolan or Donal 'The Value' who re-raise you all-in with dodgy hands then hit their 'one outter' on the river... I rather lose to them than slow-played nuts any day!
Can't find an apt slow-player image (Smurph already has the best one IMO!) but I lurved this:
5 comments:
What about when you hold 53 and the flop comes 335 (ala Huck Seed v Gus Hansen in this years HU tournament); then you gotta slowplay to let the other guy catch up to get paid off with your hand. Also by check calling you give your opponent the chance to keep bluffing even if he doesn't connect on any/all streets.
Limping with AA, KK, QQ, etc: is generally bad play unless your targeting a specific serial raiser(s) and plan to limp raise/push. People who limp continually with big pairs, get outdrawn because they let to many into the pot & then start moaning about their luck are simply playing bad poker. Simple as.
Oh, and as for slowrollers! Nothing is more disrespectful in poker than someone slowrolling you with a hand that cripples you or busts you out of a tourney. Don't understand it myself and I consider it the pits.
LOL... Slowplaying HU is a necessary evil in order to gain the extra chips to win the tournament!
I found 57 suited UTG, the table was awash with crazy loose players. I liked the look of them, limped in, a Rock raised 5xBB and got 4 callers. I just saw 5 to 1 for my money and called to see a 577 flop. Check-called-check-shoved 3 players all-in as the Rock folded! Happy days! Been a while since I hit a flop that good with such a tripe hand... Cee is always doing this: shoving with tripe like 64s and 72 and hitting quads, straight flushes and houses! LOL!
I agree with limping in with AA/KK/QQ is risky unless there's a serial raiser that you can re-raise all-in... Works well in the TPR ;-D
Slowplaying is the antidote to the serial bluffers/maniacs. Since they're very over represented in the Irish poker landscape, particularly in the Fitz, it's very effective here. Most of my early successes in the Fitz were largely down to that one lousy transparent tactic, but once I started playing the bigger tournaments with more perceptive players, I quickly realised it doesn't always work.
There are still spots to do it against good players though, as in the example Thomas gave. When someone finds themelves on the receiving end of a lot of slowplays, they should ask themselves if they're bluffing too much or too transparently, or if betting marginal hands with showdown value against trappers too much.
Very good point on mixing up your play. This is vital against thinking players. Last year in one of the GUKPTs I cashed in, I got two of my most vital chip infusions as follows:
Hand 1: Raised a pp, got reraised by a maniac, called set mining. Hit my set, and check called the whole way allowing him to vluff off his stack.
Hand 2: About an hour later, flopped another set and this time led into the best player on the table. He called flop and raised turn with TPTK to double me up. When he saw my hand, he said "Wow. You played it totally differently last time. No way I thought you had a set".
Thanks for that excellent wisdom Doke - will try keep it in mind!
When dealing at high end events I don't see a lot of slowplaying at the table, it seems primarily pub poker players. I know what you mean about Fitz players - they are so aggro-manaic at times, that slowplaying CAN be effective, usually as you can't trust them playing what they have!
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